{"id":98455,"date":"2014-11-06T10:22:54","date_gmt":"2014-11-06T15:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=98455"},"modified":"2023-08-15T16:42:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T20:42:37","slug":"the-international-language-of-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2014\/11\/the-international-language-of-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"The International Language of Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Connecticut is 12,500 miles from South Africa. But shooting hoops with fifth-graders at the\u00a0Clark Elementary & Middle School<\/a> gym in Hartford recently, Sikhulu Zondo was suddenly aware that playing with the American students had erased the age and cultural barriers between them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so glad to be here,\u201d said the Cape Town middle school teacher. Sweeping her arm in a gesture encompassing all the players \u2013 which included 10 UConn students \u2013 she added: \u201cWhen I get back home, I\u2019m going to start a program like Husky Sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Husky<\/a>
Husky Sport is a campus-community partnership based at the Clark Elementary and Middle School that has tapped the power of sport to connect Hartford and UConn since 2003. (Neag School of Education\/UConn File Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Husky Sport<\/a> is a campus-community partnership that provides groups of UConn students as mentors who between them spend 40 hours a week engaged in sports with Clark School students. At the same time, they build friendships that, in time, allow them to also talk about nutrition, healthy lifestyles, and life skills, as well as provide tutoring and other academic support.<\/p>\n

Sikhulu said her students at the Ark Ministries Christian School for homeless children where she works mostly live at the school, so after school they need something like Husky Sport.<\/p>\n

Through a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of State\u2019s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs SportsUnited Division<\/a>, UConn, partnering with the\u00a0University of Western Cape<\/a> in Cape Town, hosted a 12-day Sports for Cultural Change program in October for 10 South African educators, including Sikhulu, who manage community or school youth sports programs that use sport as a tool for positive social change.<\/p>\n

Developed by UConn\u2019s Global Training and Development Institute<\/a>, the two-way exchange provided the African participants \u2013 chosen by the University of Western Cape through a merit-based, competitive process \u2013 the chance to interact with Americans and experience American society, culture, and values firsthand.<\/p>\n

\"Husky<\/a>
Husky Sport purposefully partners with the community around Clark School, going to the same location, working with the same kids and their families, and working with the same teachers to develop relationships and establish credibility. (Neag School of Education\/UConn File Photo)Using sport as a tool is at the heart of the Husky Sport model. (Neag School of Education\/UConn File Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the program is reciprocal, in March 2015, 10 Americans who also work in sports-based youth development organizations, such as schools, the YMCA, and youth sports leagues, will travel to South Africa to learn more about managing and organizing youth sport in the Western Cape region. During their visit to South Africa, the American participants will also help their South African counterparts launch sport-based youth development projects in the Western Cape region that replicate some of the U.S.-based programming. UConn will support these mini-projects with funding from the grant intended to leverage resources toward sustainable capacity-building and community development.<\/p>\n

Roy Pietro, director of the Global Training and Development Institute and architect of the program, says the focus is on \u201cusing youth sports to promote academic success, psychosocial development, tolerance, cross-cultural exchange, and conflict resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pietro originally developed and piloted the program in Hong Kong in 2012, when Chinese and American colleagues shared their experiences administering sports programs in their respective countries. The success of that exchange led to the creation of this year\u2019s program with South Africa.<\/p>\n

The U.S. State Department partners with universities that have a capacity to manage programs successfully because they want the exchanges to continue, Pietro says. \u201cThe friendships and broadening of mutual understanding achieved through our pilot in Hong Kong illustrated sport\u2019s ability to increase dialogue and cultural understanding between people worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Using<\/a>
Using sport as a tool is at the heart of the Husky Sport model. (Neag School of Education\/UConn File Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A favorite feature of the program pairs the visiting participants with peers from the host country for a three-day job shadow, to help them learn about one another\u2019s experiences and share innovative ideas and best practices in managing and organizing youth sport. Time spent watching their peers at work \u2013 as Sikhulu did at Hartford\u2019s Clark School \u2013 allows visitors to observe new methods and applications that might be adapted for their communities or schools back home.<\/p>\n

The Global Training and Development Institute worked with UConn\u2019s Husky Sport program to include job shadowing for the South Africans.<\/p>\n

Person-to-person exchanges play a huge role in making the program a great learning experience, says Jennifer Bruening, professor and head of the Department of Educational Leadership in UConn\u2019s Neag School of Education. \u201cIt\u2019s so much stronger than sitting in a classroom. It\u2019s so much more meaningful and inspirational.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sikhulu\u2019s American shadow partner was Justin Evanovich ’04 (CLAS), ’06 MA, ’11 Ph.D., assistant clinical professor of educational leadership and managing director of Husky Sport, who was a walk-on UConn undergrad on the men\u2019s basketball team and also earned his Ph.D. from UConn. He says the time spent with Sikhulu validated his zeal for using sports as a tool for positive change.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very cool to see that we\u2019re on the same page with some of the concepts and approaches that we\u2019re taking,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re using a board with X\u2019s and O\u2019s, asking whether this works for your team, or how would this work at your school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using sport as a tool is at the heart of the Husky Sport model and guides how the UConn student mentors approach their engagement with Clark School students, their curriculum planning, and lesson delivery, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving been involved in sport my entire life,\u201d he says, \u201cand how it took me to different places, helped me learn and interact with different people, be in mutual relationships, develop communication skills, a respect for sacrifice, and a work ethic \u2013 all that came from sport.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Husky Sport program brings groups of UConn students to Clark School to engage in sports with students, and build friendships that, in time, allow them to talk about nutrition, healthy lifestyles, and life skills, and provide academic support. (Neag School of Education\/UConn File Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Evanovich says that understanding a community is foundational when trying to implement new programs and establish credibility with students so they will trust adults \u2013 such as the UConn Husky Sport mentors.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you can\u2019t teach lessons to someone you don\u2019t know,\u201d he adds, noting that Husky Sport purposefully partners with the community in an eight-block radius around Clark School, going to the same location, working with the same kids and their families, and working with the same teachers day in and day out. \u201cWe think this makes a difference in the relationships we build. \u2026 Sport is a way to begin that process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sikhulu said the emphasis on building trust through relationships was the most outstanding thing she learned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our country, we don\u2019t get to that stage of talking about relationships,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are going to embrace this because \u2026 I think our children will benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn recently hosted 10 South African educators with a mutual interest in the power of sports to build relationships and effect social change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":98451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1715,88,1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[46],"class_list":["post-98455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-impact","category-global-affairs","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 03:09:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98455"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98569,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98455\/revisions\/98569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/98451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98455"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=98455"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=98455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}