On the TunneySide of Sports June 1, 2020 #798 Up next… Life-Long Learning
After further review… A few years back I was making presentations to educational groups, e.g., teachers, principals, etc., as to how and why we need to change the way we were teaching kids. I would begin my presentation by saying, “We tell kids ‘you come to school to learn’ as if learning were in here and ‘living’ were out there.” I had the feeling that some teachers felt they and they alone had the keys/secrets to learning. In several schools in which I was the principal, we opened an environment within our school called “Alternative Education” whereby we involved the students in the process of establishing the learning curriculum.
My doctoral dissertation was collaborated with Dr. Jim Jenkins titled “Creating A Positive School Climate” whereby we identified 14 themes that would turn a school environment from the negative to the positive. Are today’s schools in this pandemic working towards creating a more positive and alternative way of teaching? As difficult and saddening as today’s plight is: Can we improve our learning environment?
As the TunneySide moves from “schools” and “learning” to sports, can we operate our sports in schools or in our professional ranks with improvements? We ask the questions here!
Will the high schools and colleges open their football seasons on time? Traditionally, college football players return to campus 2 months from today to begin the season. Can they do that in 2020? Football may not be more important than other sports but in most schools, the football income provides the funding needed for all sports. What we are hearing now is that a second wave of Coronavirus is due to occur in early fall. Can schools risk vast numbers of students on campus with that possibility? Will the stands need to remain vacant?
Moving to professional football another opportunity presents itself in light of the question about change and improvement: Are there suggestions you have to help improve the pro game? Now is the time! NFL committees meet regularly to make improvements e.g., safety issues, game strategies, etc. What suggestions can you provide to help improve the professional game? As an example would allowing the quarterback the opportunity to “throw-the-ball-away” i.e., intentional grounding be an improvement in preventing QB injuries?
Will you log-in your ideas as to when we should start football in 2020 among other thoughts?
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Need sports to read as we wait out this COVID-19 pandemic? Jim’s sports books contain stories of humor, inspiration, and insights about sports people. Choose your book titles here or mail $15 per book to:
Jim Tunney Youth Foundation
P.O. Box 1440
Pebble Beach, CA 93953
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