MULTIPLE EVENTS FOR

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
By Andy Higgins
The author believes that our elementary school Track and Field programs must be
both fun and challenging. He has developed a multiple events program, utilizing
scoring tables, which meet both these needs. The program involves four events for
six-year-olds and by age 11 children are doing a modified pentathlon. The scoring
tables (available in September or October from CTFA) encourage healthy
competition as the students try to improve their performances. Re-printed with
permission from the author.
Running, jumping and throwing are the foundations of most activities. We all know
that a solid foundation is essential for any structure, and that is also true for
building skills. Knowing this, it is reasonable to think that we should build adequate
athletic foundations for our young people. Today, in most schools, we fail to do
this. We specialize too soon in Track and Field, and in other activities we attempt
to teach skills and play games before children are physically fit or have adequately
mastered the fundamentals. We place too little emphasis on physical development
and do too few lead-up activities. The results are obvious.
This article is concerned primarily with Track and Field, but will naturally allude to
certain other areas. It is an overview an outline intended to stimulate some
thought and discussion. It is not an attempt to present, in detail, an entire Track
and Field program for Elementary Schools.
Each child should have the opportunity to become physically active and fit.
Children are naturally physical and we must encourage this. They have to play, to
laugh, to frolic and have fun. People will always do what they like, that which gives
them pleasure and satisfaction. But within each human being there is also a strong
need to meet challenges and grow through the process of overcoming them.
These are psychological needs that precede and are met by physical activity.
Our Track and Field programs must therefore be both fun and challenging. They
should also be kept simple but flexible enough to suit the facility and equipment
peculiarities of each situation.
A scoring table, multiple-event approach can meet these requirements as well as
create healthy competition. The scoring table helps focus attent
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performance, and the challenge of improving it, as well as the resulting satisfaction
when this happens. Multiple events ensure that children experience all aspects of
movement, develop overall fitness and encounter their own strengths and
weaknesses. Quite a bit with very little!

The program and scoring tables that I have developed ensure simplicity at the
beginning and a logical connected growth year by year. Track and Field is only
one aspect of any good program, but it is an important aspect. Any really useful
program must be integrated; each activity presented must relate to the others and
the sequence of presentation must be logical and appropriate to the age and stage
of development of the children. The organized and thoughtful teacher can also find
ways of relating the program to other subject areas by having the students do their
own measuring, timing, and recording.
The program for six-years-olds involves four events: a ball throw, a 40 meter
sprint, a standing long jump, and a 400 meter run (a simple multiple of the sprint).
The competitions can be presented in a number of ways; one event at a time, or
any other number of events, with competitions repeated at intervals. In this
fashion, each child can compare his/her present performance with past
accomplishments. The ultimate goal is a multiple-event competition for teams of 5
or 6 children within each class. The team competition is important because it binds
youngsters together and aids them in seeing their own performances in relation to
others their relative strengths and weaknesses and an acceptance of this. It
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Basic to all of this is recognizing that these are very fundamental movements.
They are simple and can be developed and reinforced in so many ways, in so
many activities throughout the year. Essential to the healthy development of these
youngsters is a good deal of enjoyable, vigorous activity. Games and relays that
involve various body parts while keeping children moving will do this. A little
planning will get huge results.
At least one event is retained in the next oldest age bracket so that there is some
year-to-year continuity and comparison is possible. The standing long jump
becomes a running long jump, and the ball throw is replaced by putting the shot.
Eventually the high jump is added and the short sprint becomes a hurdle event. By
age 11, children are doing a modified pentathlon hurdles, shot put, high jump,
long jump, and 800 meters.
At the early ages, this should be a simple in-class competition. Later, teams from
one class can compete with teams from another class in the same grade within the
school. The Toronto Board of Education has now conducted a City Championship
for Grades 7 and 8, for four years. This meet has been a resounding success.
Students and teachers alike look forward to it each year.
Next year, give multiple events a try. If you are a teacher, begin with your own
class and try to sell the idea to others. If you are a community Track and Field
person, speak with the Physical Educators in your community school or with the
Director of Physical Education for the Board. The idea is extremely saleable and
everyone reaps the benefits.