My name is Damian Canny, and I’m a trained facilitator and director of Cooperative Sports Beginnings. Having 18 years of experience leading and facilitating cooperative-based activities with adjudicated youth, both public and private school kids, and training other teachers on how to facilitate such activities has provided me with the skills and knowledge to work successfully with diverse groups of teachers and students. To help solidify my beliefs and knowledge about how cooperative activities affect students, I recently completed a Ph.D. in Public Health and ran a study on how middle school students feel and perceive cooperative-based activities in physical education classes. 

Although cooperative learning has been around since the days of John Dewey, few people are truly capable of facilitating it so that participants can maximize the positive cognitive, affective, and motor domain effects encountered. Having focused my entire teaching career on how to facilitate cooperative activities to foster sport-related skills, team communication, and positive group dynamics has allowed me to master the facilitation process while developing a curriculum that students love. 

My main goal has always been to ensure all kids can enjoy playing in a safe, respectful environment in which everyone finds the appropriate level of challenge. Because the cooperative games I facilitate are multi-faceted and have numerous, varied roles, all students are eager to participate and look forward to the cognitive and motor challenges they will face; interestingly enough, the activities also require students to deal with how their affective domain functions while cooperating. My main objective is to help students develop motor skills, learn to think critically, and understand how to work productively with others who have both similar and different perspectives and ideas. I am committed to providing my expertise and guidance to any program that works with youth to help them become more active, cooperative people capable of achieving more for both themselves and the groups they work with. I know cooperative activities have the potential to help people develop into more aware and active folks who are competent in succeeding in various environments and situations. I can’t wait to help the youth you work with become more active, cooperative, and capable people.