Hi. I just wanted to ask how much detail is needed to address the following Sports Medicine extended response question and what i need to include to get a band 6 mark for the response:
'Evaluate how sports policy and the sport environment promote safe participation.' 2010 HSC Exam Sports Medicine Option
Thank you.
Hi there! Not sure if you still need an answer but I just wanted to take a crack at answering:
First let's look at what comes under the dot point in the syllabus:
Sports policy and the sports environment
- rules in sports and activities
- modified rules for children
- matching of opponents, e.g. growth and development, skill level
- use of protective equipment
- safe grounds, equipment and facilities
You're definitely going to have to address the above points in this question.
Since the question is asking you to "evaluate", you're going to have to provide a judgement on whether or not these aspects promote safe participation. It's good to identify how policies promote safety to an EXTENT. Be sure to identify the extent.
For PDHPE questions, it's VERY important that you provide relevant examples to show your understanding of the syllabus. So for this question, I would choose NRL (because I've studied it)
Start with a brief intro (because teachers love intros):
The presence of sports policy and a safe playing environment is essential for injury prevention in athletes and thus safe participation in sports. The various aspects that make up sports policy and a safe sporting environment and assist in promoting athlete wellbeing and safety include rules in sports and activities, modified rules for children, etc... The role of sports policy and the sports environment in promoting safe participation can particularly be examined in many sports such as NRL.
And then you start getting into each aspect of the points under the dot point.
Here's an example:
As many sports and activities have considerable potential for player injury, rules are enforced in order to assist the flow of play and promote player safety and well being. This can particularly be demonstrated in NRL as it is a collision sport, thus presenting many opportunities that may endanger an athlete's safety and wellbeing.
In acknowledging the potential for athlete injury, rugby league policy outlaws dangerous tackles, such as head high or spear tackles. Players will be penalised for committing these illegal movements as they either are ‘sin binned’ or sent off-field for the rest of the match. This promotes athlete well-being and safety as these movements can cause neck, spinal and head injuries, potentially leading to permanent disabilities. Hence, rules in sports and activities promote safe participation as they assist in injury prevention.
And rinse and repeat! Be sure to chuck in some examples that show that some policies don't really promote safe participation so you're actually evaluating.
For example, matching of opponents in children games. For NRL, mod league matches kids by age groups which has pros and cons. This is good because kids are getting matched up by their skill level and mental maturity level but it's also bad because kids can vary in size and body type - so larger kids would have an unfair advantage against smaller kids, which has the potential for injury since it's a collision sport...
Hope that helped!