Ball School Heidelberg

The new (protected) logo of the Heidelberg Ball School. Registered trademark No. 30 2014 024 387

The concept of the Heidelberg Ball School was created in 1996 by Klaus Roth . In 1998 he started the first ball school programs for elementary school children. The offers are constantly scientifically monitored, updated and differentiated. The Heidelberg Ball School is a "children's sports program for everyone". It contributes to promoting the motor development of adolescents, from children with motor deficits to children with recognizable talent in the field of sports games and was selected as a location in the innovation competition "Germany - Land of Ideas" (2009) and with the platform's seal of approval for nutrition and exercise (peb) excellent (2003). The Heidelberg Ball School is funded by the Dietmar Hopp Foundation .

Concept - goals, content, methods

The Ballschule Heidelberg is a non-profit institution that aims to counteract the increasing lack of exercise in childhood. The children are not trained to be specialists in a single sport, but to become motor all-rounders. The focus is on playing with balls and social inclusion in sports play groups - experiences that children used to gain casually and without supervision on the streets, football fields and meadows. With the motto "from general to specific", the ball school pursues the basic philosophy of integrative sports game mediation. The games are viewed as members of a family who are similar to one another. These kinship characteristics (building blocks) are picked out and trained across the board. The aim is to have a broad foundation of generalizable basic competencies that guarantees fast and effective learning in all sports games.

Ball school for kindergarten children: The mini ball school
Basic motor skills (A)	Technical-tactical basic skills (B)	Coordinative basic skills (C)
To catch	Recognize the trajectory of the ball	time pressure
To stop	Determine the path to the ball	Precision printing
Bouncing	Determine the playing point of the ball	Complexity pressure
Dribble	Offer & Orientation	Organizational pressure
Throw	Secure ball possession cooperatively	Variability pressure
Beat	Recognize the gap

Ball school for elementary school children: The ABC of playing
Basic tactical skills (A)	Coordinative basic skills (B)	Basic technical skills (C)
Offer & Orientation	Feeling for the ball	Recognize the trajectory of the ball
Secure ball possession individually	time pressure	Recognize the positions and movements of other players
Secure ball possession cooperatively	Precision printing	Recognize positions & movements of the opponents
Playing out excess numbers individually	Complexity pressure	Determine the path to the ball
Play out excess numbers cooperatively	Organizational pressure	Determine the playing point of the ball
Recognize the gap	Variability pressure	Control possession
Use the opportunity to close	Loading pressure	Control ball delivery

The children play with their feet, hands and clubs and acquire the skills to B. to recognize gaps, to determine paths to the ball, to determine the playing point of balls or to control ball deliveries. The curricula of the ball school programs are based on the four most important principles for children's sports programs: the principles of development conformity, versatility (goals), joyful (content) and playful-implicit learning (methods)

Programs - structure and structure

The Heidelberg Ball School is aimed at children from 18 months to the end of primary school age. This large age range means that the goals, content and methods must be adapted to the various skill levels of ball school children. In total, there are four phases from the very first beginnings to the well-trained young health / fitness athlete or volleyball, tennis, football, hockey, handball, basketball child, etc.

Ball school levels

Activity phase (level 4)	Specialization phase (level 4)
Play: with fitness orientation with health orientation with little goal-oriented training without competitive pressure	Tennis badminton Volleyball fistball Basketball handball Soccer hockey Golf ...
Orientation phase (level 3): 9 to 11 year old children
Ball school return games individual & team Ball school throwing games Ball school goalscoring games
Integration phase (level 2): 6- to 9-year-old children
Ball school - ABC for beginners
Introductory phase (level 1): 3 to 6 year old children
Mini ball school

In addition to the “popular sports programs” for toddlers, pre-school and elementary school children, there are offers for children with attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome (ADHD), for overweight (ball school - made easy), for the physically disabled (ball school - play around your handicap) and for ball talented children. The ball school inclusive (playing for life), in which healthy and chronically ill children play and practice together, is in the trial phase.

Scientific support

The academic support of the Heidelberg Ball School focuses on two forms of evaluation. As part of the so-called input evaluations, the actors involved (children, parents, trainers, school principals, department heads, etc.) are asked about:

Program resources (ball school: awareness, quality, effects, etc.)
Implementation resources / people (trainer: quality, acceptance, popularity, etc.)
Implementation resources / sports facilities and game material
Participant resources (children: performance level, motivation, learning success, etc.)

In a written survey about the mini-ball school, z. B. 516 pedagogical specialists took part: The feedback from the teachers makes it clear that the mini-ball school is viewed as a high-quality concept that can be easily integrated into everyday kindergarten life (school grade = 1.5). The output evaluations record all immediate results / effects of the ball school (pre- / post-test differences), e.g. B .:

the performance progress of the children in the area of play (tactics, coordination, technique)
the frequency of club entries
the extracurricular activities of the children etc.

The effects of the mini-ball school have been evaluated in a controlled design. 370 children aged 4, 5 and 6 years were examined longitudinally. The mini ball school children achieved significantly greater motor performance progress than the adolescents from the control group. Above all, the weak children benefited from the offer. As four-year-olds, the children in the lower quartile had a behavior-related, age-related motor function quotient of 87.7 (normal value MQ = 100) and improved through participation in the program to an above-average value (MQ = 106) at the ages of 6 and 12 years.

Further output evaluations were carried out, among other things, on the development of game intelligence and playful creativity in ball school children of primary school age as well as on the programs for children with ADHD, for overweight and physically handicapped children.

Cooperations

The Heidelberg Ball School works with kindergartens, schools, clubs, associations, national and international centers as well as with commercial sports providers. In Germany there is a dense network with cooperating daycare centers, elementary schools and more than 300 partner clubs / associations. These include smaller multi-branch or single-line clubs and well-known clubs such as TSG Hoffenheim, Rhein-Neckar-Löwen, Adler Mannheim, Eintracht Frankfurt, Werder Bremen, SC Freiburg, THW Kiel, VfL Gummersbach and Brose Baskets Bamberg. The national expansion is supported by centers in Munich, Bamberg, Cologne, Halle, Hamburg and Kiel. These are led by competent ball school experts and are also entitled to enter into cooperations in their (contractually defined) region and to carry out ball school instructor training.

Curricula of the Heidelberg Ball School in different languages.

The ABC basic curriculum has been translated into Portuguese, Spanish, Hungarian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and English (USA) and forms the basis for the activities of international ball school centers.

education

The training system of the Heidelberg Ball School

A central aspect of the distribution of the Heidelberg Ball School is a system of training and further education. The courses relate to the ABC of Ball Schools (primary school children) and the Mini Ball School. The training courses deal with special additional programs (training throwing games, training obesity, etc.). Requirements for participation in the ball school training courses are a C-trainer license from a sports game association and a minimum age of 16 years. The trainer license can be replaced by evidence of comparable knowledge and skills, e.g. B. through training that does not have to be completed (sports and gymnastics teacher, etc., sports studies), or through professional experience (kindergarten teachers, primary school teachers, many years of coaching, etc.).

History and institutional involvement

The Heidelberg Ball School was first offered in 1998 at primary schools in Heidelberg in cooperation with FT Kirchheim. In 2002 the Friends of Ballschule e. V. was founded. Between 2005 and 2014 the activities of the ball school in the areas of cooperation and training multiplied. On January 1, 2015, the structure of the association was transformed into a GmbH. The new non-profit organization is called “Vision BewegungsKinder”. Its statutes have been drafted to permit other innovative programs to promote children's motor skills.

Publications (selection)

EJ Hossner, K. Roth (2002). Mediate sports games. In K. Ferger, N., Gissel, J. Schwier (Eds.): Experience sports games, mediate, train (pp. 111–124). Hamburg: Czwalina.
K. Roth (1999): The ABC of Playing: Technique and Tactical Training for Beginners. In J. Wiemeyer (Hrsg.): Techniktraining im Sport (pp. 11–30). Darmstadt: IfS.
K. Roth (2000): The Heidelberg Ball School: Practical Consequences of the Incident Incubation Model. In W. Schmidt, A. Knollenberg (Hrsg.): Sport - Game - Research: Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow (pp. 175-179). Hamburg: Czwalina.
K. Roth (2003). Ball school return games: theoretical basics. In A. Woll (Ed.): Learning, Researching, Playing Together - Future Perspectives for Tennis (pp. 41–58). Hamburg: Czwalina.
K. Roth (2006). Ball School Heidelberg: From a talent development project to a successful “children's sports program for everyone”. In F. Bockrath (Ed.): Trends in Sportvermittlung (pp. 13–40). Darmstadt: TU.
K. Roth (2014): Motor skills ABC. In I. Hunger, R. Zimmer (Ed.): Inclusion Moves: Challenges for Early Childhood Education (pp. 147–163). Schorndorf: Hofmann.
K. Roth, T. Damm, M. Pieper, C. Roth (2014). Ball school in primary school. Sports lesson elementary school volume 1. Schorndorf: Hofmann.
K. Roth, C. Kröger (2011). Ball school - an ABC for beginners (4th edition) Schorndorf: Hofmann.
K. Roth, C. Kröger, D. Memmert (2002). Ball school return games. Schorndorf: Hofmann.
K. Roth, D. Memmert, R. Schubert (2006). Ball school throwing games. Schorndorf: Hofmann.
K. Roth, M. Raab (1999). Tactical rule formation: “Laborious, concentrated, intentional or effortless, secondary, incidental?” In M. Wegner, A. Wilhelm, J.-P. Janssen (Ed.): Empirical Research in Sports Games - Methodology, Facts and Reflections (pp. 73–84). Kiel: IfSS.
K. Roth, C. Roth, U. Hegar (2014). Mini ball school: The ABC of playing for toddlers and preschoolers. Schorndorf: Hofmann.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Roth, K. (2000). The street game hypothesis or the model of incident incubation - an explanatory approach for the development of creativity in sports games. In W. Schmidt & A. Knollenberg (eds.), Sport - Game - Research: Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow (pp. 159-163). Hamburg: Czwalina.
↑ Roth, K. (1997). From street footballer to playmaker - On the effectiveness of incident tactical rule learning processes. In G. Konzag (Ed.), Psychologie im Sportspiel (pp. 63–79). Cologne: bps.
↑ Roth, K. (2005). Sports game mediation. In A. Hohmann, M. Kolb & K. Roth (eds.), Handbuch Sportspiel (pp. 290–308). Schorndorf: Hofmann.
^ Roth, K. & Hahn, C. (2007). Integrative beginner training in sports games. In D. Schmidt-Volkmar & J. Spägele (eds.), Full Day School - Challenge for the Ball Games (pp. 26–39). Karlsruhe: BBW.
^ Roth, K., Roth, C. & Hegar, U. (2014).
↑ ^a ^b Roth, K. & Kröger, C. (2011).
^ Roth, K., Roth, C. & Hegar, U. (2014).
^ ^A ^b Hahn, C. & Roth, K. (2004). The ball school as an integration concept - the ABC of learning to play for hyperactive children. Physical Education, 53 (12), 367–372.
↑ Ulrike Hegar: Ballschule - made easy: Effects of a nutrition and exercise program on development-relevant parameters in overweight and obese children (= series of writings on sports science . No. 99 ). Kovač, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8300-6123-6 .
^ Hegar, U. & Roth, K. (2011). Effects of nutritional advice and physical activity promotion on various development-relevant parameters in overweight and obese children. German magazine for sports medicine, 62 (6), 168.
↑ ^a ^b Essig, K. (2014). "Ball school - play around your handicap": Promotion of the development of physically handicapped children: Effects of a resource-oriented, cross-sport exercise program on motor and psychosocial parameters. Dissertation, Heidelberg University. urn : nbn: de: bsz: 16-heidok-170753
↑ ^a ^b Roth, K. & Hegar, U. (2015). Final report on the Mini Ball School project (motor skills ABC) at 147 kindergartens in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region. Heidelberg: ISSW.
↑ Memmert, D. & Roth, K. (2007). The effects of non-specific and specific concepts on tactical creativity in team ball sports. Journal of Sports Sciences, 25 (12), 1423-1432.
^ Hegar, U. & Roth, K. (2011). Effects of nutritional advice and physical activity promotion on various development-relevant parameters in overweight and obese children. German magazine for sports medicine, 62 (6), 168.

[1] Roth, K. (2000). The street game hypothesis or the model of incident incubation - an explanatory approach for the development of creativity in sports games. In W. Schmidt & A. Knollenberg (eds.), Sport - Game - Research: Yesterday. Today. Tomorrow (pp. 159-163). Hamburg: Czwalina.

[2] Roth, K. (1997). From street footballer to playmaker - On the effectiveness of incident tactical rule learning processes. In G. Konzag (Ed.), Psychologie im Sportspiel (pp. 63–79). Cologne: bps.

[3] Roth, K. (2005). Sports game mediation. In A. Hohmann, M. Kolb & K. Roth (eds.), Handbuch Sportspiel (pp. 290–308). Schorndorf: Hofmann.

[:2-4] Roth, K. & Hahn, C. (2007). Integrative beginner training in sports games. In D. Schmidt-Volkmar & J. Spägele (eds.), Full Day School - Challenge for the Ball Games (pp. 26–39). Karlsruhe: BBW.

[5] Roth, K., Roth, C. & Hegar, U. (2014).

[:5-6] Roth, K. & Kröger, C. (2011).

[7] Roth, K., Roth, C. & Hegar, U. (2014).

[:1-8] A ^b Hahn, C. & Roth, K. (2004). The ball school as an integration concept - the ABC of learning to play for hyperactive children. Physical Education, 53 (12), 367–372.

[9] Ulrike Hegar: Ballschule - made easy: Effects of a nutrition and exercise program on development-relevant parameters in overweight and obese children (= series of writings on sports science . No. 99 ). Kovač, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8300-6123-6 .

[10] Hegar, U. & Roth, K. (2011). Effects of nutritional advice and physical activity promotion on various development-relevant parameters in overweight and obese children. German magazine for sports medicine, 62 (6), 168.

[:3-11] Essig, K. (2014). "Ball school - play around your handicap": Promotion of the development of physically handicapped children: Effects of a resource-oriented, cross-sport exercise program on motor and psychosocial parameters. Dissertation, Heidelberg University. urn : nbn: de: bsz: 16-heidok-170753

[:4-12] Roth, K. & Hegar, U. (2015). Final report on the Mini Ball School project (motor skills ABC) at 147 kindergartens in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region. Heidelberg: ISSW.

[:0-13] Memmert, D. & Roth, K. (2007). The effects of non-specific and specific concepts on tactical creativity in team ball sports. Journal of Sports Sciences, 25 (12), 1423-1432.

[14] Hegar, U. & Roth, K. (2011). Effects of nutritional advice and physical activity promotion on various development-relevant parameters in overweight and obese children. German magazine for sports medicine, 62 (6), 168.