I am a first year special education teacher. Not only am I tackling everything involved in being a new teacher, I decided to help coach the basketball team! When I took on this responsibility, I quickly noticed something that was not right......
I help coach 14 seven and eight year olds.
It can get quite crazy at times, but I would not trade it for the world! These students are in 2nd and 3rd grade and they are just starting to learn how to play basketball. The community around here is known as high poverty and there are many gangs. Playing basketball keeps students out of trouble and motivated to do better in school.
My Project
We practice on an outside basketball court. The basketball hoops that we use are very old and not adjustable. The hoops stay at the height of 10 feet. That means when we practice, the team is shooting at a 10 foot goal. This is not the correct height goal for this age group. They should be playing on an 8 foot goal. Eventually the team gets the hang of shooting on the 10 foot goals. But here is the catch, when we play games (at a local community inside gym), the students are shooting on an 8 foot goal (what they should be shooting on originally). This causes them to over shoot the ball during games. This problem might explain why we have never won a game. I am afraid that if we continue to let these students practice and play basketball like this, they will get discouraged and quit.
It is not fair for our students practice on old, broken, incorrect height basketball goals.
Getting new adjustable basketball hoops will help this school. Not only will our team be able to practice on 8 foot goals, but the Physical Education classes will be able to enjoy the appropriate height hoops as well. These students deserve a fair chance to practice and play basketball!
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