| Heidelberg Ball School | |
| Type: | Limited company |
| Industry: | Education |
| Predecessors: | --> |
| Successors: | --> |
| Founded: | in Heidelberg University, Germany |
| Founders: | --> |
| Hq Location City: | Heidelberg |
| Hq Location Country: | Germany |
| Areas Served: | --> |
| Owners: | --> |
| Website: | Heidelberg Ball School Homepage |
The concept of Ball School Heidelberg was developed by Prof., Institute of Sports and Sports Science at Heidelberg University, Germany, in 1996. In 1998, the first Ball School courses were implemented in primary schools. All of the Ball School's programmes are scientifically reviewed, updated and fully differentiated. Ball School Heidelberg provides activity programmes for all children. It supports the children's motor development and hereby also includes kids with motor deficits as well as those who are highly talented in sports games. It was awarded in the innovation contest “Deutschland-Land der Ideen” (2009) and labelled “hallmark of excellence” by the platform for Nutrition and Movement (peb) (2003). Ball School Heidelberg is supported by the Dietmar-Hopp- as well as the Manfred-Lautenschläger Foundation.
Ball School Heidelberg is a non-profit institution with the objective of counteracting the children's ever increasing lack of movement. Children do not become specialists in one particular kind of sport, but rather all-rounders as they are trained in many sports through the holistic development of intellectual, emotional and motor skills. Playing with balls as well as the social integration within sports groups have priority – experiences children used to gain implicitly and without instruction on streets, football grounds and meadows.[1] [2] With its motto “from general to specific”, Ball School Heidelberg follows the basic philosophy of the integrative sports education.[3] [4] All sports games are seen as “family members” which resemble each other. Their similarities (modules) are singled out and taught comprehensively, i.e. non-specifically to a particular sports game. The aim is a broad fundament of basic, generalizable competences guaranteeing a fast and effective learning in all sports games. The Ball School's non-instructed teaching helps children to learn implicitly and to develop playing creativity as well as to achieve its overall goal of getting all children involved in physical activity.
| Basic motor skills (A) | Basic technical-tactical skills (B) | Basic coordinative skills (C) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catching | Determining the path of the ball | Time pressure | |
| Stopping | Determining the path to the ball | Precision pressure | |
| Bouncing | Determining the ideal position of playing the ball | Complexity pressure | |
| Dribbling | Positioning & orientation | Organisation pressure | |
| Throwing | Controlling the ball possession with others | Variability pressure | |
| Hitting | Recognising gaps |
| Basic tactical skills (A) | Basic coordinative skills (B) | Basic technical skills (C) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Positioning & orientation | Feeling for the ball | Determining the path to the ball | |
| Assuring ball possession individually | Time pressure | Recognising positions/movements of teammates | |
| Assuring ball possession with others | Precision pressure | Recognising positions/movements of the opposition | |
| Creating a superior number individually | Complexity pressure | Determining the path of the ball | |
| Creating a superior number with others | Organisation pressure | Determining the ideal position of playing the ball | |
| Recognising gaps | Variability pressure | Controlling the ball possession | |
| Using any option for scoring | Physical strain/stress | Controlling the passing of the ball |
Ball School Heidelberg is an activity programme for children from 18 months to the end of primary school. This wide span involves the task to adapt the courses’ aims, contents and methods to the different performance levels of the Ball School children. Altogether, the children go through four levels on their way of becoming young “trained” athletes pursuing health and fitness or volleyball-, tennis-, football-, hockey-, handball- or basketball-playing children.
The Ball School's levels:
| Activity level (level 4) | Specialisation (level 4) | |
|---|---|---|
Games:
| tennis badminton volleyball fistball basketball handball football hockey golf ... | |
| Orientation (level 3): 9- to 11-year-old children | ||
| Ball School set back games (individual & team) Ball School throwing games, Ball School goal scoring games | ||
| Integration (level 2): 6- to 9-year-old children | ||
| Ball School – “ABC of learning to play” | ||
| Introduction (level 1): 3- to 6-year-old children | ||
| Mini-Ball School | ||
Apart from general sports programmes for „normal“ toddlers, pre-schoolers and primary school children, Ball School Heidelberg also offers programmes for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), for overweight/obese (“Ball School light”),[7] for physically handicapped[8] and highly talented children.[9] Each programmes has its own specific concept. „Ball School INCLUSIVE“ is another Ball School programme at pilot stage which allows healthy as well as chronically ill children to play and exercise together.
The Ball School's scientific monitoring comprises two central forms of evaluation. Within the so-called input-evaluation, all participants (children, parents, trainers, headmasters, department heads) are asked about several aspects, including the following:
A written interview about the Mini-Ball School, for instance, was attended by 516 educators: the nursery nurses’ feedback clarifies that the Mini-Ball School is a high-quality concept, which can be perfectly integrated into the daily routine of kindergartens (grade= A-B). Output-evaluations gather all direct results/effects of the Ball School (pre-/post testing differences), e.g.:
The Mini-Ball School's effects were evaluated by controlled study design. 370 children, aged 4, 5 and 6, were investigated in a longitudinal study. Children participating in the Mini-Ball School reached significant greater strides in terms of motor skills than children of the control group. In particular weak children seemed to benefit from the programme.[9] Four-years-old children within the lower quartile reached an age-related, substandard motor quotient of 87.7 (standard quotient MQ= 100). When participating in a Ball School programme they could improve and reach an outstanding quotient (MQ = 106) when they were 6 and 12 years old.
Further output-evaluations were conducted including those evaluating the development of playing intelligence and -creativity of Ball School children at primary school age[10] as well as those evaluating the programmes for children with ADHD, for overweight/obese[7] and physically handicapped children.
Ball School Heidelberg is cooperating with kindergartens, schools, sports clubs, sports associations, national and international centres as well as commercial sports providers. In Germany, there is a dense network of cooperating day care centres, primary schools and more than 300 partnerships with sports clubs and –associations. The latter include smaller multi- or single-branch- as well as well-known clubs, such as TSG Hoffenheim, Rhein-Neckar-Löwen, Adler Mannheim, Eintracht Frankfurt, Werder Bremen, SC Freiburg, THW Kiel, VfL Gummersbach and Brose Baskets Bamberg. The Ball School's national expansion is supported by centres in Munich, Bamberg, Cologne, Halle, Hamburg and Kiel. These are managed by Ball School experts and are also allowed to arrange cooperation agreements in their (stipulated) region and to train Ball School staff.
The ABC-curricula has been translated into Portuguese, Spanish, Hungarian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and English (USA) and serves as a basis for the work of international Ball School centres.
One central aspect in the Ball School's dissemination is its system of basic and advanced training. Basic training refers to the Ball School's ABC (primary school children) and the Mini Ball School. Advanced training includes specific add-on programmes (advanced training in throwing games, in adiposity etc.). A participation in one of the Ball School's basic training requires a C-level trainer certification issued by a sports association as well as a minimum age of 16. A trainer certification may be compensated by an evidence of comparable knowledge and skills, such as qualifications which do not necessarily need to be finished by the time of application (sports- and gymnastic teacher etc., study of sports), or by work experience (nursery nurses, primary school teachers, longstanding training activity etc.).
In cooperation with FT Kirchheim, Ball School Heidelberg was first offered in Heidelberg's primary schools in 1998. In 2002, the friend's association “Ballschule e. V” was founded. Between 2005 and 2014, the Ball School's activities concerning cooperation and training highly increased. On 1 January 2015, the association's structure was turned into a limited company (Ltd.). The new, non-profit organisation is called “Vision BewegungsKinder” and, like Ball School Heidelberg, is planning to design further innovative programmes for supporting children's motor skills.
Today, more than 150 Ball School centres exit in Germany and the concept is also expanding internationally. Ball School Heidelberg has been introduced in Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Slovenia, Austria, South Africa and USA through various projects and has established a global presence.
During the school year 2010/11 more than 1,000 children were enrolled in one of the 90 classes offered at 60 cooperating primary schools in the metropolitan area of Heidelberg. As the Ball School is flourishing, the numbers are increasing steadily.