Elimination Games
Do They Serve a Purpose?
Elimination games.....they’re the games
where students get hit by a thrown ball,
or tagged by an opponent, or fail to reach
established criteria, then have to go sit by
the wall until the game is over. They’re
fast, competitive and the students appear
to enjoy every minute of them. But are
they good? Are they necessary? Do students
learn anything from elimination games?
Typically, being eliminated inspires a feeling
of failure in the child who is made to
sit out. This failure often occurs in front
of an entire group of peers, intensifying
its impact on the child. Elimination
activities in physical education classes
over the past several decades may very
well be one of the major culprits behind
the low participation levels in physical
activity.
Perhaps the most commonly used elimination
game is team dodge ball. Over the
years, variations have been added to this
game to help lessen its degree of elimination.
One of the most common is to
allow players to re-enter the game on at a
time when someone on their team catches
an opposing player’s throw. This variation
shortens the length of time players spend
standing along the sides—as long as their
teammates are successful at catching
throws. If catches are not made, players
are not able to return.
If you look through even the most recent
elementary physical education publications
and resources, you’ll still find eliminationtype
games and activities offered.
Randomly visit gymnasiums across the
country, and you’ll see elimination games
being used. Some teachers use elimination
games daily. Although many teachers
who use elimination games have modified
them in some manner to lessen the
degree of elimination, is a lesser degree of
elimination any better than complete
elimination? My belief is that elimination
is elimination; it doesn’t matter if it’s for
one game, one turn, one minute or one
second.
In a effort to decrease elimination, many
physical educators have added a new twist
to these activities. The game is played in
its traditional manner, but when children
are eliminated they are allowed to re-enter
the game after completing a predetermined
task or exercise. For example, in team
dodge ball a player who is hit goes to the
sideline, selects an exercise (such as 10
pushups) from a chart hanging on the
wall, does the exercise and then returns to
the game. Is this better than complete
elimination from the activity? From the
standpoint that the child gets to stay
active, yes. But there are other problems
to consider.
First, having a child leave a game, regardless
of how long or for what purpose, is
still elimination. Second, requiring that a
child do an exercise to be able to return to
a game makes the exercise a consequence
of failing in the game. This could be
considered a punishment of sorts. Do we
want children to view exercise, which is
actually beneficial to them, in this
manner?
Trying to adapt elimination games by
changing the type of elimination or
decreasing the amount of time a child is
eliminated is not the solution to the
dilemma. If a game cannot be modified to
totally eliminate elimination, then it
should be completely removed. This could
mean getting rid of what seem to be the
children’sfarourite activities, but think
about it. Who are the children that like
these type of games? They are usually the
competitive, highly-skilled ones who
seldon get eliminated or the low-skilled
ones who would much rather sit against
the wall anyway. Do we want the lowerskilled
students to go sit against the wall
anyway. Do we want the lower-skilled
students to go sit down and let the “real”
athletes play? And what about the
children that don’t fall into either of these
groups? There’s more to consider
regarding elimination games than meets
the eye.
What can you do about elimination
games? Make a pact with yourself to do
away with all elimination games. Either
modify the ones you use or find some new
games. There are hundreds of games and
activities which involve no elimination
that your children will love even more
than the old traditional ones. Start with
some new books or attend a conference or
two. It will improve your teaching,
decrease the number of children with
poor attitudes toward physical activity,
and offer every child a chance to succeed
in every activity.
Source: Curt Hinson, Teaching Elementary
Physical Education