Phil Eich makes a case against traditional physical education, in which sports form the foundation but provide little motivation toward lifelong fitness.
The CrossFit Kids curriculum is effective because it creates a physical learning environment that builds on the idea that all children have differing abilities and need to be challenged at their individual point of development in order for effective learning to take place. This differentiated instruction allows a child to continually and efficiently progress, minimizing the risk of frustration or stagnation. Every skill, every movement, every workout and every game can be scaled to a child’s ability (made easier or harder) so he or she is challenged by something difficult but not discouraged by something impossible. This not only allows for efficient and effective teaching and learning but also increases students’ desire to participate and challenge themselves.
CrossFit Kids uses the natural process of motor development to increase learning effectiveness and efficiency. Instead of confining a child’s development with rules and movement limitations of sports while running the risk of contributing to the detrimental effects of overspecialization, CrossFit Kids uses a child’s natural propensity for constantly varied movement by using constantly varied movement.
This curriculum provides for the direct teaching and assessment of necessary physical skills, and one is able to monitor progress by providing quantifiable data: movement improves, workout times decrease, number of reps increase, new movements are able to be performed. Where improvement in the traditional physical-education classroom is largely subjective, CrossFit lays the groundwork for success, achieves success and is able to prove success is happening. Children are able to perform more advanced movements more times and faster.
To a child, these successes are more than just a good grade, a pat on the back or a participation trophy; they are tangible evidence of accomplishment. Kids, like adults, want to do things well. CrossFit Kids gives children the best chance to be able to do things well because it equips them with foundational physical tools that can be applied to any future physical endeavor. It provides a pedagogically sound and effective physical-education curriculum that is fun and rigorous and provides lifelong benefits to children.