Social Observation In Dodgeball

Introduction I observed and participated in Reach Powerhouse’s Dodgeball program, held on Tuesday evenings. Participants included boys from the neighbourhood of varying ethnicities, aside the odd girl or two. They were older primary or lower secondary youths, but the youngest was eight years old. Observations of Youths Critically, their behaviour is developmentally congruent and shaped by experiences and is. As adolescents, they are in their psychosocial stage of Identity versus Identity Confusion (Martin, 2003; Newman & Newman, 2011). Their main developmental goal is to explore themselves and arrive at an identity they find most congruent to themselves. Hence, they may socialize with various peer groups (such as this dodgeball group) to identify, find belonging and attachment with such groups (Batsleer, 2008). These sessions offer a (masculine) environment of restrained aggression and competition, thus explaining the predominantly male attendance. Nicholas (the worker in-charge) also remarked that previous players stopped attending once they had started dating; moving on to other development stages – e.g.

For Nicholas, distinctions between youth work and social work practice is ambiguous. Theory is often seconded to the main aim of engaging youths or are identified post-activity to justify programs. Most evolve from the interest of workers themselves. (Dodgeball was his boss’s idea). So long as activities are purposeful, they work. Like the conundrum of being “too friendly”, focusing on that allows me to be more authentic and less self-censoring, since I spent less time worrying about crossing ethical bounds; time better spent being with the youths. Programs and plans change in the moment, rendering planning obsolete unless it caters for change. Therefore, protocol should guide more than command, and adopting this perspective would aid me greatly. Not just in youth work, but for direct practice in