An experiential learning course in Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) has had a lasting impact on both Brock students and the local community.<\/p>\n
A group of nearly two dozen Sport Management students and women\u2019s rugby players spent two weeks in TCI last term teaching local children and youth rugby skills while sharing messages of resilience, empowerment and education.<\/p>\n
The fourth-year Sport for Development course led by Associate Professor of Sport Management Laura Cousens investigates how sport can achieve broader social objectives by identifying social issues unique to the community, designing a sport development program to address them and then delivering the program within the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeveral reports, mainly from the United Nations, identify high dropout rates for both elementary and high school students in the TCI,\u201d said Cousens. \u201cOur main goal with the project was to encourage children to stay in school and not join gangs, which have been growing in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n
To accomplish this, Brock students collaborated with the Turks and Caicos Islands Rugby Football Union (TCIRFU) to organize and deliver rugby programming to more than 1,000 children and teens in elementary and high schools on three islands in TCI. They taught participants the fundamental skills needed to play the sport and encouraged them to join the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a stay-in-school club disguised as a rugby club,\u201d said Cousens. \u201cIf children play rugby, they\u2019ll go to school.”<\/p>\n
Brock students also highlighted scholarship opportunities available to children who play rugby and engaged them in experiential learning initiatives about resilience, supporting others and belonging to a community.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore we even arrived in TCI, we looked at how we could make a positive impact beyond rugby practice so the children would have resilience tools for the rest of their lives, not only to help themselves but also so they could help others,\u201d said Laura Brown, third-year Kinesiology student and Brock rugby player.<\/p>\n
Students gave participants bracelets with positive messages written on them and created Bingo-like cards featuring achievable goals, such as making a new friend, supporting a teammate and giving someone a high-five.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kids loved them, not only for the feeling of success by checking off boxes on their cards, but they also encouraged each other and wore the cards on a Brock lanyard around their necks like medals,\u201d said Brown.<\/p>\n
The discussions and activities around resilience, sport and community culminated in a two-day national rugby tournament involving 215 elementary and high school students.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur team designed the brackets, invited the media, planned the spectator experience, refereed games and even cooked hotdogs, all the while cheering on our classmates and engaging with the kids,\u201d said James Ruddy, a fourth-year Sport Management student.<\/p>\n
The experience of implementing a sport for development program within the community went above and beyond the important lessons Ruddy and others have learned in the classroom. Although Ruddy is familiar with the foundational elements of sport development, it wasn\u2019t until this experience that he really understood \u201cwhat it takes to make it work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to overcome a lot of challenges, and it took a lot of grit and adaptability. The intangible skills we learned from stepping into roles we\u2019ve never done before and feeling the pressure of hosting a national tournament in a foreign country is something that will stay with us forever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Brown\u2019s biggest takeaway from the experience was the positive impact role modelling had on the children.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe environment we created was such an important aspect of the program. The way we gave positive affirmations and encouraged teamwork is important in helping kids grow,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe left them with many resources, but I also think we gave them a lot of hope and visions of the opportunities they can have by continuing with school and belonging to a team and a community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t