UNITED STATES SPORTS ACADEMY
ARTICLE CRITIQUE #2
A Class Paper Submitted for
SAR 790D
Selected Readings
Professor: Dr. Spradley
by:
Brian Howells
Daphne, Alabama
December 2021
Destani, F., Hannon, J. C., Podlog, L., & Brusseau, T. A. (2014). Promoting Character
Development through Teaching Wrestling in Physical Education. JOPERD: The
Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 85(5), 23–29. EBSCOhost.
The research by Destani, Hannon, Podlog, and Brusseau combines the aspects of
wrestling into a lesson plan that could be used for a physical education class. The lesson plan
includes various aspects such as Counseling time, Awareness Talk, Warm Up, Instruction,
Practice and Activities and finally Group Meeting and Reflection Time. The authors suggest that
character development can be achieved through wrestling using the TPSR Model with a “Pin it
to Win it” leveling system. Instead of students being awarded points for winning in wrestling
they are instead awarded points through active participation and following the rules of the sport
correctly. Level 0 is a disqualification for not obeying the safety rules or teacher instructions,
Level 1 is showing self-control and respect for others, Level 2 is active participation and
accepting challenges, Level 3 is exhibits respect and on task independence and Level 4 is
leadership roles in class.
The statement of the problem for this study was Physical education and wrestling can be
an interactive environment that has the potential to engage students personally and socially in
character-development promoting activities. The article explains, despite the promotion of the
affective learning domain in physical education, moral development or character development
has been largely ignored by physical educators either because of the belief that it should be
taught at home or because there is such a diversity of cultures that it is unclear whose values
should be taught. Also, many researchers feel that the affective-learning domain outcomes
cannot be measured, and, until recently, there have been no instructional models focusing on or
promoting the affective learning domain (Metzler, 2012). The authors attempted through their
statement of the problem to conclude through their research that affective-learning domain
outcomes can be measured when given a lesson such as wrestling and the Leveling model to
grade a physical education class on character development.
The significance of the study is that one of the main assurances that wrestling coaches and
stakeholders hold in high regard is that wrestling creates champions of character. So, a study
being done to gauge a student’s character is an important study for the wrestling community to
use to help promote the sport.
The methodology of the study includes instructor-student interaction to help move students from
one level to the next. The authors discuss reinforcement strategies geared towards helping those
students who are not responsible in following the rules. The Hellison TPSR Model leveling
system is the main methodology used in the study.
The findings show that in recent years, wrestling has increased in popularity for all races,
genders and sizes (weight classes) and provides physical educators the opportunity to teach
character development due to the unique moral-development experiences inherent to the sport.
The authors did not include actual data of where they used this system so one is unaware if this is
an accurate positive outcome for creating character development with no studies being actually
shared in the journal article. They did provide a lesson plan that is helpful for any teacher to use
if they chose to incorporate a wrestling unit into their yearly lessons.
This article relates to my topic of interest as I am in the beginning stages of determining
my dissertation topic. My topic options include wrestling, football, coaching and adaptive
physical education. This article combines physical education and wrestling together as two of
my interests exist.