February 25 2010
McDonald’s Australia has today kicked off its nationwide Player Escort Competition designed to encourage sportsmanship values in children, and provide 10 lucky 6-10 year olds with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk on the field with the Australian team at the 2010 FIFA World CupTM in South Africa.
The announcement coincides with new research which reveals the majority of Australian parents (69%) believe sportsmanship values are essential life-skills which should be taught from a young age. However, more than half of those surveyed think that training facilities and resources currently available are insufficient.*
The nationwide study, conducted with more than 600 parents of children between the ages of 6 and 10, also revealed that 69% feel it’s up to them to teach sportsmanship values such as fair play and winning/losing with good grace. While only 18% of parents believe it is up to the coaches, a mere 3% feel it is down to professional sporting heroes to teach sportsmanship, in spite of the fact they act as influential role models for many children.
The McDonald’s Player Escort Competition is asking children in South Australia to show they are ‘good sports’, by visiting www.mcdonalds.com.au/playerescort and creating a comic-strip story about the ‘spirit of sportsmanship’.
Richie Alagich, former Adelaide United player and Australian representative, was at Houghton Primary School this week to help launch the competition.
“Whatever sport you’re into, learning to be a ‘good sport’ - teamwork, winning and losing with good grace, communication, social interaction - not only make playing more enjoyable, but experts also believe these are essential life-skills which, if learned from a young age, can greatly benefit a child’s personal growth and wellbeing. It’s great to see a competition which actively promotes and encourages these values,” he said.
To help encourage children to be ‘good sports’, Richie Alagich has endorsed these top five tips for parents:
1. Call out words of encouragement such as “Great play!” or “Nice job!” Yelling negative comments or scowling from the sidelines isn’t good sportsmanship. Provide praise not only for your child, but their teammates and opponents
2. Explain the concept of teamwork and reinforce the importance of all team members working together to form a stronger and more effective team
3. Try not to openly berate, tease or demean athletes, coaches or referees in any environment, be it while watching TV or attending a sporting event
4. Encourage children to learn the rules of their chosen sport and play fairly. Cheating is easy, but they will never feel good about winning a game if they did not play fairly and honestly.
5. Ultimately, we foster good sportsmanship when we encourage children to just have fun and enjoy the game, whether they win or lose
The McDonald’s Player Escort Competition is open to all Australian children between the ages of 6 and 10 as at 20 June 2010. The competition requires entrants to log on to www.mcdonalds.com.au/playerescort and complete a comic story about “The Spirit of Sportsmanship.” The closing date for entries is 31/3/10.
For further information please contact:
Julia Angove, Hughes Public Relations on (08) 8412 4109 or 0420 995 982 or Julia@hughespr.com.au
Notes to editors: About the research*
Research conducted in November 2009 by IMI International on behalf of McDonald’s Australia. Interviews were conducted online with a representative sample of Australian parents, with children aged between 6-10 who are registered in a sport or a sporting club.
About The McDonald’s Player Escort Program
McDonald’s is a global sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World CupTM The McDonald’s Player Escort Competition is one of the properties designed to bring this sponsorship to life and provide children with a once-in-a-lifetime sporting experience.
The competition requires entrants to log on to www.mcdonalds.com.au/playerescort and complete a comic story about “The Spirit of Sportsmanship.” Entrants do this by creating their own avatar; selecting features, facial expression, uniform etc. They then choose one of three sportsmanship values (teamwork, fair-play or good winner/loser) to write a story about a personal experience relating to the theme. Finally they are required to create their own visual design of the comic story by dragging images – for example sporting equipment, onto their personalised pages to help tell their story. The McDonald’s Player Escort Competition is open to all Australian children between the ages of 6 and 10 as at 20 June 2010. The closing date for entries is 31/3/10. Entry details and full terms and conditions can be found at www.mcdonalds.com.au/playerescort
The 10 winning children will each walk on to the field with an Australian player at the Australia versus Ghana match on June 19 in Johannesburg.
