SUPER Program

 

SUPER (Sports United To Promote Education And Recreation) is a character-building, sports-based life skills program. SUPER is comprised of a series of 18 modules developed to be taught like sports clinics where participants are involved in three sets of activities: learning the physical skills related to a specific sport; learning life skills related to sports in general; and playing the sport.

 

The goal of the SUPER Program is to teach participants the mental skills that are important for both sport and life. We believe that if sport is to serve as an effective model for learning life skills, the sport experience must be designed with this goal in mind. Promoting competence is not an unplanned outcome of sports participation. It occurs when athletes compete against themselves-- more specifically, when that competition is focused on maximizing their own potential and achieving their goals. In other words, when sport participants are as concerned with knowing themselves as they are with proving themselves, sport becomes an essential element in personal growth and self-expression. As can be seen by the cover, achieving excellence in sport requires more than passion and skill, character must also be developed. If all three are taught, it is possible to attain personal and performance excellence.

 

Linking sports and life skill is a "natural." First, life skills are similar to physical skills in the way they are learned, through demonstration and practice. Second, many of the skills learned in sport are transferable to other life domains. Third, sport is a pervasive activity throughout our society. Fourth, it is best to teach life skills in an environment where youth want to be. Sport is such an environment. In fact, it is a major influence in the development of identity and competence for adolescents.

 

Several of the SUPER skill modules are based on GOAL Program modules. However, in the modules based on GOAL, the procedures for implementing SUPER are different. Skill modules are adapted to fit the specific sport and time. Most skills require approximately 30 minutes to teach. There is less writing done and activities are more active and related to sport.

 

Specific SUPER Programs

During the past several years, Virginia Commonwealth University men's and women's basketball teams and the women's soccer team have taught life skills and sport skills as part of a service-learning course to middle school boys and girls. Two varsity student-athletes serve as their coaches. During the 90-minute sessions, there are three stations; sport fundamentals, sport games, and life skill teaching.

 

In preparation for teaching SUPER, the student-athletes are taught the skills they will teach and are asked to apply them to their own sport and to school. They are then taught how to teach the skills. They are also taught how to use sport observation strategies. To use sport observation strategies, they are told that when they instruct, demonstrate, and conduct practices, they need to focus on how the youth participate as well as on just how well they perform and participate. Understanding "how" provides information on the mental skills that the participants have in dealing with coaching/teaching and may be indicative of how they will respond to other forms of instruction, such as school and job training. We have developed a Sport Observation System to aid the student-athletes in assessing these areas.

 

We ask that the SUPER student-athletes speak to the members of their group individually about what they have observed and help the youth to explore what this means to them. We also have developed a "report card" that is given to each participant at the end of the clinic. The report card provides feedback on the "how" and "how well" each participant has done.

 

Workshop samples

SUPER Leader workshop

SUPER Student workshop