{"id":1310789,"date":"2019-05-28T20:12:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T02:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/kickball-tournament-teaches-sportsmanship-teamwork-to-roaring-fork-district-4th-graders\/"},"modified":"2019-05-28T20:12:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T02:12:00","slug":"kickball-tournament-teaches-sportsmanship-teamwork-to-roaring-fork-district-4th-graders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/kickball-tournament-teaches-sportsmanship-teamwork-to-roaring-fork-district-4th-graders\/","title":{"rendered":"Kickball tournament teaches sportsmanship, teamwork to Roaring Fork District 4th graders"},"content":{"rendered":"
Area fourth graders rush to get the ball during a Garfield Re-1 kickball tournament held at Sopris Elementary School on Tuesday.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The familiar shrill of children pierced the air Tuesday morning at Sopris Elementary School in Glenwood Springs, as did the sweet sound of foot meeting kickball.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a recess session, though. It was an organized kickball tournament for fourth graders.<\/p>\n

Nine and 10 year olds from Glenwood Springs, Sopris, Riverview, Crystal River and Basalt elementary schools competed against each other in a competitive, yet teachable, setting.<\/p>\n

More than 80 school children descended on Sopris Elementary for Tuesday\u2019s tournament, allowing them to get out of school for the day.<\/p>\n

While the weather \u2014 temperatures in the low 40s and a light drizzle of rain \u2014 wasn\u2019t as cooperative as many had hoped, the tournament went on as planned, leading to a fun-filled environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been planning this for a long time, probably since December,\u201d said Marty Madsen, physical education teacher at Crystal River Elementary in Carbondale. \u201cAll of us [teachers] had other crazy responsibilities, but we were able to put it together. The kids are having a blast.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tournament, which started at 9:30 a.m. and ran until 12:30 p.m. on the two baseball fields at Sopris Elementary, was as competitive as possible. It also gave the teachers a chance to indoctrinate the students in sportsmanship, leadership and a sense of community.<\/p>\n

For some within the group who are already into sports, sportsmanship and leadership are qualities are something they\u2019ve already been introduce to. But for those who don\u2019t participate in sports, coming into the one-day kickball tournament was a chance to learn those important lessons that sports can impart on competitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the teachable moment right there,\u201d Madsen said. \u201cYou\u2019re here to represent your school and represent your class and yourself. This is their exposure to see that.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying kickball at recess against kids you know is one thing, but to play against kids from other local elementary schools that you might not necessarily know is another thing. It\u2019s good to expose the kids to this type of environment early, where it\u2019s a teachable moment while having some great fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from teaching the students important life qualities through kickball, it was also a chance for the five elementary school teachers to establish an early sense of community. While the schools are only separated by less than 25 miles, there\u2019s not a lot of interaction between the five schools that come under the Roaring Fork District umbrella.<\/p>\n

Madsen, Sopris Elementary\u2019s Fred Heisel and the rest of the physical education teachers set out to change that through sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat community aspect had a big impact on how we put this together,\u201d Madsen said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about community. We might be three different towns, but we\u2019re one school district. To expose the kids to this type of environment early on and to get them to realize that we\u2019re all one community was really important to us. We\u2019re a small community, but we\u2019re one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tournament wasn\u2019t a typical field trip for the fourth graders, but it was one that its organizers hope will leave a lasting impact.<\/p>\n

jcarney@postindependent.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Area fourth graders rush to get the ball during a Garfield Re-1 kickball tournament held at Sopris Elementary School on Tuesday.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent The familiar shrill of children pierced the air Tuesday morning at Sopris Elementary School in Glenwood Springs, as did the sweet sound of foot meeting kickball. It wasn\u2019t a recess […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1310789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 06:40:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1310789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1310789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1310789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1310789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1310789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}