A small group of year 10 students interested in joining the SEDA Basketball program next year attended the SEDA SA Basketball class’s trial day in March of the last term. This visit included a half-day of activities designed to provide our visitors with a true experience while also exposing them to the classroom atmosphere and school culture. The visitors met current students before class to talk and play basketball before the day’s first class began.
Throughout the day the class participated in a series of games and activities to improve our collaborative and leadership capabilities. To do this, we all had to participate in unusual activities with these capabilities in mind.
The day began with groupings forming throughout the classroom, with visiting kids blending in with existing table groups. The teachers gave out paper and paints and instructed us to sketch what best described our game. We have a lot of amusing and fascinating responses and artworks. This was a great task to improve our collaborative abilities, as we all had to share with the class and talk to the other group members at our tables.
The following activity includes making and comparing pop-stick boats. In this project, we were divided into four even groups, given the same materials, and told to build identical ships while only being permitted to talk to different groups once every five minutes over twenty minutes. This was a great way for us to collaborate, as well as show our leadership abilities in different ways. For example, we had one person who shared what was happening during the small meetings, a few people leading the construction of the boat, and the others creating concepts for the design of the boat, all while the group had to communicate clearly to one another.
We finished the day with a practical session led by Marena Whittle of Adelaide Lightning. Marena is a 28-year-old WNBL player from Victoria. She formerly played collegiate basketball at North Dakota State College. Marena Whittle led the group and assisted kids in setting up and participating in shooting and passing drills, which were followed by a three-on-three mini-tournament. Visiting students were allowed to demonstrate their abilities and observe the SEDA Basketball players’ abilities. The basketball class’s trial day was a massive success, and those who participated on the day all had positive things to say. With upcoming trial days for the other sports classes, we encourage all those who are curious to join one of the next trial days for their desired class. A huge thanks to all those who came to and participated in the past trial days, and to the teachers and staff who set up these events. We hope to see you at our next events.
The upcoming dates are as follows:
- Soccer South – 17th June
- AFL North – 21st June
- Soccer North – 3rd August
- Netball – 25th August
- Basketball – 2nd September
- Cricket – 24th October