to not want a move towards competitive sport in primary schools

[noseynoonoo]

First off, this is not a political rant and I hope it doesn't turn into one.

I am so cheesed off about this: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19219942

The details are patchy but it looks on the surface that competitive sport such as football and netball are to be widely promoted - is there anything less motivating?

Football, is just too dull, kicking a ball around, usually with limited skill at primary level whilst netball involves 7 girls per team of which 2 stand still most of the time.

My daughter just wants to be active. I don't care if it's competitive, I just want her moving and being fit. As the second tallest girl in her class, and if teachers are as unimaginitve as they were in my day, she'll be Goal Shooter or Goal Keeper and kept within a small semicircle. My son is a little dynamo and finds football dull. I hate to think of sports being so restricted.

So, can anyone tell me that I have misunderstood where school sports is going?

But its up to schools (and parents) to counter what they see on TV, children see lots of tv doesn't mean they need to learn that its fine.

If children struggle then team mates need to learn how to support them, it is more than possible to do that.

praereflower - granted only been in infants for 4 years, but tbh I worked in secondary before that for 10 years and there were plenty there who struggled with the concepts of learning to win and lose graciously. Let's face it - there are many adults who struggle.

Personally, I'm all in favour of competitive sport, but I'm seriously worried that what they really mean is competitive team sports, to the detriment of sports/physical activity which is not team based and does not involve a ball.

I have a highly active daughter who excels at swimming, cycling and climbing. She can run pretty fast and is naturally competitive in all sorts of other fields. But she doesn't like PE because it's all about ball games. Unfortunately her hand-eye co-ordination is not brilliant, and she's physically small, which is not an advantage in many ball sports.

It makes me sad that she has already got the message that she is "not sporty", despite having boundless energy, great upper-body strength and a six-pack that puts my flabby belly to shame!

We are currently looking at secondary schools and the one that has a rock-climbing club and a properly-equipped gym is definitely looking like the front-runner.

wordfactory, I'm speaking from my own personal experience. The whole experience of people fighting not to have me on their team (under the nose of the PE teacher) was frankly pretty grim, although with hindsight it was quite a bad primary school in other ways. And I am fairly robust in general.

I think there should be competitive sport for those that want to compete.

I also think that children who like just one sport, should get to concentrate on it rather than do a whole raft of sports they can't stand.

Yes, DD is in an independent school and yes there are smaller numbers and less SEN. But it doesn't mean it isn't possible elsewhere too.

I work in an infant school and we stamp down on any nastiness immediately. We did some competitive sport last year, inc our sport's day, and it went well. Any start of bickering or unpleasantness was stopped as soon as it started.

Cat all kids do things at school they don't enjoy so they're already being taught to do things they don't necessarily want to.Schools follow a wide and varied national curriculum.My ds hates all subjects bar maths and science,dd hates maths and PE.......

Sirzy, nice idea, but I just don't believe PE teachers have changed that much. If it was taught like a proper subject, with the aim of getting people to improve, it might be a bit different. But no-one I know had that kind of experience of PE.

No better facilities for sport really though as small school - they just go elsewhere and use local facilties such as the university's sports field, the instititue of sport's tracks, the local authority pools and diving facilities, a local tennis club, etc. All of these are available to the state schools too.

Achicken ditto with my dd. Could have written your post myself.

But down thats exactly what a good teacher should do and infact they do do. When I was at primary school I had a friend with cerebal palsy, this meant she struggled with things like netball but she loved it and was very much made part of the team. It was the ethos of the school and the attitude of the teacher which made that happen.

When we got to secondary school the ethos was similar and because she had been encouraged that she could do what she wanted if she put her mind to it she ended up competing to a pretty high level in disability athletics.

Hula but they can't afford to get kids there.Coaches cost more than the destination and not all families have a spare car,time to ferry kids during the school day or the cash to pay for said facilities/transport.

It's down to money.Privately educated kids come from families with more cash so they get beetter opportunities,so they win more medals.Tis not rocket science but easier for Dave to think up a trendy slogan.After all we are all in it together.

also, sport is not the only way to be physically fit/active - it's a life skill, not something that is confined to lesson time

Down, all the children know who?s on the top set/table for maths at school the same as they know who are the sporty kids. Why dumb down sports for a few children that are not good at it? I?m sure that you had talents in other subjects to compensate for your lack of sporting prowess.

DD's school uses public transport or walk.

Many of these facilities are within walking distance of many of our local state schools. Some use them, increasing numbers are starting too - esp this year, the Olympics really geared by primary schools up. But more need to be using them - esp as many of the facilities are free or very cheap to use for state schools.

That's very nice, Sirzy, but my impression is that it's pretty rare (or was when I was at school - disclaimer, I am old). Great if teachers can achieve it, but I think compulsory competitive team sports are likely to lead to a lot of miserable experiences with less-good PE teachers.

Hulababy, what does your DD's school do with children who wear glasses? One of the reasons I had such a terrible time, no-one wanted me on their team and everyone was vile to and about me was that I wasn't allowed to wear my glasses for PE so I couldn't see what was happening: with rounders, for example, I couldn't see the ball. No amount of coaching and patience could have done anything about that.

But what's the alternative prarie?

Just accept that the privately educated will dominate sports as they do most things?

They wear glasses for PE on the whole. Two of DD's close friends at school have glasses and they are involved as much as everyone else. One if a very good gymnast and I have even seen her wear glasses for that at times, although she sometimes takes them off.

Only time they don't take part is if they are injured, although if longer term they sometimes do but at the level right for them. One girl has had a very debilitating post viral thing all last year and has just joined in as and when or taken part but at her level. Even if her team hasn't won the girls are more pleased that their friend got to join in than the final score.

sadie, I didn't say anything about dumbing them down, or even making them not competitive, but I'm really against making team games compulsory, because it's not just a question of losing, it's a question of everyone else hating you, at least briefly, because they've lost and it's your fault. I got physically beaten up once when I was ten after a netball match.

I think a lot of children's glasses are now much more suitable for active children then they were in the past. I remember mind in the past being horrid things which seem to break so easily. Mind, I refused to wear mine most of the time anyway but if I had theyd have not stood up to it. Wheeras now children's glasses are less fragile - they can bend and twist and the glass used is better and less prone to breaking ime.

It's not really relevant whether I was good at other things or not - why did I deserve to be put through all that when I never had a chance of being any good?

Sorry, Hulababy, X-posted. Yes, mine would have been totally unsuitable for games - but someone should really have spotted that children who wore glasses weren't going to be able to participate in anything with a risk of being smacked in the face with a ball and thought of some alternatives.

Yes I guess so - bit hopefully things are different now. My present experience is showing that it can be.

'downandout what on earth makes you assume that those who are good at sport will be horrid to those who aren't?'

Experience. Years and years of experience.
As an adult, I turned out to be good at archery, sabre and shooting a .303 from a prone position. For years I had exciting fantasies about returning to my school PE lessons and demonstrating my skills on my tormentors.
Was I allowed to mock their academic dimness? No because that was unacceptable.

Catgirl - you can't compare maths and sport - maths is a core skill that you need for life , and sport isn't - I would be pretty stuffed without at least basic maths, but have managed to progress in life perfectly adequately despite being fairly rubbish at hockey. Sport is like art, music etc. - not everyone needs it, but for some it's enriching. And anyway, you wouldn't humilate someone bad at maths by making them perform in public.