Teaching Life Skills cannot only benefit the individual but can create a healthier community.  Practicing Life Skills leads to positive results.  Learning by doing is the most effective method of learning, therefore why teaching Life Skills through physical education and sport can be an effective way to foster healthy development.

Life Skills can be grouped into three categories as suggested by UNICEF

• Communication and Interpersonal Skills
• Decision Making and Critical Thinking Skills
• Coping and Self Management Skills

Communication and Interpersonal Skills focus on areas such as developing skills in communication, negotiation, refusal, empathy, cooperation and teamwork and advocacy.

Examples of implementing questions into the activity:

•   What are different ways to communicate?

•   How can this activity foster the development of making healthy choices?

•   How does this activity help to foster a better understanding of individual differences and similarities?

•   How do different communication strategies work in different situations?

•   Were there obstacles during the activity?  How did you respond?  What are other obstacles that we are faced with in daily living?

•   What leadership skills emerged during this activity?  What are skills a leader should have?  When would it be important to learn to follow?

•   What other skills did you use in this activity?

Decision Making and Critical Thinking Skills involve students creatively and critically examining a problem and making decisions that not only positively benefit themselves, but others and their environment in a way that does not harm others in the process.

Examples of implementing questions into the activity: 

•   What helped you and/or your team succeed?

•   When is it better to have the group collectively make one decision and when is it best to make an individual decision? 

•   Is there ever a time where you made a decision based on pressure from your friends? What impact did it have on others? Your environment?  

•   What were the different roles individuals played in the game? Were the roles determined equally in a way that included everyone?

Coping and Self Management Skills include developing skills for increasing internal locus of control, managing feelings and managing of stress. 

Examples of implementing questions into the activity:

•   How does trying one's best help foster internal motivation? 

•   Why is challenge important?  Why is it important to challenge yourself in school?  In social situations?  In making healthy decisions on nutrition  and physical activity?

•   What are positive ways of dealing with frustrations and managing stress?

•   How does providing choice in the activity foster creative thinking?

•   When is it appropriate to take risks?  Why do you think it is important to know when taking a risk is worth helping someone else out?

•   How does being active help you and others around you feel better? Are there times when being active does not make you or others around you feel better? What are ways that you can help others feel better while being active?

Teaching Life Skills

Life Skills are often over looked as we put more importance on teaching motor movements, tactics, strategies, and fostering an overall understanding of the game.  Teaching Life Skills may be a little more difficult then other skills, as we have to observe the activity and choose where there is opportunity for life skill learning.  However, games are both a safe and concrete way to demonstrate the importance of vital Life Skills and provide participants with an opportunity to practice, develop and then transfer these skills to other areas outside of sport and physical activity.

How does PlaySport help foster the development of Life Skills?

Using developmental and lead-up games helps provide a non-threatening learning environment that allows all students to participate.  Ways to foster Life Skills are strategically placed throughout all the PlaySport activities.  The purpose of PlaySport is "teaching kids games by playing games." True to this approach, key reflection questions posed by instructors and/or the participants are posed under the Life Skills section of each game. After playing the game for a few minutes (or at the end of a game), instructors can ask the group to reflect on key questions related to the development of critical Life Skills. The questions are focused around why certain skills are not only important to help improve performance in a particular game (e.g., why is it important to cooperate with others to complete the task), but also why a particular skills is important in other sports and life (e.g., why is it important to cooperate with others in school or in your community?).

Instructors should also feel free to make modifications to games to focus on issues particularly relevant to the participants. For example if the Life Skill was communication, then perhaps participants would not be allowed to talk during an activity followed by asking them to do the opposite and communicate clearly to other team members and as often as possible.  In other words, the PlaySport game becomes a vehicle to bring to life through demonstration the importance of Life Skills both within and outside the game itself.