Why XerGames works for P.E., Adapted P.E., After School & Athletic Training

• Rated #1 in user enjoyment & energy expenditure (The Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine)
• Motivate your students with fun and social, yet serious interactive brain-body workouts
• Fully compliant with NASPE standards (see below)
• Proven Science & Results – fitness, academic, behavior, attendance, adherence
• Engage all ages & abilities with programming for P.E., Adapted P.E., After School, Athletics
• Versatile fitness, dance and sports training programs for large classes and individuals
• Use existing gyms or multi-purpose rooms - no dedicated space required
• Track individual, class and school progress, host competitions online with RFID technology
• Live sports training - skills, speed & agility for football, baseball, basketball, soccer, & more

Sportwall® and NASPE Standards:
How Sportwall Programs for P.E. Meet & Exceed NASPE Standards

Sportwall Conditioning for the Mind and Body – How it works

Sportwall Training is a functional training and fitness program for all ages and fitness levels. The brain and body connection is the key element that differentiates a functional training program from a general conditioning program, and Sportwall programs are specifically designed to stimulate the body and the brain concurrently. This is accomplished by:

• Attracting participation and engaging sustained focus with short-attention grabbing computer games, played sequentially in the pursuit of mastery of skills and score
• Providing full body exercise by stimulating the hands, feet, eyes, ears and vestibular system in playing real games with real tactile equipment (not simulated)
• Requiring high levels of attention and focus for success (staying consciously in-the-now)
• Engaging in cognitive decision making under pressure
• Delivering a cardiovascular workout in a game format

Sportwall’s programming improves functional abilities (flexibility, balance, power, strength) while concurrently developing high levels of neuromuscular efficiency.  This process of engaging the hands, feet, ears, and eyes develops visual-perceptual motor skills. The added element of integration of the right and left brain hemispheres has been well documented to enhance brain plasticity as well as whole brain thinking, cognition, attention and focus for learning.

Examples of how Sportwall programming meets current NASPE standards:

Standard 1 — Demonstrate competency in motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities.

• Interactive targets may be hit in numerous ways requiring a variety of functional motor and sports skills and movement patterns using hands, feet, upper, lower and full body.
• Sportwall programming, designed for both large groups and individuals, requires responses to moving targets and returned objects. This elicits motor skills and movement patterns to (1) hit targets, (2) move forward and back, and (3) move laterally.
• Targets of varying size allow for competency to be developed for all ages and ability levels from beginners and special needs through performance athletes.
• Specific physical skills are practiced, including throwing, catching, kicking, tracking, hitting, swinging, running, jumping, skipping, dribbling, crunches, pushups, and balance.
• Specific tools are used, including hands, feet, bean bags, foam noodles, playground balls, medicine balls, and sports balls
• Interactive scoring and tracking of results motivates students to develop increased competency as they improve.

Standard 2 — Demonstrate understanding of movement concepts, principles, strategies, and tactics as they apply to the learning and performance of physical activities.

• Sportwall programming offers a variety of categorized learning experiences requiring different movement concepts, principles, strategies and tactics.
• Sportwall learning experiences include basic motor skills, sports skills, sports strategy and tactics, core strength development, brain games, and more. Specific learning experiences include:
• Using different body movements to strike or throw at targets.
• Positioning feet, body, and hands in order to achieve desired results in accuracy, placement and returns.
• Incorporating strategy and tactics to achieve a rebound that is challenging to opponents while setting up an outcome of a sequential return.
• Accomplishing a higher level of cooperative play through strategy, positioning and technique.
• Increasing balance through programmed activities using specific devices and challenging drills.
• Understanding and applying the benefits of speed, agility, accuracy, focus, and teamwork to achieve success.
 Standard 3 — Participates regularly in physical activity.

• Sportwall games encourage regular physical activity by focusing on fun, play, social interaction and team cooperation. Participants are motivated by electronically generated game set-up and scoring familiar to the many who play video games, thus helping to eliminate barriers to exercise, as it is related more to play than work.
• Sportwall has been well documented to appeal to traditionally inactive and high BMI participants, rating #1 in enjoyment in a 2011 study from the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine (Bailey and McInnes), which measured Sportwall versus traditional exercise as well as other exergames .

Standard 4 — Achieves and maintains a health-enhancing level of physical fitness.

• Sportwall programming, designed for both large groups and individuals, requires a variety of health-enhancing activities including cardio development, maintenance of elevated heart rate, intermittent bursts of activity, flexibility and core strength.   
• Sportwall’s ability to enhance health is well documented, rating #1 in energy expenditure (metabolic equivalent) in the 2011 study from the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine cited above.
• Sportwall activities focus on engaging play verses repetitive fitness drills, increasing the likelihood that participants return, thereby maintaining levels of health-enhancing fitness.  This improvement in exercise adherence is well documented.

Standard 5 — Exhibits responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others in physical activity settings.

• Sportwall group programming engages participants in activities that teach respect through the social interaction and cooperation required to improve performance and results.
• Sportwall encourages instructors to ensure diversity in each team to teach support for teammates of varying levels of ability, social influence and popularity.
• Sportwall has been shown to be less intimidating to individuals, especially those with less natural ability, than by actual sports participation, thereby providing a better chance to develop social skills and self-esteem in a physical activity environment.
• Sportwall use provides personal and social behavior benefits (e.g. Kansas City Schools Study showed a 59% drop in violence related behavioral issues).

Standard 6 — Values physical activity for health, enjoyment, challenge, self expression, and/or social interaction.

• Sportwall’s #1 rating for enjoyment evolves, we believe, from participants’ ability to realize the value of the NASPE Standards:  improving health, tackling challenges both individually and as a team, and expressing oneself as confidence is gained, all in a social setting that encourages interaction. 
• Sportwall activities/games engage participants in play where focus is placed on both individual and team performance.
• Sportwall scores show winners and losers frequently, teaching participants to use the scoring as feedback on the path to improvement rather than a measure of success or failure and giving everyone repeated chances to win and improve.
• Sportwall programming is designed to recognize wins on individual, team, and entire group levels, which significantly enhances an atmosphere of camaraderie.

More Information:

Sportwall and NASPE: How Sportwall Programs for PE Meet & Exceed NASPE Standards

Sportwall Fitness Effects: The Science Behind Its Brain-Body Integration Training For Schools

The Science Behind Sportwall's Fitness Games for Combating Childhood Obesity