How Does My School Participate?
Participation Nation schools can participate on several different levels. We encourage all schools to do their best to participate in at least 2 multi-school events each year, whenever possible, in order to give your students an opportunity to experience the special atmosphere that comes with meeting and participating with other school’s students.
In-House – an event organized within your own school.
Friendlies – an event where any 2 schools come together for a number of friendly matches.
Festival of Sport Extravaganza – an event where 3 or more schools in the same region come together to play a number of friendly matches.
Jamboree Style – an event where any number of participating schools are playing 2 or more sports or activities at the same event.
At Particpation Nation events you can also modify the rules fo the game. Without emphasis being placed on scores or winning you can modify the rules of the gam and even adapt again when you start playing to maintain a high success rate and a fun time for everyone. If you find there are a lot of stoppages in the game or a particular part is holding participants back then simply modify it.
Which Students Can Participate?
Particpation Nation follows a non-competitive format. It is designed to provide a fun and active evironment for students in grades 4-9. There is no emphasis placed on winning in this program and all formats must be of a round-robin nature or without any team or individual advancement.
When choosing students to participate in the Participation Nation you should first only choose students who do not participate or normally participate in competitive "picked" school or community teams. This program looks to provide an environment for those students who do not normally get to experience the sporting atmosphere provided by competitive sports. You will find that with the more elite athletes removed our program's students are not only more comfortable, but also perform their skills with a higher success rate.
We understand, however, that schools with low enrollment numbers will have to use all or some of the more elite athletes in order to play games, but whereever possible we ask that you limit this or at least balance the teams and run of play as much as possible. We also have many sports & activities that cater to very small numbers (click on "Sports" on the main menu to see a list).
We also encourage you to hold mixed events and at the mixed events with several schools participating you can mix students from each school to form teams to further blur the lines of competition. You' ll also find from our list of sports that there are many activies that you can play in which physical strength or size does not play a negaitve factor in a participant having a high success rate in performing skills so you will have little problems mixing grades or sexes.
Who Coaches or Runs This Program in My School?
There are several ways to provide leadership of our program in your school. For many of our members the Physical Education teachers run the program, but we understand with existing workload that it is not always possible for PE teachers to provide the program in their school to the extent that they wish.
The great thing about our program is that you do not require coaching per se or even practices unless you are familiarizing your group with rules of the game. With no emphasis on winning you only need a teacher or supervisor to facilitate and encourage the group. Often schools will use their students in leadership courses to help run the program or perhaps there is a parent in your community that enjoys our program's philosophy. You can also look to your active schools representative and wellness coordinator to help.
Either way this program caters to your school's schedule and availability. If your best times to run Participation Nation events are in October, March, and May then that is when you will run the program as there is no set schedule.
What Are The Rewards Of This Program?
Besides the obvious reasons of having students active who normally would not be and having them experience an environment where they feel better about themselves, we have many other rewards as well.
Upon registration of the program (see downloads for a registration form) your school will receive some signage for their gym, and a Participation Nation shirt for your PE teacher and other representatives. You should already have your info kit, calendar, and poster as well.
Prior to each event you host you will contact the office and order your stickers/pins and certificates/pennants. If another school is hosting and has invited you simply pass along your attending numbers to them and your rewards will be at the event. Every student receives a pin depicting the sport in which they just participated and a pennant at their first event upon which to place and collect the pins. We also will send various prizes to do random draws at your event that include Participation Nation t-shirts, sports memorbilia, sports apparel, and sports equipment. You may also win equipment for you school that can be used for your own students when you return.
