Everyone wins
By Garnett Overby III, Outpost contributor
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What about the children? |
The University of Nevada, Reno, recently started its own type of Olympics with the goal of nurturing and empowering youth. The kickoff was June 31, 1997. The grand event featured more than 250 participants, all intensely competing for athletic supremacy.
But the National Youth Sports Program (NYSP) is a bit different than the type of Olympics we all watch on television. These games are for middle and high school students and come with benefits that Olympians cannot experience. All students who choose to participate immediately qualify. Physical workouts to prepare for competition are discouraged, and every participant wins a gold medal. Best of all, it's free.
NYSP is a National Collegiate Athletic Association and federally funded program. The university's contribution to the program is to provide a staff and space to hold the event. The program has been in existence for more than 25 years at various colleges and universities throughout the country. The camp runs for 25 weekdays, five hours a day.
Surprisingly, the university was unaware of this program until recently. It was not until fall 1996 that UNR president Joe Crowley caught wind of the program. Crowley did some preliminary investigating of the program and passed his knowledge and recommendations to get the university involved in this program onto Keith Lee, director of National Consortium for Academics and Sports-West. Lee made the necessary contacts and wrote the grant proposal to get the university's approval and a budget to bring NYSP to the area.
Counselors are required to teach basic sports fundamentals and foster a competitive and sportsmanship type of attitude. After all, this is a sports program. But the purpose of the program is to provide inner-city youth and low-income children with the opportunity and experience to achieve their goals. Participants practice skills that teach self-respect, self-control, self-esteem and other social skills vital to surviving in this fast-pace world.
"We are not trying to create a sports camp that looks like a structured PE camp," said Wendy McDonald, UNR's first director of NYSP. "When it's over, we want the kids to say, 'I had a great week.'"
Every morning before the participants enter the playing fields, they recite the NYSP creed: "I will be a good sport at all times and will conduct myself with decency and honesty. I will do my best to get along with others and will have pride in myself. I will put forth my best effort in all competition and always compete fairly. I WILL WALK TALL, TALK TALL, STAND TALL!"
To further emphasize the importance of the creed, the NYSP executive board developed an incentive program to encourage the participants to practice the creed's meaning.
"We give the kids creed stickers for the ones that shows sportsmanship, control and respect for self and others," said counselor William Lackey.
A creed sticker is good for donated incentive gifts, like sweatshirts, basketballs, skating ring tickets, movie passes, laser tag passes and other prizes that appeal to this age group.
"We don't necessarily give a creed sticker to the best athlete but to the individual that best displays every aspect of the creed," Lackey said. "I see kids around town that still can recite the creed. Maybe it has taught them self-respect and respect for others."
Most of the participants do not realize that they are building self-esteem and self-respect in the midst of facing several social challenges. Every day the participants are faced with race issues, gender issues, age differences and language barriers. Within the sporting events, children are intentionally placed on teams that force them to face these social challenges.
The counselors continually remind the participants of the creed's message and how it can apply to their teams. It is the counselors' responsibility to reinforce the creed, reward those who apply the creed and offer alternative solutions to those who struggle with solving their social problems. The positive messages of self-respect and good sportsmanship in the NYSP creed have allowed many of the youth to overcome social challenges.
"I did not know that girls could be fun to play with," said participant Sean Annan, 10. "I still won't kiss one, but now I know how to talk to a girl and play games that girls and boys can play together."
High school participant James Cobb said: "Before I came to this camp, I thought people outside of my race were stupid. I have friends of different races know. I respect them (other races) because I was forced to be on teams with them in NYSP. I even go out and hang out with people of other races, know."
More important, NYSP allowed every participant to win an honorary gold medal &endash; not a real gold medal, but personal recognition for their accomplishments. For most of the youth, the gold medal came in the form of athletic achievements. For others, the gold medal was in the form of acquiring new friends, learning new ways to solve problems or approaches to issues, learning how to achieve through teamwork and finding acceptance among peers.
"We as counselors help build self-esteem for some of the kids because they knew that someone cared for them," McDonald said. "I was happy to see that the child that was a loner in school found friends and popularity at camp."
copyright 11/15/97 Nevada Outpost
http://www.jour.unr.edu/outpost
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