Rocks & Rings: High school students lead the way at Bramalea Secondary School

Recently Capital One Rocks & Rings partnered with Bramalea Secondary School’s Leadership class to offer something a little different for a local elementary school. The High School kids were trained in curling and the different games and activities to teach to Grade 6 classes at the neighbouring elementary school. With over 200 kids participating and over 15 different instructors, it was a fun twist a typical day with the program. Here is a recap from Mr. Lawrence on how the events unfolded. Our leadership class really enjoyed learning the rules of the game of curling. We had some experience playing curling on ice before we learned the drills and skills which we were to teach as part of the Rocks & Rings floor curling program at a local elementary school. The instructors from Rocks & Rings (Abbie and Sara) were always positive, brought a lot of energy, and were very patient when working with us. Abbie did a fantastic job showing us the different stations that we were to run in the Rocks and Rings lessons. During this training session with Abbie our class gained lots of experience with the equipment and drills used in program by getting a chance to try them all out. On the day that our leadership class had to present the Rocks & Rings lesson to a local elementary school, Sara was there to help us out. Sara was extremely patient when working with the leadership class and came up with many variations of the drills which we hadn’t practiced yet to enhance the experience and drive up the energy in gymnasium. The elementary students loved them! As a result of getting the opportunity to teach the Rocks & Rings program, our class engaged in teamwork and cooperation, as well as getting a chance to practice and improve presentation abilities. By the end of the day our leadership class also gained an appreciation for the rules of the game, the strategy involved in the game of curling, and how much fun it can be to actually play! Some of the elementary school kids had heard of curling and some had even watched it on TV before. Many, however, were not familiar with the rules and there was only one student who had actually been on the ice. The elementary kids were actively involved throughout the entire lesson and in particular they really enjoyed the station where they got to play a few “ends” of floor curling. By the end of the lesson the elementary students had increased their knowledge of the rules, learned what the game of curling is and, most importantly of all, had a total blast participating in the drills and games. Overall, curling is a great game that most students haven’t had the opportunity to play before, and the Capital One Rocks & Rings program really helps to increase awareness of the sport in the community. Our leadership class had a ton of fun doing it. Mr. Lawrence’s B.S.S. Recreation and Fitness Leadership Class