Run Jump Throw: Teaching fundamental skills to young children

Some of the Physical Education Teachers and Coaches of Barbados got an opportunity to learn one of the new concepts in the sporting field, which is grounded in the Run, Jump Throw.

Delivered by Elroy Agard at the University at the West Indies, the programme was designed to show how the teachers and coaches can teach the fundamental movement skills and develop physical literacy with children.

Agard told the Barbados Advocate that “the idea was to share with them the whole idea of kids athletics where they learnt things about growth and development, why we change the mode of track and field competition for kids their age, the mode of training and the implements used, which are smaller and more child-friendly... and basically trying to get them to learn Run, Jump Throw and lead them gradually into traditional track and field.”

The overall goal was to have the teachers and coaches provide a physical activity program that serves as a strong foundation for all sports.
One of the coaches that took part described the three-day teaching event, which culminated in a competition that attracted 70 children, as “mind-blowing”.

Dean Squires, who has been a basketball coach for decades, elaborated: “Mind blowing” as in you think it would be obvious but then when you realise it is mind blowing from how you can help from a childhood stage to give a foundation that would then cause you to achieve the results you are hoping to achieve in any sport.”

Initially hearing about the programme, Squires said it may lead you to think it is only about track and field, but then you realise that it gives the fundamentals and the basics that can then help any athlete transition into any sport.

Though the target was for children in primary school or just entering secondary school, Squires mentioned that what they learnt can be applied to both children and adults. However “if you can get these things implemented from child stage then you get better quality sports in the adults”.

He plans to implement the things in the programme with some of the older children he coaches as he believes it is important to have the fundamentals with movement and motor skills.

Chinaka Blackman, who is a physical education teacher at the St. Stephen's Nursery School, thought it was very informative and she got a lot of information that she needed.

“The first thing that I learnt that stood out to me is that we should be doing more skills such as running, jumping and throwing.”
To this end she said that children's development needed to be skills focused and you have to start that as early as possible.

Both Blackman and Squires believes that this type of method should be incorporated into the physical education programme in primary schools in Barbados as children need to have the skills to do anything and these formative skills will allow them to specialise later.

“Once you have these basics you can use that to develop any sport or any specific track and field event you want to,” said Blackman.(CG)