to hate the new style sports days? whatever happened to races?

[twooter]

Had dcs sports day this week. Usual team events - throwing a welly, throwing a bean bag in a hoop etc etc. Absolutely NO way of seeing how well they were doing compared to the other teams - all of it was against the clock, so nothing to inspire them to push themselves. No watching others do their bit, hence no cheering/suppport for their teams. Then at the end, The team placings were given, from last to first. What was the point?

Isn't this just another example of people fretting about their kid being the one to come last. Meaning another kid can't have the joy of coming first. All ridiculous. Kids have to learn that life involves some disappointments. They may as well scrap sports day if there aren't winners & losers.

We have races, although don't make a huge thing about 1st, 2nd etc.

YANBU. It's all very progressive

There was absolutely no atmosphere. The mums just stood around chatting, because it was impossible to cheer on your child, the kids looked bored and miserable. It was a complete fluke if you were on the winning or losing team grrr. I used to love sports day as a child - jsut the excitement of watching people in your team and cheering them on.

YANBU - my friend's LO was told not to be competitive, do his best, it's not a race, yadda yadda. He is a really good runner, but stopped to wave in his race as it wasn't really a race He came last- even though he'd been winning - they then gave out medals and he cried when he didn;t get one!?! Just cruel IMO - I was shit at running - like all fatties - but the discus was mine and I ruled - it was nice to be good at something 'sporty'. They should just bin off sports day or do it proper.

YANBU but there have been so many comments over the years about poor children who always come last in everything, how humiliating it is, parents who are going to keep their precious chilren off school on sports day so they don't lose at anything etc that I can see why it has gone this way. Heaven forbid children might learn that they are not particularly sporty at a young age. Maybe by the time the next generation go out to work they will be given a job just because they want it, not because they are the best and have competed against others?

and i know some children aren't good at sport, but for the ones that are, especially if that is their 'thing', could we not have some proper competition?

It's brainwashing. Welcome to the new Utopia, a progressive paradise.

The best at sports in my dd year are also among the weakest academically, so it completely takes away their chance to shine

I think part of the problem parents have with it (not the overly precious parents, the sane ones) is that there is often no public forum to excel in other subjects. If your child is excellent at maths, most schools will not have an arena for his/her to be acknowledged and they will always be considered a 'loser' because they are not sporty. I still don't have a problem with sports days being competative, just trying to figure out why some might.

'The conditioning system eliminates the need for professional competitiveness; people are literally bred to do their jobs and cannot desire another. There is no competition within castes; each caste member receives the same food, housing, and soma rationing as every other member of that caste.'

From wikipedia's description of the book 'Brave New World'.

In a progressive utopia, competition must be eliminated, standards must decline and dumbing down must be carried out, in order to stop ordinary people competing against the elites. It is progressive conditioning and brainwashing of ordinary people. At Eton, they still have competitive sportsdays.

But why does everyone need a chance to shine - achievement is it's own reward and all that. Self-respect, pride in your own work, happiness comes from within are much better lessons to teach DC. Can you tell I'm fed up of all this mollycoddlybolleaux!?!

WannabeMusician, if your child is good at maths they will have to wait and excel at life .

Another crap sports person here. I liked sports day and didn't care that I was useless (well, I could throw and jump a bit).

It is like people cancelling Christmas for us (Atheist family). I like Christmas. Don't cancel it on my account!

Uh, don't really see the problem?

Watching other kids play the games/run the races is boring when you're little. Even I, PE-hater extraordinaire, preferred actually joining in to watching on sports day.

FFS, sports day is supposed to be a bit of FUN. Trying to get kids into sport is the point, isn't it? Without putting pressure on them, which in most cases is what makes children loathe sports, and exercise in general.
If you want your child to be in a more competitive environment, find out what they're good at and put them in competitions there. It's not exactly rocket science.

But xstar, this style sports day is not fun, for anyone. They do the activities, which can hardly be called sport, and it's like a lucky dip as to who wins. There is no challenge to improve themselves, as they have no idea how well they are getting on until the final result is given at the end of the day.

I agree with xStarGirl

Infants we had 'traditional' sports days and it was bloody boring sat about waiting for your race. Monotonous and mind-numbing.

We were all so excited to move into the Juniors that had team games in a big circuit. The points would be read out every few rounds and it was always frantic by the end, trying to get the points for your team/house to win.

Twooter No fun for anyone? Really? So no-one enjoyed it? At all?

I hate these style sports days. THey came in when DS1 was in about year 3 I think. He is now year 10.
Ok he was rubbish at running and didn't get the idea he had to try and win but hey so what, he had fun. We had winners and losers but it was all good fun.

I guess they'll also have to ban the children from watching the Olympics on tv; in case they get traumatised by seeing athletes from all over the world racing and competing against each other.

One things for certain - that school is going to stifle any sporting ability in the children it teaches. Its so important in many sports now to be develop skills at a young age, so the children can be selected for the right coaching, sports academies, etc.. Theres plenty of money and good earnings in sport, so the school really isn't doing its bit to educate the children for life. Plus, in any kind of competitive work environment, unless they learn their skills from elsewhere, they simply aren't going to cope.

I think it is swinging back the other way now, at least to some extent.

DS3s primary school have 2 events - one is team and not open to parents and the other is traditional races - running, obstacle, relay etc. Taken fairly seriously with heats for the running races and a final.
AS far as I can tell, most children seem happy enough with it.

how old are your kids, OP ?

We have combination of both types. All children in teams and earn points for their team, but you also get a 1st sticker if you win the race, throw the furthest etc.. I think it's good.

My children are in p1 and 3. They've apparently been having these sports days at the school for at least the last 5 years.

Edustudent - in this one, the only result given was for the final positions. Until then, they didn't have a clue how well they were doing in relation to other teams. I suppose if interim scores had been given out, there could have been a bit more excitement.

Did this trend really take off under Noo Labour or was it before that?