The Towson University Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) and Baltimore Sports Academy Partnership Program looks to facilitate pre-service teacher and elementary aged child participation in quality physical education, physical activity, and youth sport engagement. Our partnership provides a safe, socially inclusive, fun, challenging, and physically active teaching and learning experience for participants, facilitating undergraduate service learning and opportunities for physical activity for enrolled children.
In fall 2023, Donal Howley, Ph.D., assistant professor in the the College of Health Professions Department of Kinesiology began establishing a formal university-community partnership with Baltimore Sports Academy (BSA). BSA is a non-profit organization founded by Kevin Good, a TU alumni. Kevin and BSA partner with churches committed to serving under-resourced communities and giving elementary-aged youth access to summer camps, after-school programs, and sports leagues. Kevin and his locally hired coaches and stakeholders currently serve Baltimore County in Dundalk, where there are over 1,500 elementary-aged youth with no local and affordable after-school programs, summer camps, and sports leagues. Two main community-service needs exist:
- Recruiting trained adults to implement quality physical activity and youth sport programming.
- Access to safe and suitable facilities for all stakeholders with allocated equipment.
Kevin and Donal worked together to facilitate an initial field trip for 12 enrolled elementary aged children to visit the TU campus and participate in a variety of physical activities with 12 pre-service teachers using our equipment and facilities here in Burdick Hall. Following the success of this initial trip, and with the help and support of BTU (Baltimore–Towson University), the Office of Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility, and the Physical Education Majors Club, they arranged another successful visit last spring semester, this time providing transportation to and from campus and university promotional packs for 35 BSA children, coaches, and coordinators.
This fall, Donal was the course instructor for the course KNES 292: PETE as a Profession. The aim of this course is to provide undergraduate physical education (PE) majors with an introduction to the field of PE where they learn about historical and philosophical underpinnings of the subject and actively learn about and implement introductory planning and instructional best practices aligning with quality physical education and physical activity programming. A service need in this course is providing hands on opportunities for enrolled undergraduate students to engage in practical teaching and learning service experiences within the local community. As part of the course schedule, Donal worked with Kevin and BSA to enhance our current partnership and facilitate practical early teaching and learning experiences for PE undergraduates for the first time in their teacher preparation to engage in service learning with elementary aged students currently enrolled in BSA. This involved a site visit to conduct a 90-minute physical education/physical activity session for enrolled BSA children led by PETE faculty, pre-service teachers, and BSA coaches and stakeholders. Both TU PETE and BSA are looking forward to continuing to grow the partnership in 2025.
