Elementary students gain valuable experience on the court.
Caption: Matheus Ratke, the Little Warriors basketball coach, guides the elementary kids in a dribbling exercise involving teamwork in groups of threes. [by Dr. Cristina Meier]
by Anita Silva
Basketball is a fundamental sport taught at schools around the world, including the Pan American Christian Academy (PACA). Secondary students who want to be basketball players have the chance to train, practice and participate in competitions against other schools when they join the Junior Varsity (JV) and Varsity teams at PACA. and Varsity teams. In recent years, the question has been: What about the little ones?
In the 2022-2023 school year, the Little Warriors Basketball program was started for the elementary students. Beginning with the kindergarten students, elementary students have the chance to discover and improve their skills for basketball by participating in this weekly training club.
The original organizer of this program is PACA’s Athletic Director, Renato Sousa. Souza recognized the need for a comprehensive approach to youth basketball.
“I thought about the whole program, including the name,” Souza said, as he reflected on the foundational goals of the Little Warriors.
The whole program of Little Warriors includes soccer, cheerleading, jiu jitsu and basketball. When it comes to the sport of basketball, these kids can develop a specific type of skills needed in dribbling, passing and making baskets.
According to the News-Web website, basketball may “stimulate the development of brain areas that regulate coordination between the eyes and the hand or between the movements of both hands.”
Although it is a good and beneficial sport, it may bring some challenges in teaching it, especially for little kids. This has been the observation of our Little Warrior coaches at PACA.
“The most challenging thing is to make them understand that Little Warriors are to learn and develop their skills,” said Matheus Ratke, who has been training Little Warriors basketball players since last year.
Caption: Coach Ratke, the Little Warriors basketball coach, guides the elementary kids around the court during training. [by Giovanna Sousa]
He noticed that skills training is not the primary reason why most of the students join Little Warriors.
“They do Little Warriors just for fun and not to learn,” said Ratk, stating that dealing with little kids is a little more challenging than the older athletes participating in secondary sports.
In spite of that, the elementary students are having fun and enjoying their practices each week. They are having different experiences and learning different things that may be useful for the rest of their lives.
“It is fun to play, the exercises are exciting and the coach is really nice,” said, Rafaella Pavanelo, a third grade student from 3B, reinforcing the necessity of having a close attention not only on are present basketball players but also on our future players.
Little Warriors Basketball takes place on Mondays for third through fifth grade students on regularly scheduled school days, and Fridays at lunch break for first and second grade.
