School sports day? What a farce!

[grhm]

Mine aren't old enough for sports days yet. I remember sports days (at my primary school) involving running, jumping and throwing events of the school field.

We even had a 100m slow bike race on the 100m running track - must not go backwards, must not leave your lane, must not put your foot down, last one across the finish line wins. I remember being impressed by one cocky lad who pratically sprinted to the half way mark, whilst the rest of us were wobbling slowly forward by the start line. He when proceeded to trackstand and wait for everyone else to finish or drop out due to falling off or wobbling out of their lane, and then sprinted for the finish line (doing a wheelie across the line IIRC - cocky little git).

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

Sports day when i was in primary school (30 years ago) was mostly based around "games" (those team events were you have to throw a ball between each member of the team and then swap the leader, repeat, and so on) plus a few "running races".

In secondary school, it was basically track and field events where you competed for your house. No rugby, football or anything like that - even back then.

Edit: obviously we did rugby and football, cricket, etc. and there would have been house cups for those. But they were held separately and were not part of sports day.

At the Little-LCs primary school now (they are 8yo and 6yo), they compete in their houses. There's a few of the "games" type events, mostly for the younger ones, plus sprints (60m to 100m, depending on age) and a few very simplified field events. What they do seems about right for the ages of the kids involved. Guess it depends on the school ..

 

[Dave Davenport]

Some parents have contributed to this safety first culture, a 10 year old at the school mrs d works at got a tooth broken playing hockey. The f**king parents only went and threatened to sue the school unless they paid them 900 quid for dental treatment (funny I thought it was free for kids) and the school only went and bloody paid them!

 

[Canrider]

Crock, so which is which, then?

For my 'sport' part, I played football in primary. I was probably pretty good, but was put on defense, and our forwards almost never lost possession they were so dominant. So my experience of 'sports' at the time arguably taught me that if you sit around and look attentive for 90 minutes, someone else will do all your work for you and eventually you'll be rewarded with the league trophy. Then I convinced myself that my lack of effort in primary meant I'd never make the teams in secondary school so I didn't bother trying out for them.

'Games', now, there I learned stuff. Negotiating shifting alliances on the fly in British Bulldog and Capture the Flag, all involving constant running for the entire duration of recess, tactics of who to put up front in dodgeball, and I even got four stitches after someone swung the 'flag' at me in anger at his side losing.

 

[Wigsie]

Dont get me started my 8 year old got told off last year in the (plastic) egg and spoon 'challenge' because he was running, the teacher shouted "slow down, its not a race!!!" I was very annoyed and the look of despair on most of the parents faces I was not alone.

I can see it from both sides, the schools cant win either way. I am not a pushy parent but life is a competition so kids do need to be exposed to this element from a reasonably young age and i encourage healthy competition with my kids.

When you go to a job interview you are competiting with other canditates, when your single and 'looking for love' you are competing with other singles for the affections of a mate (primitive but true). Throughout life you get put under pressure and are forced to compete so why not encourage it in sensible doses in our children?

 

[GrahamG]

The saddest thing for me is that school is often the only place that kids get experience of track and field events (facilities, clubs etc. being shorter on the ground that football for example), so to replace the good old fashioned running race and fun races like egg & spoon and catch the train is a bit sad. Thank god I didn't go into teaching (primary) as I'd probably get no end of grief for ignoring the PC crap.

 

[Globalti]

Damn right Wigsie old boy. Let me buy you a virtual pint.

 

[bonj2]

Couple of things I remember about school sports day:

* There was a parents race, and there was always one person's dad who took it FAR too seriously - got the whole running kit on, and was 'limbering up' for about 15 minutes before, absolutely determined to win.

* I won the egg and spoon race by about a country mile, but it was explained to me later that in attempting to be efficient by collecting them all on one spoon together, I had, in fact, apparently cheated. I protested that this hadn't been explained, which it hadn't.

 

[Fnaar]

I can see there's a sort of possibility of 'unfairness' in the long run, in that at my secondary school (70s, we're talking about) those who were best at rugby in the first term of the first year also got to be in the footy team and the cricket team... I wasn't particularly good at any of them (though I'm not bad at footy, and apparently I'm a good scrum half, but I don't know all the rules) so it didn't bother me. But, esp at primary schools, I think the lack of competition IS a problem which some parents (rightly) rail against, whilst others (wrongly) think it's positive. So, you lose at footy, or egg and spoon race... you might 'win' at maths, or you might be better at English, Art or whatever... let the kids flourish and find their skills and enjoy developing them, I say. I was crap at sciences at school... I knew it, teachers knew it, no-one pretended I wasn't crap. I was great at languages... I knew it, teachers knew it, no-one pretended otherwise. I was OK at sports, not crap, not brilliant, and so it goes, and so it should be.
Here endeth the sermon.

 

[Wigsie]

I can see there's a sort of possibility of 'unfairness' in the long run, in that at my secondary school (70s, we're talking about) those who were best at rugby in the first term of the first year also got to be in the footy team and the cricket team... I wasn't particularly good at any of them (though I'm not bad at footy, and apparently I'm a good scrum half, but I don't know all the rules) so it didn't bother me. But, esp at primary schools, I think the lack of competition IS a problem which some parents (rightly) rail against, whilst others (wrongly) think it's positive. So, you lose at footy, or egg and spoon race challenge... you might 'win' at maths, or you might be better at English, Art or whatever... let the kids flourish and find their skills and enjoy developing them, I say. I was crap at sciences at school... I knew it, teachers knew it, no-one pretended I wasn't crap. I was great at languages... I knew it, teachers knew it, no-one pretended otherwise. I was OK at sports, not crap, not brilliant, and so it goes, and so it should be.
Here endeth the sermon.

Corrected, its not allowed to be called a race at school anymore I am not even sure you can call is sports day any more, more like "kids playing with bean bags and sponge toys day".

You talk sense Fnaar, you have to have competition or you will never know what you can excel in, end of!

 

[Mr Pig]

Maybe we should extend this policy to adults. Change the rules of football so that when Man U and whoever are playing they just run around passing the ball to each other for fun?

And Olympians can just jog along together so no one feels left out?

Sorry, but these people are f****** idiots and if you agree with them, so are you! :0)

 

[Wigsie]

Maybe we should extend this policy to adults. Change the rules of football so that when Man U and whoever are playing they just run around passing the ball to each other for fun?

And Olympians can just jog along together so no one feels left out?

Sorry, but these people are f****** idiots and if you agree with them, so are you! :0)

Yeah the 100m challenge. Usain Bolt, one of the 8 fairest 100m participants in the world!

 

[bonj2]

it's un- politically correct to tell a child he or she has 'lost', or 'failed' come to that.
Children need to lose, otherwise they won't feel the need to improve.
Incidentally there's no reason why children shouldn't compete on a level playing field with adults. It's good practice for them.
Indeed, there's nothing I love more than absolutely thrashing children at sport.
there's some at the squash league I play in that are a bit cocky and confident, rightly so 'cos they're really really good for their age but haven't got the experience there - I see no reason to give them some nice shots or put them out of the misery with drops and boasts rather than just standing in the middle giving them the runaround by putting it in each back corner alternately, which i try and do when i can.
At badminton I love nothing more than power smashing it straight at them so hard not only can they not hit it but can't move out of the way.

 

[MacB]

One could argue that we want to try and impose our values on our children. We were brought up to believe competition was key and can't see success without this ingredient. But isn't this competitive aspect all part of the belief system the Western capitalist marketplace thrives upon? Not only does it instill a competitive edge but it reinforces beliefs around winners and losers and the idea that some have an innate superiority. I would suggest that the 'games' are trying to promote teamwork, co-operation and sow the seeds for an understanding of synergy. How well this is done and the future impact is open for debate, but I don't see it as a blanket negative. I suppose it could be argued that the pyramidical nature of capitalism merely mirrors the way that we would organise naturally. But it can also be argued that this is far from the ideal for efficiency and widespread happiness/contentment. In actuality there will always need to be a supporting base and, by its very nature, this will be the greatest number with the least benefit. If you were setting something up this wouldn't be the optimum choice for success.

Sorry about banging on but I find these things fascinating and ponder them a lot during my commuting miles. At the moment I'm trying to self analyse my belief system to see what aspects come from where. For example, is my competitive edge natural or a result of nurture? On an intellectual level I consider us all equal but does that transfer into my day to day actions? If the 'go get them' cut and thrust of the marketplace is the best system, why do so many people dream of retirement and hate work? I must re-read Lord of the Flies again soon.

 

[Wigsie]

Did you just find a Thesaurus on your desk?

And do you talk to yourself in your head like that?