Ken Willner
Founder of Yellow for Yelling and Off the Pitch with Active
Yellow for Yelling & Off the Pitch with Active
Ken is a part time junior sports photographer with Active Illustrated. He has spent hundreds of games each year on the sidelines taking action photos. This exposed him to some alarming adult behaviours.
He became interested in how adult’s behaviours affected children in sport. So, during 2017 he began to research the subject and what he found shocked him. He just had to take action and help coaches & parents change perspective, so he developed two programs, Yellow for Yelling & Off the Pitch with Active
The Yellow for Yelling program content considers different physical, psychological, social and cognitive abilities/needs in children. It is organised into three interrelated pillars that not only support ages 6-17 in sport, but allow them to thrive and develop a lifetime passion for sport.
Each pillar interacts with and enriches the other pillars in creative and flexible ways. The fabric of the curriculum is continuously strengthened by the engagements between the main beneficiaries – young people, parents, coaches, and community sporting clubs.
The three pillars are;
- WWPIS: Engage Coaches & Great Sporting Parents
- Mindfulness Accountability Program
- Game Play Learn
Together, the three pillars form a framework of disciplinary knowledge. They develop young people’s intrinsic motivation, resilience, mental health, humility, courage & commitment.
The aim is to increase the retention rate of children aged 6-17 in sport in South Australia by 50% by 2025.
Off the Pitch with Active is a podcast series with international and local professionals contributing to a better youth sport experience for all. This is an opportunity for people who are involved with grassroots sport to learn and get ideas from specialists.
A Dad & Coach
As well as having been a sports parent, Ken coach his daughter in volleyball (for the past 3 seasons - U15 & U17) and he also coached his, then 6-year old son in Aussie Rules Footy (AFL), and school soccer (Year 5) and assistant coach for his son's U10 amateur youth league soccer team.
