Physical Education and Athletics Philosophy
At Trinity Episcopal School the Physical Education and Athletics Department works in concert with the academic program to promote the physical, mental, and emotional growth of all students.
Beginning in kindergarten, students are immersed in a sequential, age-appropriate physical education curriculum driven by three main objectives:
1. Cultivating an understanding of and appreciation for the benefits of physical activity.
2. Promoting the development of athleticism: locomotor, nonlocomotor, and manipulative skills.
3. Facilitating the development of personal and interpersonal skills required to participate actively in cooperative or collaborative group endeavors.
Beginning in the 5th grade the opportunity to represent Trinity in interscholastic athletics is offered to all Middle School students. Interscholastic Athletics is a co-curricular program at Trinity. It complements the academic program by focusing on certain life lessons that cannot always be addressed in a classroom setting.
We ascribe to the notion that short-term, results-oriented thinking compromises long-term development. The extraordinary changes physiologically and emotionally that middle school students experience make it impossible to predict what they will become as adults. Our approach to coaching and training revolves around what is appropriate for children ages 10-14. Our coaches are teachers first and strategists second. The practice area is their classroom. They teach life lessons by fostering the development of four important relationships:
1. Relationship to Team – Putting the team first, understanding that the team is everyone’s responsibility.
2. Relationship to Teammates – Dealing with the essentials (what makes the team work) and tolerating the non-essentials (personality conflicts).
3. Relationship to Coach – Fulfilling a role as defined by the coach and trusting that the coach knows what is best for the team.
4. Relationship to Self – Learning to persevere through adversity: demanding practices, disappointing performances, and controversial calls by officials, while striving for continual improvement.
Each student is responsible for developing and maintaining these relationships. This emphasis on personal accountability allows for the values inherent to become intrinsic.
Participation in team sports can help instill a set of values that can benefit students in their adult lives. Some day our students will enter a work place that is becoming increasingly complicated and highly competitive. If we want them to charge into this new world hungry to take on exciting new challenges that await them, they will have to be equipped with a strong sense of self and the ability to collaborate with others. In athletics we have a unique opportunity to help students begin to develop these crucial traits.
