Project by: Ruby Hutchins (10th Grade)
Project Advisor: Luis Hernandez
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Preethi Thomas-McKnight

I’ve been playing basketball for a while and one of the things I remember from when I was in fifth and sixth grade, playing on the LREI intramural team, was how playing was sometimes difficult because it was Coed. The boys didn’t always pass the ball and there were always more experienced boys playing basketball with girls who didn’t have much experience with the sport. I wanted to create an opportunity (additional to the intramural experience) where girls can just play with other girls so they can feel more comfortable with the sport and want to continue with the sport as they get older.)

Reflection:

I always wished that I would be able to be in a setting in fifth and sixth grade, where I could play basketball with all girls after and before school. I remember loving the intramural games but feeling like I didn’t get passed to very often because I was one of the few girls on the 2/4 squad. On this squad there happened to be almost all boys and two girls including me. I really wanted to play in an environment where it was just girls playing together because the boys generally had that during the normal intramural season. Last year I coached the Red intramural team with Seth, and it was lots of fun, but I saw how girls weren’t getting passed to as much, especially when the five players out there were mostly boys. I talked with both Seth and Luis that year and we thought about doing practices with just girls, and creating a place where they would feel more confident and comfortable and get the ball more.

This year, I coached the Red team with Seth again, and having some of the former fifth graders on my team again as sixth graders, they were now put on the 2/4 squad. They, in turn, didn’t get the ball as much as they did when we had to play them on the 1/3 squad. I talked with Luis and Seth during the intramural season and they helped me come up with the plans for this honors project. We wanted it to start kind of during, but mostly after the regular intramural season ended so I decided to do this as a spring honors project.

I would say that it was a huge success because we created a space for the middle school girls where they felt so much more comfortable and they got more experience with the sport. I saw huge improvements in many of their playing as time went on and next year I can say for certainty that many of them will feel more confident during the regular intramural season. I learned so much preparing workouts and drills, coaching, and watching each and every person’s game improve. I found that the ways in which you explain drills and demonstrate workouts are important and can be confused especially for 11 and 12-year-old kids. It’s also hard for me to talk in large group settings, so I worked on that every week by explaining drills and working with individual kids on certain skills and drills. I would say after explaining a drill (especially one that particularly challenging), and seeing them all understand it and do it really well was really fun for me. I felt like I was really helping improve their basketball skills because I could see them all start to understand everything that I was teaching them.

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Project Proposal

Please write a description of the project you are proposing. Why do you want to take this on, and what do you hope to learn?

I’ve been playing basketball for a while and one of the things I remember from when I was in fifth and sixth grade, playing on the LREI intramural team, was how playing was sometimes difficult because it was Coed. The boys didn’t always pass the ball and there were always more experienced boys playing basketball with girls who didn’t have much experience with the sport. I want to create an opportunity (additional to the intramural experience, where girls can just play with other girls so they can feel more comfortable with the sport and want to continue with the sport as they get older.)

Critical thinking, creativity, citizenship and courage are essential LREI learning values. Explain how you’ll draw on at least one of these values to complete your proposed project?

This honors project will draw upon both the creativity and the courage LREI learning values. It’s creative because it’s a new idea that others haven’t thought of before and is a solution for the problems that the regular intramural season presents. This also demonstrates courage for me specifically, because it’s a challenge for me to talk and demonstrate drills in front of a large group of people. This pushes me out of my comfort zone by allowing me to be a leader for these fifth and sixth-grade girls and hopefully inspire them to keep practicing and playing.

What is your proposed outcome? How will you be able to demonstrate successful completion of this Project? How do you plan to share your learnings with the larger LREI community (e.g., exhibit of work, poster of learnings, performance, etc.)?

I hope that through this experience, the 5th and 6th-grade girls will become more confident with their basketball skills and have fun in a safe and supportive atmosphere. I hope to empower them to work hard and see some results of this work by the end of the season and consider signing on to be on the 7th/8th-grade team.

Please provide a general outline that indicates your work plan for the trimester? What are some of the key project benchmarks (i.e., goals that will help to ensure that you finish the project)?

I will create a workout plan which will include a warm-up, specifically focusing on calf and leg strengthening (since that’s where most injuries occur in the MS and HS girls), dribbling and shooting drills, and if we have enough girls, gameplay. I hope to model for them that even if you haven’t played a sport for a long time if you work hard, you’ll get better and better.

When do you plan on meeting?
Thursday at 12:25