The Skills Ready team works to find new and exciting ways to introduce the Industry ASK to young people in the province. One such way we have found to do this is through sport.
Ultimate Frisbee was introduced to the team through one of our career catalysts, and is quite simply, an exercise in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). SEL is the process through which children, youth and adults develop skills needed to effectively manage themselves and their relationships with others.
Ultimate is one of the fastest growing sports in North America. It is non-contact and inclusive, with both men and women playing together on each team. It is an inexpensive sport to play requiring only a disc (frisbee). Ultimate does not use official referees. The game is self-officiated, requiring players to develop leadership, fair play and integrity on the field.
The over-arching principal of Ultimate is the “Spirit of the Game” which requires and promotes self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, relationship skills and social awareness. After each game the players form the Spirit Circle – a ritual that extends the physical and verbal interaction of the game just played to a deeper level of connectivity and relationship. During the Spirit Circle, players identify post-game emotions (self-awareness), link arms with their opponents (self-management), build relationships with the other team (relationship skills), practice perspective taking (social awareness), and reflect on their collective performance and behaviour (responsible decision-making).
Over the last year we have supplemented our Skills Ready activities with Ultimate Skills clinics at a number of schools, including schools in First Nation communities.
To date we have introduced the concept of having the right Attitude, Skills and Knowledge to date we have engaged over 1500 youth through our social-emotional learning clinics.
