ABSTRACT
Despite growth in the use of game-based approaches (GBA) such as Game Sense, their apparent uptake at a global level is disappointing, but things may be better than they look. Rather than indicating the lack of impact of research on practitioners of research and development in GBA like Game Sense, the apparent lack of uptake might be more related to rigid views on what Game Sense is or is not. Views on what is or isn’t ‘authentic’ Game Sense fail to recognise the more subtle influence of Game Sense on coaches and teachers’ practice. Drawing on a study that inquired into why adolescent girls play school basketball in a New Zealand school, this chapter identifies the positive affect that their coach’s pedagogy had on the girls and how similar it was to Game Sense. It suggests how her coaching approach reflected the core features of Game Sense pedagogy but without her being familiar with it, or any other GBA.
