Program Proposal-Football Youth/Middle School
Sports have become an essential part of modern-day educational settings and are recommended as an ideal extracurricular activity alongside Physical Education. The impact of sports on students’ behavior and academic achievement has contributed to the rise in the number of high school athletics teams that compete against each other occasionally. Football is among the globally celebrated sports identified as fun and exposes players to less severe injuries. Football is also among the sports that are easy to learn, especially at a young age. This proposal provides information on creating a football sports program for middle school students. The proposal outlines the program’s main components, including the people involved, the implementation process, the importance of every aspect of the program to its management, the benefits of participating in the program, and its budget.
Program Participants
One group of participants that will be actively involved in the program is the community. The program focuses on enrolling as many middle school individuals as possible, thus the need to involve the community to market the program. We will also rely on the community to acquire resources such as training fields. The community will also support the program by being part of the spectators watching the football matches and donating team jerseys, balls, and other equipment that team members may need. Another group of participants is middle schools in the community. We will rely on the middle schools to recruit team members. We will partner with schools to create time for students to train and participate in tournaments. Heads of institutions will determine the most appropriate physical activities for the players and assess the playing grounds to ensure that they are safe. According to Masteralexis et al.(2019), the involvement of heads of institutions in sports planning ensures that the rights of players with disabilities are protected, including the acknowledgement of minority groups, inclusion, human values such as respect for others, and acceptance of fairness, teamwork and binding rules. Heads of institutions will collaborate with the program implementation team to set targets and invite productive and serious partnerships at every level to ensure that the sports systems operate in a synchronized, transparent, and effective way. Masteralexis et al. (2019) argue that this approach promotes and supports collaboration among stakeholders and shared leadership to achieve goals of enhanced social and physical infrastructure and a more integrated and coordinated sports system. Therefore, all heads of institutions will be actively involved in the decision-making process and will be consulted before implementing policies and procedures within the project implementation process.
The third group of participants is coaches. We will have one coach collaborating with coaches from different schools, where we will source the program participants. The general coach will not have an affiliation with any learning institution to avoid bias. The coach will be selected based on their experience working with middle school football players and a record of talent development. Coaches will also collaborate to ensure that athletes are safe by inspecting sports equipment, maintaining the equipment, maintaining all athletes’ documentation, and confirming that all athletes have been physically examined and found fit to play. According to Masteralexis et al. (2019), school athletes’ documentation includes proof of insurance, confirmation of physical status, parent authorization to participate, and confirmation of eligibility. Coaches from different schools have to be transparent when sharing their athletes’ information with the program’s staff, such as the general coach and the medical team. Coaches are also responsible for organizing drills, maintaining athlete safety on the pitch during matches and practice, minimizing physical mismatches, monitoring locker rooms before and after activities, and suspending playing or practice during dangerous weather conditions. All coaches will collaborate in maintaining athletes’ safety during matches. The general coach will suspend play or practice during dangerous weather conditions and monitor locker rooms. All coaches will collaborate in minimizing physical mismatches, organizing drills, and maintaining safe playgrounds and practices.
Parents will also be part of active participants in the program. They will be involved in the recruitment of their children in the program and will be regularly updated on their children’s participation and performance. According to Chandrappa (2021), parents are mainly responsible for meeting the costs of implementing sports programs. Therefore, parent participation will include monetary contributions to purchase sports equipment. Parents will also be involved in maintaining athlete discipline and commitment. Accordingly, they will be involved in disciplinary hearings directly related to their children. Parents will also be involved in the internal and external competitions. Chandrappa (2021) categorizes parent participation in sports into three categories. The first category is participation before the game. Parents assist coaches in determining whether the child is fit for the game based on their information about the child’s physical and mental treatment and behaviour. Parents also play a significant role in increasing a child’s commitment to the game, thus ensuring that the child adequately prepares for the game by attending the required training sessions and maintaining physical fitness. They also have a responsibility to prepare their children for any outcome, including failures.
The second category is participation during the game. Chandrappa (2021) argues that parent participation during the game includes being spectators and cheering their children to perform to their best ability. Participation during the game also includes modelling appropriate behaviour by instilling confidence in the child, poise, and assurance that there will be a positive outcome. The third category is participation after the game. Parents are responsible for giving emotional support to their children after the game. Support may include congratulating them for their efforts during the game, encouraging them not to give up if they lose a game, and acknowledging their progress in their performance.
Activities
The program will include various physical, mental and emotional development activities. One of the activities will be training. Athletes will be trained to improve their skills and expertise in playing football. The training will include familiarizing them with football rules, creating a good defence and scoring goals when playing with opponents, and utilizing the expertise of each player to the team’s advantage. Another activity will be physical exercises to keep the athletes fit. All athletes will be required to attend three training sessions and physical exercise sessions per week. In addition, physical activities will include running, jogging, sit-ups and pushups to increase muscle strength. Athletes will also attend team-building sessions to strengthen teamwork in the team. The team-building activities will familiarize team members with one another by understanding each member’s skills and expertise.
The program will also include internal and external competitions to help the team members sharpen their skills and develop a passion for the game. External competitions will be held by joining school tournaments, and internal competitions will include team members forming smaller teams to compete against each other. Team members will also participate in community programs by volunteering to help. The aim of volunteering is to create a good reputation and attract more middle school athletes to join the program. According to Blakey (2011), engaging in community activities is a common sports marketing technique that attracts talented players and investors. Therefore, the program will rely on community goodwill acquired from volunteering to get as many athletes as possible.
Implementation Procedure
We will begin by approaching the heads of sports departments in the middle schools in the community. We will present the proposed structure of the program, stakeholders, and activities involved to familiarize the department heads with the program. We will also outline the athletes’ benefits from joining the program to convince the department heads to allow their students to join it. The second step will be recruiting athletes. This step will include grouping the applicants into two teams and setting a match where two teams compete against each other. The games will help identify the talents of the athletes interested in the program and their expertise level to effectively assign them positions in the team. The third step will be signing a contract with the athletes under the supervision of their parents or guardians and their school representatives. The contract will outline the terms of leaving and joining the program, required conduct, disciplinary action, and the benefits of being enrolled in the program.
The first three months will include piloting to familiarize participants and stakeholders with the program. During this period, the athletes will compete among themselves and attend physical exercise and training sessions. The pilot program will be used to establish the best practices to improve the program’s effectiveness by encouraging feedback from participants and stakeholders and testing various recommendations to see if they are fit for the program or not. Regular meetings will be held to assess the progress of the program. After the piloting phase, we will begin looking for school tournaments that athletes can participate in. We will issue every athlete with a jersey with a number to identify them on the pitch. Each player will get one jersey for free and purchase an extra one within two months so that by the time we are actively engaged in regional school competitions, each athlete will have two jerseys.
Importance of Each Aspect of the Program to the Program Management
Piloting will play a significant role in program management by helping the management team identify the program’s weaknesses and areas of improvement. Collaboration with stakeholders to generate and implement ideas during the piloting phase will help increase the program’s effectiveness. Recruiting athletes based on the skills and expertise exhibited during matches held within the piloting stage will help determine athlete training needs and how to develop their talent. Signing a contract with athletes enrolling in the program will also create a formal relationship between the athletes and the program team, thus making it easier to manage the program because the athlete’s conduct will be regulated under the policies and procedures outlined in the contract. Participation in tournaments will improve program management by encouraging the active involvement of program participants and stakeholders. The tournaments will promote collaboration among participants and stakeholders in making decisions aimed at improving the performance of the athletes in the tournaments and approaches to motivate athletes to give their best performance in tournament competitions. Outstanding performance in the tournaments will also attract investors and sponsors, thus creating access to funds required to maintain the activities within the program.
Benefits of Participation in the Program
The program will yield various benefits for all stakeholders involved. Athletes will benefit by acquiring social skills. According to Kelly (2018), social skills are the skills required to adapt to their social environment and handle conflicts. The program will equip athletes with social skills by fostering collaboration among team members and promoting effective communication to meet performance requirements. Athletes will also be required to understand each other’s personalities to avoid conflicts that could hinder effective collaboration. The program will also equip athletes with discipline because they will be required to show up for training on time, attend all training and physical exercise sessions and observe the game’s rules when playing.
Athletes will also be exposed to various opportunities that can help them build a career in sports. For instance, athletes who demonstrate outstanding performance in tournaments may be identified by national football clubs and get enrolled. They may also get sponsorships to attend the best schools, thus boosting their academic achievement. Furthermore, the program will benefit learning institutions by improving the performance of middle school students who join the program. According to Fritz et al. (2020), sports improve students’ performance by reducing stress, thus promoting concentration in the classroom. The program will also enable students from different learning institutions to exchange ideas on improving performance and sharing their learning experiences. The community will also benefit from the reduced cases of crime involvement and drug use among high school students. Ideally, the program will create a distraction for middle school students, thus reducing the chances of engaging in drug abuse and crime due to idleness and negative peer pressure.
Budget
Item | Cost |
Equipment | $1500 |
Uniforms | $2000 |
Officials | $2000 |
Health checkups | $2500 |
Tournament expenses | $2500 |
Legal fees | $1500 |
References
Blakey, P. (2011). Sport Marketing. SAGE.
Chandrappa, A. L. (2021). The influence of school and family environment on sports participation among high school students of Belgaum division. Lulu Publication.
Fritz, J., Cöster, M. E., Rosengren, B. E., Karlsson, C., & Karlsson, M. K. (2020). Daily school physical activity improves academic performance. Sports, 8(6), 83. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports8060083
Kelly, A. (2018). Social skills. Social Skills, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315173405-1
Masteralexis, L. P., Barr, C. A., & Hums, M. A. (2019). Principles and practice of sport management. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
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Question
Develop a proposal for creating a sports or recreation program.(public, private, community, high school, collegiate, youth, adult, semi-professional, professional, sports, fitness, competitive, recreational). Focus on the management aspects of the program and demonstrate the concepts learned throughout the course. Design the program based on the chapters covered in the course textbook, the topics from the weekly discussions, the standards of operation in the sports and recreation industry, and your personal experiences. Through the proposal, demonstrate a culmination of your learning in SRM 320:
Present the required components of the program that you are proposing. Develop the components from the topics covered in the course text and the weekly discussions.
Explain why each aspect of the program is important to the management of the program. Show critical thinking in your explanations.
Include an argument for the creation of the program. In your argument, define the benefits of participation in the program.
Create a realistic budget for the program. Use applicable research in preparing the budget.
Illustrate integrative learning in outlining the components of the program, their importance and why the program should be developed. Integrate research from the course text, other academically appropriate resources, and personal experiences.
Include eight to ten pages of written content, in addition to the title page and references page. Format according to APA standards and include a minimum of three scholarly sources. Write clearly and organize the assignment logically, according to academic standards.