Routledge Game Sense: Pedagogy for Performance, Participation and Enjoyment (Routledge Studies in Physical Education and Youth Sport)

Game Sense is an exciting and innovative approach to coaching and physical education that places the game at the heart of the session. It encourages the player to develop skills in a realistic context, to become more tactically aware, to make better decisions and to have more fun. Game Sense is a comprehensive, research-informed introduction to the Game Sense approach that defines and explores key concepts and essential pedagogical theory, and that offers an extensive series of practical examples and plans for using Game Sense in real teaching and coaching situations. The first section of the book helps the reader to understand how learning occurs and how this informs player-centred pedagogy. It also explains the relationship between Game Sense and other approaches to Teaching Games for Understanding. The second section of the book demonstrates how the theory can be applied in practice, providing a detailed, step-by-step guide to using Game Sense in eleven sports, including soccer, basketball, field hockey and softball. No other book explores the Game Sense approach in such depth, or combines theory and innovative practical techniques. Game Sense is invaluable reading for all students of physical education or sports coaching, any in-service physical education teacher or any sports coach working with children or young people. Review "A fantastic resource that helped me, as a generalist teacher, engage the students in learning in Physical Education. The chapter on touch rugby contained background information and useful explanations with teacher-friendly unit plans, activities and even sample questions ... Right from the start, the ‘Game Sense’ approach outlined for touch rugby engaged my students and got them moving, learning and playing", Eric McCarron, teacher, Banksmeadow Public (primary/elementary) School, Sydney, Australia "The Game Sense approach to teaching touch rugby ... has been particularly helpful for me in constructing meaningful learning opportunities for undergraduate Physical Education Teacher Education students, and has been particularly effective in outlining alternative pedagogical approaches for teaching less familiar game concepts", Amanda Mooney, Lecturer in Health and Physical Education, University of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. "As a coaching and development officer in Rugby League, I found the activities in Game Sense: Pedagogy for Performance, Participation and Enjoyment to be extremely useful because of their effectiveness and simplicity in the application of Games Sense principles. The activities were not only thoroughly enjoyed by participants but most importantly, allowed for effective teaching and learning to take place", David Lakisa, NSWRL Pacific Islander Coaching & Development Officer, Sydney, Australia "Game Sense: Pedagogy for Performance, Participation and Enjoyment has been very helpful in developing my teaching. The framework in chapter five gives me the guidelines to be able to maximize participation as well as allowing students to learn while playing. Quality questioning is an important part of the process as it confirms the learning from the modified games and stimulates thinking. I have been able to use the modified games in my classes as well as adapting them to some Australian football training sessions, which the participants enjoyed thoroughly", David Hyde, PDHPE pre-service teacher: University of Western Sydney, Sydney and Game Development Officer for AFL NSW/ACT, Australia "It is through games like these ones, where the players are constantly challenged to think and act using different skills, that some of the best players in the world have been formed. Reading [chapter 10] and experiencing its proposals through using it in my teaching has been a fantastic experience, not only for both for my pre-service teachers and soccer players who have benefited from it, but also for me", Dr Jorge Knijnik, Lecturer, School of Education, University o