Occupational Therapist-led sporting groups use sport as a fun and engaging way to help children build important life skills. Through movement and play, children strengthen their gross motor skills, make new friends, grow in confidence, and feel a sense of belonging.
Unlike community sports, OT-led groups use sport as a therapy tool — helping children develop skills that support their everyday life. Our OTs adapt each activity to meet every child skillset, providing the “just right challenge” so they can succeed. These groups also offer children with disabilities a safe, positive, and supportive way to participate in sport and feel part of a team.
What do children learn?
Gross motor skills are the most obviously targeted skill in a sports group. Children can develop their hand eye coordination, balance, motor planning and muscle strength. These all lead to improved performance across a range of sports and daily activities, including self-care and leisure. OT led sporting groups focus on developing basic skills that are transferable across a variety of sporting activities, such as passing and throwing, following a rhythm, agility, and endurance. For some children, developing these basic skills can lead to the transition to community-based sporting clubs.
Social Skills and Functioning
However, sporting groups don’t just support gross motor development, but also with the children’s social skills. It supports the development of communication skills, teamwork, and expected winning and losing behaviours. Within a team, children are encouraged to make new friends, work together, encourage others, and work towards a team goal. With the support of OT’s, sporting groups are a great place for children to develop the social skills they require at school, in the community, and in later life.
OT led sport groups also require children to use their executive functioning skills. When participating in sports or group activities children are required to listen, follow instructions, maintain attention, practice sequences, and persist. Through sporting groups children develop their ability to:
- Understand and retain rules
- Use impulse control to wait for their turn
- Reflect on why something worked or did not work, and try again.
Furthermore, being a part of a group means that children are required to compromise and negotiate, as well as try different strategies, thus developing their flexible thinking skills.
Sporting groups also provide an opportunity for a range of sensory experiences that can be calming or alerting. Tactile (touch), proprioceptive (body awareness) and vestibular (balance) sensory inputs can be found through various sports, and provide opportunities to gain these experiences in a fun and structured way.
Sport and Mental Health
Research shows that exercise is extremely beneficial for mental health. When a person exercises, the brain releases ‘feel good chemicals’ like serotonin and endorphins that improve mood. In addition, being a part of a group and learning new skills supports the development of children’s resilience and self-esteem. These also support their mental wellbeing throughout all aspects of their life. In addition, being a part of a team fosters a sense of belonging and build leadership skills, that are transferable across all aspects of a child’s life.
OT led sporting groups provide supported opportunities for development across a range of areas, extending beyond the physical. OT led sports groups specifically provide a child the opportunity to transfer skills they have developed within their individual sessions into a new environment.
If you are interested in supporting your child to engage in sport, please speak to their occupational therapist. Follow our social media pages and check our website for upcoming sporting groups. You can also contact us at hello@occupationaltherapy.com.au or call us on 9913 3823.
