New Games Workshops with Dale Le Fevre


Biography of Dale N. Le Fevre Director, New Games

	Dale N. Le Fevre started working with the non-profit New Games Foundation in 1975 as a volunteer. By the start of 1976 he was office manager and Associate Director. In 1977 Dale formed his own project, Play Express, which took New Games into schools. Until 1979 he continued to present workshops all across the U.S. and Canada for the Foundation.
	One turning point occurred in '77 when Dale presented a two week workshop at the Open University summer school in England. The exposure New Games received enabled him to return in '78 and '79, ultimately to stay in Europe until the end of '87. To date, Dale has given New Games workshops in 32 countries, including with Jews and Arabs in the early '80's in Israel, mixed races in apartheid South Africa, Protestants and Catholics in the early '80's Northern Ireland, and in '93 & '94 Croats, Serbs and Muslims in Croatia. He has also worked in far away places like Japan, India, Australia, and New Zealand. Dale's desire to explore new places extended to personal growth in his life and work. This led him in a fresh direction: to create his own book of New Games and his experiences with them in '83, called NEW GAMES FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY. Originally self-published in Europe, it was eventually published in 4 other languages, and in the U.S. in 1988. Currently this work has been revised and is printed by Findhorn Books under the title THE SPIRIT OF PLAY. In '95 Dale came out with PARACHUTE GAMES, the most complete book about parachute play and the only one with photos; this book has been revised and is now called PARACHUTE GAMES with DVD. BEST NEW GAMES, his new book, became available in 2002, and is the most comprehensive New Games book to date. Both books are published by Human Kinetics. More information is available on this web site on the "Books" page. His interest in video led to another direction: his co-productions of THE NEW GAMES VIDEO in '86, NEW GAMES FROM AROUND THE WORLD in '88, RAINY DAY GAMES and SUNNY DAY GAMES in '90, and his own production of NEW SOCCER (For Fun and Skills) in '93. COOPERATIVE GROUP GAMES arrived in '97 and SKILL GAMES in '98, and his last video was THE NEW PARACHUTE GAMES VIDEO, which came out in '02. All of the videos which were submitted to the Coalition for Quality Children's Media (Kids First) – everything since New Soccer – received an endorsement. More information on these is available on the "Video" page. There are still a few of these available, though most have been transferred to DVD (see below). Of course the new millennium required new technology, and Dale had the videos repackaged and put out as DVDs: THE PARACHUTE GAMES DVD ('05), BEST OF COOPERATIVE GAMES ('07), BEST OF NEW GAMES ('09), and the COMPLETE COOPERATIVE NEW GAMES which has the content of all the others plus NEW SOCCER and an interview done by Parent TV. Perhaps the most innovative project at the time of its conception was the NEW GAMES TRAINING CD-ROM. It not only has all the great features of the Best New Games book such as information about when to play which game and where, but also safety features, ideal number of participants, and, most importantly, a video of the game being played. This item also received an endorsement from the Coalition for Quality Children's Media (Kids First). Dale has been working with businesses with his company, Playworks. New Games are used as ice breakers as the focus moves to improving communication, team building, and stress reduction. See the section on this web page called "Playworks Business Seminars" for more information. One direction for Dale has been the New Games Mentoring project, where older students are taught New Games and how to lead them with school children to teach cooperation, tolerance, and to provide physical activity. See the section on "Mentoring" for a more complete description. The very latest project for him that has Dale all enthused has been to integrate the Mentoring project into a New Games Research Project which is taking a look at what benefits kids get from doing the games. Such items as learning skills, behavioral skills, and academic performance are being assessed by university researchers with groups that have done the games. The effects on obesity, bullying, self esteem and resiliency are also being given scrutiny. Dale hopes to finally be able to "prove" the benefits of the games and their contribution to the educational process, though it is something he has seen empirically for decades. New Games P.O. Box 1641 Mendocino, CA 95460 Telephone: 707-962-0514 Dale N. Le Fevre 201 Lancing Road Sheffield, S2 4EW England E-mail: dale@inewgames.com