Project Play partnered with Mission Tiger for The Great Middle School Sports Search, the first national search for the best middle school sports programs that aimed to find inclusive, quality programs that schools can adopt, regardless of available funding. Through the search, we identified innovative strategies used by middle schools across the country for educators and coaches to deploy in their schools in our downloadable best practice guide.
WINNERS
GRAND PRIZE
JAMIESON SCHOOL, CHICAGO, IL
Jamieson is a long-standing high-performing neighborhood school that values authentic community-parent partnerships and actively celebrates diversity. Jamieson demonstrates creativity and ingenuity in finding strategies for scheduling, use of space, and technology innovation to increase access to sports for their middle schoolers along with a commitment to finding a place on the team for every student who wanted to play.
Jamieson hosts morning practices, which allows students to leverage their afterschool time for competition or other activities. This also helps ensure teams do not have to compete with other programming for the limited spaces available on campus.
Even before COVID transitioned the school into virtual learning, the team at Jamieson was leveraging technology to communicate with families and expand virtual training and exercise opportunities.
FINALISTS
Coliseum College Prep Academy (CCPA), Oakland, CA
CCPA provides all uniform and equipment kids need to play at no cost to remove barriers for all kids to play sports. CCPA also integrates sports into an extended school day model, where students are encouraged to participate in sports as an extension of their school day.
Girls Athletic Leadership School (GALS),
Panorama CITY, CA
At GALS, an all-girls middle school, physical activity is embedded throughout the school day through “Morning Movement,” their version of PE. Through a commitment to encourage sport “sampling,” GALS students explore a variety of sports and activities during the year.
King Intermediate School, Kaneohe, HI
The PE curriculum at King Intermediate emphasizes non-traditional physical activities like ultimate frisbee, speedball, or pickleball, which broadens the definition of an “athlete” so that all kids can see themselves as athletes for life.
STRIVE Prep, Denver, CO
STRIVE Prep is a Denver-based charter school network with seven middle schools that formed an innovative middle school sports league with other schools to expand available opportunities for students.