Episode 19: Director of Physical Literacy for the Sport for Life Society, Drew Mitchell

“If we close our minds to stuff we don't innovate, we don't grow.”

The purpose of the Student Fitness Experts Podcast is to empower and educate anyone that works with kids, in a way that benefits the whole child to become successful, strong, and empowered young adults.

Sports and fitness does not have to be forced upon kids. 

Do you struggle with getting your kids enjoy their sports and physical education hours? Lucky for you our guest today knows very well how to bring fitness into their happy curriculum and provide their mentors appropriate training and guidance! 

Join Karen and Farah on this episode of the SFE Podcast as they interview Drew Mitchell, who is the Director of Physical Literacy for the Sport for Life Society. Drew shares his ideas on why physical literacy is important to any educational institution for children and why and how it could be integrated in their curriculum.   

Tune in to learn all about physical literacy and integrate it in your child's learning methods to set your child up for ultimate success!

About the Guest:

 

Drew Mitchell is the Director of Physical Literacy for the Sport for Life Society and works as a consultant focused on the development of physical literacy at the community level. He also promotes the Canadian Sport for Life Movement. Drew is a graduate of Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and has worked extensively in the sport system as an educator and developer of programs for the past 19 years. Drew has been involved in sport and fitness for over 40 years as an athlete, coach, administrator, volunteer, developer and manager. Offering his invaluable take on educating kids on physical fitness, Drew makes this episode unparalleled and inspiring.

TimeStamps:

• [00:41] About Drew Mitchell, a snippet of her Journey
• [02:15] What is physical literacy? Learn Drew’s take on the same.
• [07:20] About the Community Movement created by his team
• [17:02] Talking about mentorship and how it influences
• [17:32] Learn about the Blended Learning Approach followed by Drew and his team
• [18:53] How Drew practises knowledge exchange with the community
• [20:53] Physical literacy and how it translates into many different arenas
• [24:21] Drew talks about the importance of physical literacy and fitness
• [27:12] How to find the type of movement that really resonates with a child’s personality type?
• [28:28] Mental health project with ninth graders in Vancouver
• [34:53] Changing pre-conceived notions and perceptions around fitness
• [44:44] Role of fitness in his life now
• [49:23] Connect with Drew

Quotes:

“Physical literacy is about building that ability, that competence, to be able to do a variety of skills.”

“If I teach you physical literacy, then I've taught you the whole alphabet a little bit, you can read any book, so to speak.”

“I think if you're gonna have a proper learning pathway, a one and done approach to education never really works that well.”

“One of the most important things that we do is knowledge exchange, is knowledge sharing.”

“It's a collective impact approach, pretty classic, but with our own modifications to it.”

“But physical literacy has been very strategic for us to open some doors that may not have been open to a sports context. ”

“If we close our minds to stuff we don't innovate,  we don't grow.”