2005 Men's Final Four

"Madness" lessons lead up to men's tourney

The popular basketball-based Middle School Madness activities for kids are returning this fall. They will serve as a preview for the 2005 NCAA Men's Final Four basketball tournament coming to St. Louis next March.

During the 2000-01 school year, the Middle School Madness was connected to the 2001 NCAA Women's Final Four. The middle school activities included a series of class lessons, projects and contests based on basketball.

Also included were public events open to kids. They included special basketball clinics, an all-star basketball game and a Hoop City event downtown.

Over 110 area schools participated in the Middle School Madness three years ago. That involved over 20,000 kids.

This year, Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) officials expect to involve more schools and more kids. The MVC is the host conference for the NCAA tournament.

One reason for expecting more participation is that access to the 2004-05 program will be easier. All class materials will be available on-line via the Internet.

The final customized program for St. Louis won't be available until later this fall. But, Young Saint Louis.com is publishing a brief preview here. (YSL.com will add the latest information here when it becomes available.)

As in 2001, YSL.com will run local articles on Middle School Madness during the fall and winter. The stories will focus on local school kids taking part in the program.

In the months immediately ahead of the 2005 Men's Final Four, we'll include advance notice of various public events open to kids. We'll also include links to other websites where you can get further information.

The Middle School Madness program used last year for the men's Final Four in San Antonio included special lesson plans based on basketball. The lessons were for social studies, language arts, math, art, science and physical education and health.

For instance, the math lesson revolved around an exercise in shooting free throws. Kids shot free throws and then figured the ratio and percentages of total free throws shot to those made or missed.

The language arts class involved developing a 5-minute talk or a 5-paragraph essay on what makes a great team.

In science, there was a study of Newton's 3rd Law of Physics, involving action and reaction. For example, dribbling a basketball involves a downward action and a reaction as the ball bounces up.

There was an art project where students develop their own homemade sculpture. In San Antonio, the class was called Sculpting Motion. Kids used such things as newsprint, paper cups, balloons and string to make 3-dimensional figures showing motion.

Another feature of last year's program involves a whole group of lessons about sportsmanship. Included was an outline for a school-wide sportsmanship program.

Games include basketball trivia, Sweet 16 word scramble and basketball vocabulary.

Leading up to the March tournament, Middle School Madness includes an opportunity to attend practices by tournament teams. A NCAA Hoop City event downtown included all sorts of hands-on basketball related activities.

A series of Youth Education through Sports (YES) clinics gave kids a chance to get lessons from college coaches.

The NCAA website also includes links to more than a dozen related sports websites.

The Middle School Madness program helps to build local interest in the upcoming NCAA tournament.

And the MSM program has educational goals, including:

• Making middle school students aware of the opportunities for them through athletics.
  
  
• Incorporating current, local events into classroom learning. In this case, it's using basketball information to teach a variety of educational principles.

Watch YSL.com in the coming months to learn more about Middle School Madness.