While training young athletes, coaches are teaching them how to take the initiative. The eagerness to do something often leads to great results and victories, not just in the sports fields but also in life. The initiative is a personal trade and one of the most useful skills that someone can possess. It’s not hereditary, and a person must acquire it. The online school has its fair share in influencing the development of the initiative in young students.
Being able to take action on your own, without always being told what to do is a powerful skill. People with initiative are acting when it’s necessary. Their eyes are on the goal in front of them. Take any successful athlete in the world, and you will see that one of their best characteristics is being brave to take the initiative. Take a story of any successful businessman or a person in the world, and you will see that they achieved it by doing things first and doing the work that others didn’t, solving problems that got in the way.
Why Is Initiative Important?
Day and age in which we live require capable individuals who dare to do something on their own, rather than being passive and waiting for someone’s instructions. Of course, the initiative involves knowledge, fast-thinking, experience, courage, and self-confidence. That is why it is essential to encourage children to take the initiative from their young age. It will eventually become a habit for them, and when they grow up, it will be much easier to decide on taking the first step and doing something on their own.
All parties that, in a way, shape children’s minds have an influence on them and can help develop the habit of taking the initiative. Parents in the first place, and if we are talking about young athletes, coaches play a crucial role, too. Children spend a lot of time at school, so naturally, schools are influencing them as well. However, traditional schools have limited potential when it comes to teaching children to have initiative.
Where Does Traditional School Fail?
The short answer to this question is – it is because of the way they work. We are not trying to turn this into an article against traditional schooling, but it has many flaws. Some are obvious and already addressed, others not so much. In regular school, everything is predetermined for a student, and all students have to do is follow the instructions. It has been like that for ages.
At the beginning of the school year, students get a timetable. They know when school starts and when it ends. It’s decided in advance when they have each class (subject). The class lasts for 45 minutes and starts when the teacher enters the classroom. In general, the classrooms are environments that don’t encourage taking the initiative, even if it means asking additional questions.
In other words, at traditional schools, students follow directions. They don’t have the freedom to learn on their own. Here is an example:
“Today, we are learning that lesson.”
“Read pages 50 to 65 at home.”
“Learn this and that lesson, it will be on the test.”
It’s already a defined system that doesn’t allow a student to have an individual approach to any subject. They are also not encouraged to take the first step and do something on their own because they don’t need to. Someone has already done that instead of them.
What Is Different at Online School?
A lot of things. At Sport World School, we give students absolute flexibility and freedom when it comes to creating learning plans. Of course, we have a curriculum, and each student has learned from it and mastered that predefined program, but they can do it in their own terms and speed. Student creates a personal learning plan that fits their personal needs. They can adjust school responsibilities to their sports obligations.
Online school also teaches students to master their time management skills. We don’t tell them when the school starts, they decide on their own. Therefore, it is up to each student to sign up for the online learning platform. They are making the first step. It is the same with subjects and daily assignments – a student is choosing what they are learning today and for how long.
Additionally, the curriculum is designed in such a manner that it feels more like discovering a certain topic than learning in a traditional sense of that word. It also stimulates students to research a particular subject in detail and express their own opinions or personal understanding of a topic. Even when a student asks for teaching support, that live class is only between them and the teacher, and it is an active conversation, rather than just a monologue of a teacher explaining the lesson.
The online school works in a way that requires of students and, at the same time, encourages them to take the first step. They are the ones who have to start things – decide time for learning, log into the platform, open a particular lesson, learn and explore, etc. Over time, a student gets used to doing things even before someone tells them to do so. An online school teaches them indirectly on how to take the initiative.
Online School Has Other Benefits
Besides teaching young athletes to take the initiative, Sport World School offers many other benefits to them. We take a lot of pride in our unique learning methodology that fits the needs of young athletes. Our ultimate goal is to help them balance school and sport without compromising any of these two important areas. A child has enough time for training and games, as well as for school.
If you are interested in finding out more, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@sportworldschool.com. Our education consultant will gladly explain to you in detail about how our online school works. You can explore our curriculum per program here and apply whenever you want because we have open enrollment throughout the entire year.