As thousands of Kiwi kids head back to school today, one Christchurch teacher is welcoming her students with a challenge to collaborate, communicate and think critically – as part of Sport Canterbury’s ‘You Got Game?’ initiative.

The senior students at Thorrington School therefore have something extra special to look forward to, with teacher Nicky Reynolds entering her Year 5 and 6 students in the competition that has a prize that is truly priceless.

'You Got Game?' invites individuals or groups of primary school-aged children around Canterbury to come up with a brand-new game to incorporate into the Top Team Challenge starting in Term 3 2020.

Each year, Sport Canterbury's Top Team Challenge engages over 18,000 Cantabrians of all ages. The challenge consists of a series of fun, interactive games that participants take on in a team format. In these unprecedented times, it is creative way to keep people of all ages active and inspired and has never been more relevant for our communities.

In March Mrs Reynolds and the other senior teachers at Thorrington School committed to involving the students in ‘You Got Game’ before lockdown in the hopes of engaging the students in a project promoting teamwork, cooperation and problem solving.

“Every Year the Top Team Challenge visits our senior school, it’s something we have done for years and has become a bit of a tradition that the younger children in the school look up to. They compete in their house groups, which adds to the fun and gives them a chance to get to know each other,” she says.

“We are always looking for authentic, real-life learning opportunities, and were excited to see four new games this season and so when we heard about the competition to design a new game for this season, we were very keen to get the students involved,” she adds.

All 150 Year 5 and 6 Tuakana students are taking part in the initiative and have been split into groups of three to four with 40 groups total.

The children will work together to come up with an engaging game and in doing so, will learn the value of working as a team to create a better outcome.

“Of course they will come across problems, but ultimately they will have to promote their game at the end of this and be proud of what they have achieved,” says Reynolds.

At the end of the competition the students and their teachers will come together to pick the game that will be submitted to be judged against other entries.

“We will put the voting criteria to the kids so they can decide on how they are going to judge each game. Every group will have the opportunity to present their design to the other students with judging taking place once everyone has had their chance to explain their game.”

“The students have been very competitive so far, they are passionate about their idea being the winning one,” she adds.

The winning contestants will have their game built by the Sport Canterbury team for use across the region during the 2020/21 Top Team Challenge season. The winner will also have the opportunity to name their game and win a free Top Team Challenge for their school. 

Example Game - https://www.sporty.co.nz/asset/downloadasset?id=67860a02-d3e1-4ed0-b956-27f4ce553946

For more information visit the Sport Canterbury website - https://www.sporty.co.nz/sportcanterbury/Top-Team-Challenge-1

Download a registration form - https://www.sporty.co.nz/asset/downloadasset?id=08349a13-c29d-47a3-b4c8-9b6606b00324