KEY INFORMATION

Recommended age group: 5–14
Time required: 30–45 minutes
Equipment: Olympic Value of excellence presentation.

ACTIVITY IDEA

Use these discussion points and activities to explore excellence and the idea of 'personal best':

What is excellence?

• Discuss Pierre de Coubertin's idea that excellence is about progressing according to one's own objectives.
• Why are the personal best (PB) times achieved by Jo and Julia in the 10,000m as valuable as a Gold medal to them?
• How can the students try to weave some of this personal best attitude into everyday life?

Extension

Go the extra mile

• Work on the 'personal best' pledge postcard as a group. Think about whole class and whole school pledges too.
• Encourage the students to have an ongoing 'excellence wall of fame' in their classroom. Every week, different students could be responsible for posting up a profile of someone who does their personal best.
• What goes into making an excellent athlete? Invite sports coaches to talk to students about the importance of the right attitude and positive thinking as well as hard work, training and nutrition.