Proponents of quality education agree that a rigorous academic preparation will provide students with a solid foundation that will grant them access to enter any number of career fields. At GIIS, our understanding of a comprehensive, quality education takes a holistic approach to preparing students with the kinds of skills required by the leadership roles of tomorrow. Many of these are “soft” skills, which indicate a person’s level of emotional intelligence as opposed to specialized knowledge in a particular academic area.
As Kate Lorenz, author of Top 10 Soft Skills for Job Hunters, told FreshGigs, “‘Soft skills’ refer to a cluster of personal qualities, habits, attitudes and social graces that make someone a good employee and compatible to work with. Companies value soft skills because research suggests and experience shows that they can be just as important an indicator of job performance as hard skills.” Playing sports in a supportive academic community will provide students with the opportunity to develop the kinetic and social intelligence that will serve them well in a range of professional settings.
When it comes to helping students develop and hone soft skills, team sports may well top the list of character-building endeavours. Leadership, teamwork, communication, confidence, dealing with authority, coping with setbacks, managing conflict, focus and concentration, sense of identity, rule-following, empathy and self-discipline are just a sampling of the soft skills students work on every day on the cricket fields and tennis courts. And these are skills that, once acquired, remain with young learners over the course of their professional and personal lives. Of course, they also come into play while students are at GIIS, as well. From annual “sports days” across our various campuses to sports clubs and intramurals, these activities help build school spirit and cultivate a sense of camaraderie within the community.
Our Gold Squad Training programme is offered to the most promising and competitive players in five “Merit Games,” including soccer, cricket, badminton, basketball and tennis. Challenged to be the best versions of themselves during practice and while competing, these student-athletes receive free, specialized coaching aimed at further supporting the development of soft skills while preparing them to participate in national and international-level competitions.
At GIIS, we take our commitment to providing a “rounded” education very seriously. And at a time when many schools are responding to the push for academic achievement by marginalizing physical education and sports, GIIS is committed to taking a progressive approach which acknowledges, accepts and adapts to what science is also telling us about holistic development. Because of this, we remain as equally committed to sports as we are to academics. In fact, we view the two as symbiotic: When integrated together into the curriculum, they add up to a sum that is much stronger, healthier and happier than either part on its own.
Download the latest Global Learning Magazine for free to learn about the GIIS Sports Excellence Programme. You also can contact us today and we would be happy to tell you more!
