Recreational Therapy Program: Enhancing Team Spirit in School Children

This report details the implementation and evaluation of a recreational therapy program designed for school students, focusing on enhancing team spirit and personal development. The program involved interactive sessions and group activities aimed at fostering collaboration and communication skills. Challenges encountered during the program included distractions and a lack of initial support from the school administration. Despite these obstacles, the program successfully engaged students, instilled values of teamwork, and provided a valuable learning experience. The report also reflects on the personal development of the author, highlighting the importance of emotional connection and equal opportunity in managing student groups. The program's success underscores the potential of recreational therapy to address mental health issues and promote a positive team environment within schools.

Running head: RECREATIONAL THERAPY
RECREATIONAL THERAPY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction:
School students often feel unenthusiastic about the mundane routine that they follow in
school. At the same time it has further been stated that school children must be exposed to
activities that would promote team spirit in them (Wozencroft & Kardin, 2014). By virtue of
these activities it would be easier for them to inculcate team spirit and at the same time enhance
their confidence level. Further, the skills gained through these activities help in the professional
front. The students would be able to coordinate in an efficient manner with the team and be
comfortable working with a number of people.
Recreation programs aim at enhancing the skills of the students to participate in group
activities with convenience (Widmer et al., 2014). It further imparts effective training to the
students so that they are able to work in a coordinated manner and at the same time are able to
handle difficult tasks together. I was appointed along with my team to deliver effective leisure
training sessions to the school children. I specifically designed interactive sessions in order to
grasp the attention of the students and keep them engrossed in the activity.
The school site and students level of engagement and motivation with the topic:
Venue: Campbelltown TAFE
Class: Certificate 3, ‘English for further studies’ (called ESOL/ABE: English for speakers of other
languages & Adult Basic Education) class.
Age range: 18 years to 45 years
Ethnicity: Multi-ethnic

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In order to assess the level of involvement of the students a form was provided to the
students that asked about the knowledge of the students regarding recreation therapy. Initially
there were 19 students, but one left. In total 18 students participated in the process including
the teacher. 13 students affirmed that they had heard about the concept of recreation therapy
before, however the others stated they had no knowledge about what it was. Further, another
question was asked that included the response of the students about recommending the
session to anybody else, while 13 students gave a positive response, 2 students were neutral
and 2 students voiced their opinion that they would not recommend. Another question asked
about the effectiveness of the sessions, to which the students 15 students said that it did help
them while 1 student gave a negative response.
Identification of your strengths and weaknesses during the presentation:
Some of the barriers that were experienced while delivering the presentation included
distraction from other students. Since the class room where the session was being held was a
shared one, other students from different class rooms were constantly interrupting. The students
were also wishing to use the computer where the presentation was stored. The students were
even asking for the computer so that they could print their documents. No cooperative effort
could be seen. Further, it was also seen that the students were talking among themselves and
making it difficult to focus on the audience and deliver the presentation with precision.
The strengths could be identified as the ability to grasp information that was being
delivered. Questions from the students facilitated that they were keen on learning about
therapeutic recreation. Also, the willingness of the students to participate in the activities

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displayed how much they were interested in taking part in the sessions and learn new things
about coordinated team work.
Your development of communication students:
I thoroughly believe, that I have been able to conduct a successful session where I have
engaged all the students by virtue of effective communication and provided them with equal
opportunities to exercise their skills. Activities that required the children to work in a group
clearly reflected new friendships and the students were able to develop a bond (Test, 2014).
While organizing the students in groups, initially I witnessed that everybody wanted to be a part
of the group where there friend was placed. However, I intentionally put them in groups that
included students who did not know each other at all. The group activities included quiz sessions
and display of competitive skills. Surprisingly, it was perceived that the students were willing to
give their best for the group where they were placed, even if it meant that they had to compete
against their best friend who was placed in another group. This clearly reflected that my team
had been able to instill values of team spirit and trust among the students which would help them
immensely in the professional field later on (Bebetsos et al., 2017).
Your interaction with the school, teachers and students (use the student & teachers
evaluation as well):
According to (Wozencroft et al., 2014), it has been stated that an effective execution of a
designed program heavily relies upon the coordination between the authorities and the team
responsible for the conduction of the program. As in my case I was responsible for conducting

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sessions and my target audience involved children, I had to obtain permission from the school
authorities. This included me seeking permission from the principal and the vice principal of the
school and presenting an informative presentation that highlight the vision of the program
designed by me and my team. The presentation further highlighted the resource materials that
would be required by us in order to conduct the program. After obtaining an approval from the
principal and the vice principal we presented the same presentation to provide an over view
about the interactive sessions in front of the teachers. The meeting with the teachers was an open
session.
It thoroughly encouraged criticisms or suggestions that could be incorporated to make the
program a better one. The suggestions were noted by the team members. Another important
factor that was taken care of while proceeding with the meeting with the educators included two
vital aspects. The first being the teaching schedule of the teachers, so as to examine the free time
where the students had an opportunity to participate in the interactive sessions. The second being
the evaluation of the teachers so as to take note if there were any special children who had to
handles with extra care so as to avoid any inconvenience. Finally the students were given a brief
introduction about the program and the sessions that would be held. I could see that the students
were extremely enthusiastic about the sessions. It reflected how much they wished to do
something that was different from their regular routine. However, while conducting the sessions,
I had to encounter a number of obstacles in terms of lack of support from the school
administration.
An instance of this can be explained as a moment when I was assisting the students to
participate in the game ‘trust fall’. The game proceeds with one student standing on an elevated
stool and one student standing right at the back of the stool so as to hold the first student while he

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or she falls back. This game is known as trust fall and it aims to instill the fact that while
working in a team it is always important for us to trust one another. It is important for the other
team members to have our back. However, during this incident one student had intentionally
moved away while another student was expected to be caught by him. This resulted in a minor
accident. However the experience was bitter as the instructors thought that I was incapable of
organizing the students and effectively take care of their safety. As a result of which the session
was dismissed in the middle. I had a tough time convincing the principal again about the mishap
and reassuring her that it would not happen again. It was then the principal formally agreed to
continue with the sessions again.
Development of personal values, attitudes and beliefs:
It can hence be concluded that conducting this program within the school premises
helped in developing a brand new experience. This is so because initially I had only worked with
elderly people and young people but this was my first experience of dealing with school children.
Students encounter a wide range of mental health issues such as depression on account of
bullying or academic pressure and stress that often goes ignored because of their age (Stumbo et
al., 2014). There is a common belief prevalent in the society that school going students are just
agitated over trivial things such as grades and friends and it does not elicit a heavy impact on the
life (Stumbo et al., 2015). However, this myth needs to be done away with immediately because
the present statistics show that more than 50% of school going children in the United States is
depressed and 17% of them even think of ending their life (McKay et al., 2015). It is important
to understand that peer pressure plays a major role in the school environment and students often
feel burdened and are unable to channelize their negative thoughts into something productive

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(Lapa, 2013). Leisure therapy sessions can help in making the children feel better and at the
same time also help in widening their horizon from a self-centered world to a team environment
(Hurd & Anderson, 2017).
Evidence of being able to integrate/link theory and practice:
While conducting the program at the school, I was initially extremely nervous. This is
primarily because of my inbuilt introvert nature and this task required to manage groups of
students as well as my own team. It should be noted that that managing groups of children
requires extra effort and emotional connection (Cyne & Fullerton, 2014). It is important to take
note of the fact that children are students are emotionally vulnerable and they perceive things in
an emotional manner rather than perceiving things in a practical way (Fernandez-Rio & Suarez,
2016). Hence, I ensured that each student got an equal opportunity to participate in the games
that were organized. I also specifically emphasized upon the fact that when I was a fresher, I was
also affected deeply if my supervisor allowed a peer to perform a task but did not ask me to do
the same. I was even affected emotionally when a similar task was performed by me as well as a
peer but my peer was appreciated and my efforts were not noticed. I specifically laid emphasis
on the group activity sessions to ensure that the children were involved in the activities equally
and every bit of effort put in by the children were acknowledged equally.

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