Thinking about education

I encourage you to watch this a few times.

Olympus and the Mary Tidlund Foundation

The Olympus Team Sports School has a working and educational relationship with the Mary Tidlund Foundation. Mary is the founder of a charitable foundation that supports social justice causes locally and globally. Please read a story about her work in the Calgary Herald.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Calgarian+Mary+Tidlund+amazing+charity+spreads+smiles/2983055/story.html

… And visit the foundation homepage for information about their humanitarian efforts.

http://www.tidlundfoundation.com/

A History of Olympus Team Sports School

While Olympus awaits start up in September, 2010 it has already developed an interesting history. It began as an idea created by John Csikos, a former men’s national water polo team coach and junior high school teacher to integrate multi-sport training for young kids at the early stages of their athletic development. John’s experiment with a girls after school multi-sport club was very successful in the early 2000s where several of his athletes trained and competed through the junior high years in water polo, basketball, volleyball and soccer. Several of these girls are now playing varsity sports at university and are on a path for life-long physical activity and health.

Over the years John shared the idea of a multi-sport school with me, Gary Malcolm, and as I came to the end of a doctoral program in Education at the University of Calgary, I re-kindled the idea with John and other highly respected people in the community. The addition I made to the idea was to design a plan that would not only be sports oriented, but would also have two other features: 1) a strong learning philosophy that engages students with the work they do in school while integrating the curriculum into the sports training. Having students live out the curriculum while being active in the gym or pool is vary attractive to families with active children that do not thrive sitting a desk for the better part of a day; 2) a dynamic community within the school that is more inclusive of parents and experts in the community and teaches life-skills and social values on a daily basis.

I began talking about this idea of education being less of a “factory” model where students pass from grade to grade, teacher to teacher and then pumped out into the world. Rather, the discussion was about teachers and coaches moving through the years with students creating relationships … this de-fragments the learning experience and makes the learning more meaningful. As the conversations continued over the summer of 2009 I realized that in talking with specific parents, teachers and educators in the community that the idea had traction. I put together the idea more formally on paper in the form of a business plan and began researching the idea with Alberta Education and the founders of other independent schools in the Calgary. A core group had formed including two dedicated teachers that agreed to continue supporting the formation of this school where the classroom and sports both support a high quality education.

We also began to develop partnerships with successful organizations in the community that we hope to develop and deepen over the years. The Mary Tidlund Charitable Foundation, the Galileo Educational Network, The Tao of Peace Martial Arts and Life-Skills studio, Talkinc psychology have all provided generous support and shared values.

By the beginning of 2010 the formation of the school could not be stopped and we are now working toward formal accreditation from Alberta Education, rounding out our student body and participating families and preparing to have a fully functioning school environment by September. The multi-sport training will begin and the students will begin forming an identity around the extensive physical activity, the dynamic learning environment, increasing opportunities for competition locally, nationally and internationally, and a culture of respect and compassion for others and the natural environment.

Olympus is the result of entrepreneurship toward building fundamental values for a peaceful and healthy society and provides the skills and aptitudes to thrive in the complexity of global society. It is through these values that have already been established that the students and families of Olympus will contribute to their own growth and balance.

The “Team” in Olympus Team Sports School

As a “team sports school” learning at Olympus will take place in an environment where working together, sharing, collaborating and growing is an everyday experience. While the students and teachers/coaches will be training to improve in the core team sports, the classroom will also have a strong team environment … and not only between students, but also between teachers, between teachers and students, between students, teachers and parents, between experts in the community, students, parents and teachers … you can see how the concept of team reaches out and is inclusive, rather than being limiting and exclusive.

So yes, at Olympus we train in team sports … but the school in itself is a team (or a community) from the Board, to the teachers, parents, students and expert collaborators. Imagine your child learning and growing in a strong, dynamic, caring and ethical community … it takes a village to raise a child.

The message in general … find more ways to participate in your child’s school and create a healthy interactive learning community at the same time.

Ken Robinson … names the revolution.

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/living/2010/03/16/sir.ken.robinson.ted2010.cnn

Welcome to the Olympus Team Sports School Blog

The Olympus Team Sport School blog … where we will engage people in educational discussions about the healthy physical, emotional, intellectual and moral development of students, parents and teachers while integrating multi-sport training and school.

Visit our website!

www.olympusschool.ca