Final Reflection

Learning about Australian sports and culture has been a pleasure for me over the past few months. Having always had a love for sports, I was very eager to learn about the sports culture in Australia. I had gone in with some knowledge of the important role that sports play in Australia, but I had so much to learn. Even the names of the sports were unfamiliar to me, which was surprising because I expected that I at least would have seen them on television. Going in to primary education, it was particularly interesting for me to get to see the youth side of sports and the effect that it has on children in comparison to my experiences with youth sport back in the United States.

My favorite sport experience in Australia was attending the Sydney Swans AFL game. I was very impressed by the Sydney Cricket Ground and could feel the enthusiasm even walking into the stadium. The oval stadium made it feel very full of life because the crowd was completely enclosed and close together. It also made it easy for viewing purposes to watch the game because there really was not a bad seat in the stadium. While it was impossible to find a hot pretzel or an appetizing looking hot dog, it felt very similar to football games back in the US. Everyone around me was in their red and white and seemed to be big fans of the Swans. Although I was wearing a red shirt, I almost felt the need to by a Swans scarf because of all of the Swans gear in my area. Even with the Swans losing the game, the crowd’s enthusiasm stayed strong throughout the game. Many people had giant flags that they waved whenever the Swans scored and the cheers in the crowd were great. I even felt at home hearing the fight song because it brought me back to my own college’s fight song at football games. The actual game, however, was very difficult to follow. While I had finally thought I picked up the rules of Rugby League, this truly through me for a loophole. When I first sat down and started watching it literally felt like anything goes in the game. The more I watched the more I got the hang of it but it was so quick moving that it was hard to understand what was going on. I found the passing strategies and the idea that they could bounce the ball on the field while they were running very interesting. It took me about the whole game to understand that they had the option when they caught the ball to kick it for points or to continue to push it up the field. I was very impressed by the athleticism of the players and the speed in which they pushed the ball up the field. Overall, it was really a great experience to sit amongst big Swan fans and experience their sports spirit.

On a youth level, I found my experiences with sports while teaching at St.Ignacious Riverview to have been the most educational for me. Not only was I able to observe them in sport, but I was able to have conversations about their feelings regarding sport. It was extremely interesting that every boy in the school had to play a sport even if they did not want to. Being one of the top GPS schools in sports, it was not much of a shock but nonetheless very interesting. The presence of sports is greatly felt even walking around the school with flags of the Warratahs and Swans decorating the classrooms. Every week at assembly, the sports achievements for the week are announced and the boys get special recognition from the whole school for their achievement. In addition to this, all of the talk is about sports. Not only did these boys want to talk to me about their rugby games, but they even wanted to talk about everything I knew about American sports. I was very surprised to hear them asking questions about my favorite NBA and NFL team. It was very clear to me that they had strong interest in sports and that the atmosphere of the school supported these interests. When talking to some of the teachers, they explained to me that as the students get older, they pressure gets tougher and tougher in sport. Many of the parents are more concerned about their boy’s sports achievements than any of their academic achievements. This puts tremendous pressure on the boys and can have a strong effect on the way they perceive themselves if they are not as athletic as their peers. I cannot imagine what it would be like to attend this school if you did not love sports. However, there are definitely a lot of positives that come out of the sports environment at Riverview. The school puts a lot of emphasis on being team plays are good sports towards the opposing teams. I noticed that the boys are supportive of each other on the field and always give a cheer to the other team and the referees after they finish their games. These skills can be used off the field when boys have to work in group settings which is very important as they grow into adults.

Overall, my experiences with sports in Australia have been very enjoyable. I was exposed to new sports such as Netball and Lawn Bowling and had a lot of fun learning the rules of these games. When I go back to the US and teach about Australia to my class, I will definitely makes sure I include a unit on Australian sports!