How To Raise Awareness About Commonwealth Games In Kids!

The Commonwealth Games are held every four years to unite a diverse group of nations and people for peace, prosperity, and the common bond of humanity.

This year we enjoyed the 22nd Commonwealth Games, which saw the participation of 5,054 athletes from 72 countries. The Indian contingent had 106 men and 104 women competing in 16 sports and winning a record tally of 61 medals, securing fourth place in the competition. 

The Commonwealth Games bring together some of the world’s most populous nations, such as India, with a population of 1.3 billion people alongside the tiniest territories, such as Nauru, with a population of just over 10,000.

The event is a cultural and social celebration for a third of the global population, representing diversity in races, languages, beliefs, cultures, traditions, and perspectives but are united by humanity.

So, what is a Commonwealth of Nations, and what brings them together? 

The Commonwealth:

The Commonwealth is a vibrant family of 53 countries spread across every continent and ocean, which were formerly part of the British Empire.

About 30 percent of the world’s people live in the Commonwealth, which comes up to nearly 2.5 billion adults and children.

The Commonwealth is a family of mostly young people, with more than 60 per cent of its population under the age of thirty.

The members of the group come together for their joint commitment to promote democracy, peace and prosperity and to improve the lives of all peoples of the Commonwealth.

The Games:

The Commonwealth Games are a quadrennial international multi-sport event contested by athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. 

Organized by the Commonwealth Games Federation, the event has been hosted by 20 cities in nine countries. The last edition was held in Birmingham, England, earlier this year. Australia has hosted the games five times so far, more than any other nation, and the next edition is also slated to be held down under.

History:

In 1891, Australian-born Astley Cooper came up with the idea of hosting a sporting event for all the colonies under the British Empire. The idea was to demonstrate the unity of the then sprawling empire. 

Implementing the idea, an Inter-Empire Championship was held in 1911 as part of the “Festival of the Empire,” celebrating the coronation of King George V.

The championship saw teams from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa participating in a series of events that included athletics, boxing, wrestling, and swimming.

Inspired by the inter-empire sporting events, Melville Marks Robinson founded the British Empire Games, and the inaugural event was held in Hamilton, Canada, in 1930.

Eleven countries sent 400 athletes for a programme of athletics, lawn bowls, boxing, rowing, swimming, and wrestling. 

Since then, the event has been held every four years, with the exception of a 12-year hiatus due to the impact of World War II. 

The Games were called the British Empire Games from 1930 to 1950, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games from 1954 to 1966, the British Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974, and Commonwealth Games since then.

Over the years, even countries that were not formerly part of the British Empire have participated in the Games.

Current status:

This year, 72 nations competed in twenty different sports in the Birmingham games.

Birmingham 2022 was the largest ever female and para sports programme in history, with more women’s events than men’s for the first time ever.

The Birmingham edition was also the first ever carbon-neutral Commonwealth Games.

It was the largest ever Commonwealth event held in terms of the number of games, participants and outreach, with over 1.3 million tickets sold during the month-long event. 

It was also the first integrated event, with the para competition held at the same time.

Our children need to know more about the games in order to prepare them for the competition as well as for them to be the ambassadors of the values of togetherness and commonality that they stand for.

Here is how we can raise awareness about the games among our children: 

One-Audiovisual:

Play a video of the games while the athletes are competing, the video could be showing the favorite games of the students.

Discuss with the students what they may already know about the Commonwealth and get them thinking about what its broad intention might be, using the two words ‘common’ and ‘wealth’ as the starting point.

The video could trigger discussions on the word “commonwealth”. Some of the questions discussed could be:

• Have you ever heard of the ‘Commonwealth’ or the ‘Commonwealth Games’?
• What meanings does the word “common” have?
• What do we mean by ‘wealth’?
• What countries make up the Commonwealth?
• Why do you think they’re part of this group?

Two-Game:

Host a game or exercise that would make children use the words “common” and “wealth,” highlighting their various meanings.

Give examples of different meanings of the words ‘Common’ and ‘Wealth’ and how these describe the aims of the Commonwealth.

Help students summarize shared features of Commonwealth countries.

Create a shared definition of what it means to be part of the Commonwealth.

Get the children to research the history of the games and how they have evolved over the years.

Get them to discuss what it is trying to achieve in the modern world and how successful it has been in achieving its stated goals.

Three-Team Activity: 

Divide students into a number of teams and get each team to define what the word “common” means in the broadest sense. Make them write the answer on a piece of paper and set a time limit to get the answers.

Allow each team to take a look at the answers from the other teams.

Repeat these activities for the word “wealth” as well.

Then get the entire class to agree on a common class definition for each of the two words.

Four-synonym relay:

Divide the class into a number of teams of four to six members each.

Make the teams stand in their separate positions and put down a pen and piece of paper each on desks approximately 10 meters away from each group. 

One member of a team runs in turn and writes one word at a time that is synonymous with ‘Common’.

Set a time limit for each member as well as for each team to complete the game. Members can repeat their turn if the entire team finishes its turn before the allotted time. The team that has the most correct answers within the allotted time wins. 

Allow time for the students to see other groups’ ideas.

Five-Inspiration:

Play a video of a commonwealth medalist, preferably an Indian medalist, and seek to inspire the children with their experience and success.

The journey of a successful sportsperson, battling against all odds and overcoming every hurdle to achieve their goals, is an ideal dose of motivation for students to be ambitious and remain persistent in pursuing their goals. 

This could also help students identify sports, other than cricket, as a career and understand what it takes to be a sportsperson, preparing them for the tough but rewarding life ahead. 

Our commonwealth:

The whole idea of doing all these exercises is to highlight the common identity and roots that bind us all together as humans.

Hence, explain that the word ‘common’ has its roots in ‘sharing’ rather than ‘commonplace’, ‘ordinary’ or ‘cheap’ etc. Give examples like common land, common heritage, or common goal, all of which have the idea of bringing people together on a common platform.

Explain that ‘wealth’ has a wider meaning beyond money and could also mean life, family, peace, health, happiness, or success.

Together, let’s appreciate our common heritage of humanity and learn to celebrate what’s common among us rather than what differentiates us.