Portland, OR. The Portland Community College, Rock Creek Campus was rockin’ as Team Tektronix took home the golden trophy for the 3rd time. Kaiser Dental won the Spirit Award at the annual Playworks Pacific NW Corporate Kickball Tournament. The event on June 23rd raised funds that support daily healthy, inclusive, and developmental play for nearly 14,200 children in 31 Portland metro area schools. (Photo credit, Nicholas DiGiallonardo)
Over 130 kids came out for Kickball Jamboree earlier in the month.
Lots of other companies also participated in Playworks Pacific NW Corporate Kickball Tournament including:
TheStandard Kaiser Permanente Thrive Moss Adams Careers Tonkon Torp LLP Wieden + Kennedy WE Communications Pacific Power Lease Crutcher Lewis Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt Maxwell PR + Engagement InterWorks, LLC Northwest Health Foundation Providence Health & Services – Oregon Region Bonfire Marketing Company
From Playworks:
Playworks’ vision is that one day every child in America will get to play – every day. We create a place for every kid on the playground, a place where every kid belongs, has fun and is part of the game. We offer an essential opportunity for children to explore their imaginations, to connect with other kids and to stretch and grow physically, emotionally and socially. Our experience is that diminishing opportunities for unsupervised play in our society have left kids with a very thin understanding of how to manage their own play and that it is important to have grown-ups introduce some basic rules to make play work. On our playgrounds, kids feel safe and included, a part of the action. Games are safe and organized. Any kid is welcome and able to play in any game. We believe that kids have innate leadership, and give them easy ways to take ever-increasing responsibility for the quality of play and for each other. Ultimately our unique brand of play fosters greater independence and leadership among children. In partnership with teachers, principals and parents, we build a culture of play that enables kids to feel a real sense of belonging and have the opportunity to contribute on the playground, in the classroom and into their communities. We are huge fans of rock-paper-scissors. Building a play culture that acknowledges the arbitrariness of most conflicts and provides a simple, playful tool for addressing them, ultimately makes it easier for kids to recognize and address more serious conflicts.
We believe there is value in having adults play alongside of children. A grown-up standing on the sidelines barking instructions only serves to perpetuate the less-than-playful status quo. But when adults get in the game and actually play themselves, it introduces an important element of whim and shared humanity, making the play more accessible, and helping children feel safer and more connected.
We incorporate competitive activities into our programming, but we strive to do it in a developmentally appropriate way. One amazing thing about play is this: kids’ desire to keep the activity going will motivate them to take actions that are actually in the best interest of the larger group. Most often this manifests as self-handicapping: switching players, adapting the rules, etc. to keep some balance and ensure that everyone is having enough fun to continue playing.
Our belief is that creating options for children to engage in healthy, inclusive play represents an important opportunity for learning to deal with both winning and losing with grace.
– See more at: http://www.pacificnw.playworks.org/about/why-playworks#sthash.eDI4erP2.dpuf
