Historical Overview of Sports in Kuwait - Essay Example

Chapter Introduction: Sports in Kuwait started at around the 18th century when women were not allowed to participate. Due to the harshness of the environment within which the Kuwaiti people lived, they used to undertake sports so as to make a living. When oil was discovered in the country, most people abandoned sports. While the country had few sports, many have been adopted from the western countries as well as India. With the introduction of sports education, Kuwait government established an organization to manage sports. Kuwaiti women began getting involved in sports during the 1950s. Currently, football is the most common sport although others such as basketball and swimming exist. In spite of the influence that oil has had on the development of sports in Kuwait, there are issues facing practical education in schools. This research is therefore undertaken to determine how the introduction of a new approach would benefit the current state of PE in these schools. Historical overview of sports in Kuwait Sports are essential to the development of any country. Kuwait, like other nations, started giving attention to sports since the establishment of the state in the 18th century. Sports were already on practice. Before the discovery of oil, Kuwaiti people were actually doing hard sports in their daily activities in order to adapt to the harsh environmental conditions and to make a living from it. At that time, people had sport skills such as swimming, diving, rowing, hunting, shooting and riding horses in order to make their living. All the people were skilled in these sports; from the youth to adults. However, traditionally, only men were allowed to practice them (Kuwait Olympic Committee 2015). In the past, only the traditional sports were popular and some of them were held in public. Before the country adopted sports from outside countries like western countries and India, only the traditional sports were known to the people of the local nomadic society. The known and celebrated sports in the area included horse and camel racing; these were held in festivities where sports men from all the Arabian Peninsula areas participated. These races incorporated the finest Arabian horses in the area. Additionally, Falconry was a popular sport in Kuwait and the Arabian Peninsula. Common and nobility people like Monarchs and princesses used to participate in these events. However, the sport started to decline after the overhunting and the discovery of petroleum fields in the area (Encyclopedia Britannica 2013). After the discovery of petroleum in the country, Kuwait changed to a developed country. This implies that people did not need to do the sports to make a living although those sports changed to become hobbies for many people. At this time, sports started to develop incessantly. At First, it started spontaneously without any fixed rules or restrictions. Later on, Al Maaref (knowledge) council was established where it supervised the making of many teams and clubs. Moreover, with the growth of education in the county, sports programs augmented speedily and the number of teams and clubs increased. The number of fans has increased too. With the rise of contemporary education in Kuwait, sports were added to school programs and due to the growth of sports values in the community, many Kuwaitis created sports teams and clubs that take part in competitions (Sports history of Kuwait 2012). These changes necessitated the establishment of an authority body to supervise sports in the nation. Here, the government acknowledged the importance of sports to the point that it wanted to provide citizens with high value sports. The government formed “The public authority for the youth & sport” in 1992, which works as the Ministry for Sports in the country. It aimed at achieving a general policy for the state to deal with sports. The authority wanted to train the youth especial to make a generation that is healthy and aware of the importance of sports in the development of citizens and the state. The authority wanted to make programs and approaches for teaching sport subjects in the country. It supervised the establishment of teams and clubs and made official tournaments as well as competitions (Kuwait Olympic Committee 2015). Women sports in Kuwait The development of sports in the country was not limited to men; women have also been active in participating in many sports. Different sports were introduced to women in the fifties of the last century especially following the establishment of schools and educational institutes for girls. Currently, women in Kuwait participate in various sport clubs like Kuwait Club and Qadesiah Club as well as teams such as football, basketball, tennis, swimming and even those involved in weightlifting. The Football league for women was established in the year 2001 while the basketball league was established in 2013 for serving women in sports. Many successful stories for Kuwaiti women athletes have spread. Balsem and Luloah Alayoup are two Kuwaiti girls known for the fencing sport; they are gold medal holders and entitled with many prizes in the field. In 1982, three Kuwaiti athletes (Jamila and Nadia Almotawaa and Sheikha Baraa Alsabah) achieved the first three scores in the horseback riding competition in India. The establishment of the Woman Sport Club has contributed greatly to the spread of education on sports among women in Kuwait. Adila Alromi was an example of successful women in the field of special needs (Gulf News 2012). Current situation and development of the sport Today, revenue from the oil has helped Kuwait to develop in all fields including the sports field. Sports play an important role in the Kuwaiti society. There are, in Kuwait, many kinds of sports that were brought from other nations. Football is the most common sport in the country. It is supervised by the governmental organization known as Kuwaiti Football Association. The national football team of men made good participations in international championships such as FIFA World Cup in 1982, competed nine times in the Asian Football Championship, and won the trophy once in 1980. The Kuwaiti football Premier League combines eighteen teams belonging to many clubs most prominent in Kuwait, Alqadsia, AlNaser, Alarabi and Kazema. In addition to football, there are other various official sports with a number of fans and managed by internationally registered unions such as the basketball, cricket, swimming, handball, tennis and some other sports. Majority of the sports known internationally are found in Kuwait and have official unions that manage them internationally (Sports History of Kuwait 2012). However, throughout my five years of experience in teaching sports in the governmental schools in Kuwait, I found that there are some errors and gaps that should be addressed when introducing sport education to the Kuwaiti schools. I used to be a teacher in a governmental primary school for a period of five years. Throughout this period, I had the chance to observe the situation of sport education in Kuwait schools closely. Therefore, the research will discuss this problem and try to find relevant solutions for the various shortcomings in sports education in these governmental primary and elementary schools. Research title: Investigating the integration of the Sport Education and Athletics Challenges curricular models in the teaching of athletics in Kuwait primary schools Background: In teaching PE or Physical Education in schools, sport education is recognized internationally as an important curriculum model. This aims at ensuring that the young generations develop literacy, competence and enthusiasm (Siedentop, 1994). Various variations have been investigated to assess the integration of sports education in Teaching Games for Understanding (Hastie and Curtner-Smith, 2006) as well as in Teaching for Personal and Social Responsibility in PE (Hastie and Buchanan, 2000). As for this research, an integrative opportunity is pursued as it relates to combining the Athletics Challenges curriculum with sport education for the purpose of teaching athletics in Kuwaiti schools (Morgan, 2003). The approach of Athletics Challenges is explained as inclusive modified, self-assessment skills aimed at promoting higher engagement and stimulating athletic events (Morgan, 2003). Athletic challenges are also aimed at providing an opportunity to the pupils to plan, undertake evaluation and perform certain skills (Morgan, 2003). In addition, athletic challenges seek to motivate participation of the pupils so that they can gain valuable experience in performing various sports activities. For the first time, these models have been deployed as a hybrid to help in providing an alternative way of teaching PE (Hastie, 2013). Rationale for research: With respect to PE in Kuwait, enthusiasm is low among the teachers and pupils. Here, some teachers are willing to perform while others require support to acquire skills on how to teach PE lessons (Hayat, 2012). This may be because PE has limited curriculum outcomes in the modern world. From the international perspective, PE literature incorporates a strong empirical base for various alternative teaching models such as Teaching Games for Understanding and, as they relate to this proposal, Sport Education and Athletics Challenges (Morgan 2003; Siedentop, 1994). Most nations are known to teach Sport Education. These include Australia (Taggart et al., 1995), South Korea (Kim et al., (2006), USA (Hastie, 1998), Russia (Sinelnikov and Hastie 2008), New Zealand (Grant, 1992), and the UK (Kinchin et al., 2004). Nevertheless, no research has been undertaken in the Arab world. Summary: From a researcher’s and a teacher’s perspective, PE has a teacher-led focus towards pedagogy. Capel and Blair (2007) highlight this from a general perspective while Hayat (2012) addressed this issue with reference to Kuwait. Sport pedagogy academics have been campaigning for approaches that would help in promoting the benefits of learning that is student-oriented. For instance, this has been exhibited in Athletics Challenges (Morgan 2003), Teaching games for Understanding (Bunker, Almond and Thorpe, 1984) and Sport Education (Siedentop 1994). Literature centred in sport pedagogy indicates considerable support for authentic as well as innovative curriculum that supports learning in sports. Hastie (2012) assesses at least 70 research papers that expound on how Sport Education helps in developing skills in addition to literacy and improves the attitude that pupils have towards physical education. The key interest of this study is athletics as an area of activity in PE. Data will be gathered on the implementation as well as the development of Sport Education and Athletics Challenges hybrid among pupils aged 10 to 14 in Kuwaiti schools. Researcher uses knowledge of current Kuwaiti schools in selecting teachers who will be appropriate for the aim of the research. Training of teachers will also be undertaken to enable the teachers to deliver a curriculum based on CPD procedures. Following nine weeks of training in these schools, data will then be gathered from the teachers as well as the pupils. Objectives: The key objectives of this research include understanding the present ways of teaching PE in Kuwaiti schools and introducing a new curricular approach towards PE in a select number of Kuwaiti primary schools; the approach to be introduced include Sport Education hybrid and Athletics Challenge models. Additionally, the research also intends to assess how the pupils would respond to a new approach in teaching PE. Moreover, the perceptions of the identified teachers in teaching PE using an alternative approach will also be explored. Furthermore, the other aspect to be explored is the ways through which the new approach can be transferred to other educational as well as social settings that could be outside of schools. Finally, identification of the degree to which the pedagogy of PE teachers can change in various PE departments will also be undertaken. Research Questions: How do pupils describe their previous PE experiences in Kuwait? What are pupils’ responses to an athletic unit taught through Sport Education and Athletics Challenges? According to teachers, how do they evaluate their initial efforts to teach PE differently in Kuwait? In the opinion of children, how has the PE experience with Sport Education and Athletics Challenges transferred to other settings in and out of school? How did the experience of teaching an alternative approach influence teacher’s pedagogy and professional development? Beneficiaries: The tutors of the participating institutions in Kuwait will be the first to experience new pedagogy principles. In addition, the pupils will get opportunities as well as facilities that Siedentop (1994) depicts as authentic, complete and fun. The gaps described by Hayat (2012) could be filled through this. On the other hand, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Education will have the chance to establish a new curriculum that may prompt neighbouring countries to attempt and even adopt. Personal information Having graduated from the physical education college in Kuwait with a bachelors’ degree, I have worked in various public elementary schools, alsurra, aldoha, and aljahra primary schools) in Kuwait as a PE teacher. In 2012, I did my masters’ degree in kinesiology in the U.S. In addition, I have had an opportunity to study various subjects related to sports that include sports psychology, biomechanics and motor development. Having grown up in an athlete family, I have played soccer since the age of six years. I have also had the privilege of playing for three Kuwait schools that include Kasma club for 14 years since 1994, Alarabi club in 2006 and Alsalmiya club in 2009. Additionally, I have played for Kuwaiti national team for two years since 1999. Furthermore, I have played against several international teams such as Germany, France and Austria. During my five years’ experience teaching sports in governmental schools in Kuwait, I have discovered that some errors and gaps exist in PE that ought to be addressed. Having been a teacher in a governmental school for the five years, I had a chance to observe the situation of PE in Kuwait closely. This research discusses the problem and attempts to find solutions to the problems facing sport education in elementary and governmental primary schools. First, I would like to share the experience that I have acquired in physical education and in my life of sports. Read More