Getting Physical around the District

December 15, 2021

“They are the building blocks for movement and a long-term healthy lifestyle,” says Aldergrove Community Secondary School Physical Health Education teacher Brian Hunter on the topic of physical literacy.

Hunter is also working as an educator for PacificSport, which is a not-for-profit organization that is powering sport. It delivers training, resources, and capacity support to the sport community, from grass roots to high performance. The Langley School District has partnered with PacificSport to offer training sessions in schools to help build the capacity of teachers at the elementary level. Elementary schools taking part in this physical literacy project include Parkside Centennial, Wix-Brown, Shortreed Community, Glenwood, and Langley Meadows.

As part of the project, Hunter moves from school to school to work with students and their teachers on all things physical literacy. His classes include activities like dynamic warm-ups, and building skills around running, throwing, and catching.

“We want the kids obviously to engage in the activities and to learn, but in that process we are trying to help the teachers identify technical skills, for example the throw, you know ‘where is the elbow in the throwing mechanics?’, and ‘what are the feet doing?’, and then give them some activities in which they can take away and continue to work with them,” explains Hunter after a full day of sessions at Parkside Centennial Elementary.

The long-time teacher mentors the educators and tailors his instruction to their needs.

“Everybody’s got their own personality, everyone has their own background. Some of the teachers come into it with a tonne of knowledge and they just need some different and new activities. Some teachers don’t have the background knowledge and need that support and say ‘ok, I can do that, I understand that.’ Now, that they’ve seen it they can start building those skills,” says Hunter.

He believes physical literacy is important to all students for their health and well-being

“Physical literacy for some students is just that: physical activity. If we can make it enjoyable then they’re going to want to come back, and then we can help them build those skills to advance them even further,” comments Hunter.

Hunter, who takes pride in athletics and community coaching, wants parents to know that there are other benefits to physical literacy for young learners, just like any other academic subject.

“If we look at reading and writing, they need to know where the words fit in a specific sentence, and if we’ve got the motor skills of running, jumping, throwing, it opens up the doors to more possibilities, self-confidence, and just getting them to enjoy themselves and getting outside and playing so they’re not always in front of some kind of screen,” he adds.

His hope through this project is to continue to build up students’ confidence so they can be involved and engaged in the community.