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AIBU?

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Original poster

to not want a move towards competitive sport in primary schools

205 replies

noseynoonoo · 13/08/2012 18:24

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?

OP posts:
MamaMary · 13/08/2012 22:00

That is, Strawberry's post, not the Strawberry post! Can't control this phone!

FallenCaryatid · 13/08/2012 22:04

We used to have class lists for all tests and exams posted on the class board.
I was always first or second in everything, and I won prizes at the end of the year.
However, mumutd, the same children were at the bottom of most lists.
How do you think they felt?

NameChangeGalore · 13/08/2012 22:17

Well I was bullied at school. Bullied very badly, BUT P.E was the one time where everyone would fight to choose me first because I was such a brilliant cricket/rounders/basketball player. Not blowing my own trumpet but I was fucking brilliant at sports. Still didn't stop people from bullying me, but I always knew that I'd have a good P.E lesson.

So all these people crying about how the children who are left last feel when being picked: stop mollycoddling kids. If a child is bad at sports he/she may excel in other areas and vice versa.

youjusthaventearnedityetbaby · 13/08/2012 22:21

Totally with the OP and Downandoutnumbered...
I had a horrific time at all my (many different, some private) schools with sport ending up with the PE teacher who pushed my head underwater when I wouldn't put my face in. I was 13 and totally humiliated in front of the class. She also took the piss out of me in front of everyone because I was 'posh' having been at a private school before.
I'd love to meet her now Grin
I have always detested sport and have never found anything I'm good at really, I'm reasonably fit though as I'm active and I do like the odd Jillian DVD!
I didn't get into the Olympics at all...
I've never ever been competitive, it leaves me cold I'm afraid.
I did go into a management career though and I was very successful.
My lovely, sweet, kind and thoughtful DS1 has it all to come. He is not competitive either and is very puzzled sometimes in the playground. Unfortunately he is not academic either and really struggles at school.
So, no hope for him eh? Or will he be rewarded for his honesty and team skills?

Prarieflower · 13/08/2012 22:24

I excelled in other areas but those that didn't didn't have their face rubbed in it thrice weekly.I on the other hand did and those that enjoyed seeing me fail often extended the nasty behaviour on field off it too.They were hardly going to forget it as it was there for all to see,highlighted every week and seemed to be a great op to persecute me for being in the top sets for other subjects.

What I found particularly gauling was that those who struggled with reading,maths etc had their dignity kept intact,enjoyed a huge amount of privacy and support to improve in the areas they needed to.Not exactly fair that those who struggle with PE didn't get the same.

toptramp · 13/08/2012 22:25

I am pro competetive sport but team picking should be abolished; a spiteful waste of the first 10 minutes of a lesson. Part of sport should be about working with all types of people ; regardless of ability and if they are popular.

toptramp · 13/08/2012 22:29

IMO most of the most active sports don't involve ball games. Students should be encouraged to do other things such as running etc. The over emphasis on ball games put me off as I have shite hand/eye coordination. I was very into hill walking which isn't competetive but kept me fit. I hated sport and going to the countries top sport school made not a jot of diffrence; I just felt intimidated and got teased. I do regret not pursuing it now.

LastMangoInParis · 13/08/2012 22:31

yy, toptramp!

ChaoticismyLife · 13/08/2012 23:18

I'm another one who was always picked last and I can't even blame poor eyesight. I wasn't too bad at netball, was usually goal keeper so never had much to do, but no good at stuff like rounders. I gave up PE when I started my GCSE options but my school merged with three others, when I went into my last year, and I had to retake it again that year. I gave up all sport when I left school, it's only now that I'm looking to try to start exercising again, having avoided it for years, I'm 40.

I've nothing against competitive sport but it shouldn't just be team sport. What's wrong with doing running, tennis, badminton and archery? My dd did archery at high school and loved it.

Offering something other than team sports may just help to encourage those who aren't much good at team sports but good at other sports.

wordfactory · 14/08/2012 09:23

Speaking to my DC, they say there has never been any team picking in all their years of competitive sport.
They say, they either team up by house, or the teachers have pre prapred lists of teams (presumably to mix up the able from the not so able and make em fairer).

So it really si not beyond the wit of man to avoid.

NameChangeGalore · 14/08/2012 09:47

Yes competitive sport doesn't just mean team sports. Tennis and athletics is also a good way to teach children to compete and strive to be better. I remember always trying my hardest to beat my previous lap time in athletics. I wasn't the fastest runner, but even making a child compete with themselves is a brilliant way to teach them about achieving the best.

Pendeen · 14/08/2012 09:48

Surely the whole idea is a smokescreen anyway.

Cameron and his cronies don't give a fig for this, he simply wants to divert attention from all their economic problems and cash in on the Olympics?

In a few months time the whole thing will be forgotten.

wordfactory · 14/08/2012 10:45

I'm not convinced pendeen.
I get the sense with DC and Borris that they are like two over enthusiastic puppies. Gove is similar.
They really enjoyed their school days and feel that every child should have an education like that...

But they spectacularly fail to understand that you simply cannot roll it out, countrywide. Just because you want to do something, doesn't mean you can do it!

Whatmeworry · 14/08/2012 10:47

I think competitive sport is good, but it can't just be a narrow range of team sports - if teh olympics tells you anything its that different people excel at different spirts.

But IMO any sport is better than none, so a good first step is to stop selling off all the playing fields....

FallenCaryatid · 14/08/2012 10:53

What happened to the promise of all those fit ex-army types who were going to flood into teaching anyway?
They could become specialist PE teachers. I've been waiting for my fair share of toned warrior eyecandy, they've been promising it for years.

FrillyMilly · 14/08/2012 10:55

I don't think wanting your child not to be publicly humiliate in frot of their peers is mollycoddling them. I want my children to be fit, healthy and enjoy exercise. Putting them off sport for a long time if they are not good at conpetitive sport is not helpful. The number is people doing sport drops significantly between 16-24. I left school ten years ago and me and my friends are only just getting back in to exercise. Most of us jog, swim, cycle, go to the gym, attend Zumba or yoga classes. A few play five a side football. Nobody does hockey or netball which was the main part of our high school sports.

GlassofRose · 14/08/2012 11:21

Not wanting your child to be humiliated isn't mollycoddling but I do think PE has changed since most of us were at primary school.

This is a resource I've used during PE lessons that was provided to the school on a temporary basis. It was like Zumba for kids...

www.cyber-coach.co.uk

Unfortunately the school couldn't afford it permanently. It really isn't all team sports.

theodorakis · 14/08/2012 11:30

I think someone had a good point in another thread. She said her child would rather be left alone to read or play the violin than be forced to win a prize for something they didn't enjoy doing. I was one of those people, I absolutely hated sports lessons and didn't want to win a prize, whether through being simply there at the time or being brilliant at the sport. Sport for all, I think, should allow for children who really struggle with it, don't enjoy it or just feel there are better things to be doing, to be able to pursue other areas they enjoy.

GlassofRose · 14/08/2012 11:32

I hated maths and wasn't very good at it. I would have much rather read a book too... can you imagine allowing children who do not like other subjects simply to not do them because they don't enjoy them or have natural ability?

Pendeen · 14/08/2012 11:50

Maybe wordfactory , I just don't see Cameron as at all caring of anything beyond self-preservation of him and his friends.

drtachyon · 14/08/2012 11:51

YANBU - I don't have a problem with the competitive bit, but I think the emphasis on team sports is wrong.

Like many others on this thread, I much preferred individual sports, like swimming, ice-skating or cross-country running. Individual sports are as equally competitive as team sports, and are less traumatic for kids who are worse at sports. For me, team sports were an exercise in humiliation. At least if you're a rubbish swimmer, you don't have to worry about getting picked last.

And most of our medals in the olympics were won in individual sports (athletics, swimming, tennis, cycling), so it's ludicrous to claim that focussing on competitive team sports would be a suitable legacy from the 2012 Olympics.

TheSmallClanger · 14/08/2012 11:55

I have been saying this repeatedly during the past week; PE lessons and school sport are a red herring when it comes to the question of child activity and allowing children to learn and excel at sports. We need more affordable community sports facilities, and open areas where children and adults can play games.

For example, my DD is county-level gymnast, very active, very competitive and would probably be good at quite a few other sports, if she were interested. This is all down to her excellent gym club. So many more children would learn to love being active, if they could do so away from the pressures of school, classmates, sadistic PE teachers and facilities which are normally inappropriate for all-weather use.

madhairday · 14/08/2012 12:37

I think competitive sports is a good thing but agree with the posters who say that not all children should be forced into it if it is not their thing, and especially regarding the team picking etc.

I worry for dd who is just starting high school. She has dyspraxia / DCD and on a recent test her body processing/motor skills etc were 7 years behind her mind/intelligence - her ball skills are terrible, she cannot catch/throw etc so gets teased in ball games. However she is great at athletics, especially running, so if the school could encourage this but realise the ball games was always going to be difficult, things would be better - to encourage activity but tailor it to individuals much as any other curriculum area is to a certain extent.

Not to mollycoddle, not at all, but to be aware of different needs and to limit bullying and nastiness around the whole area of sport. I hope dd will go through the next few years continuing to love her sport and not be completely ground down by humiliation in ball games.

CrunchyFrog · 14/08/2012 12:58

Oh, the humilation of games.

I can't run, can't catch, can't hit a ball.

I will never, ever forget being made to feel so awful at school.

And it's not a matter of not trying, I tried so hard. Which just made me more of a target for the bullies, backed up by the bitch teacher.

There is no place for a return to that "golden age" of competition. A breadth of sport, including martial arts (at which I am great), gymnastics, dance etc - fab. How many primary, or even secondary schools have the expertise to provide those though?

SailorSoldier · 14/08/2012 13:02

Have to laugh at those saying PE must have changed since they were at school - my younger brother is 18, so not long out of school, and PE was torture for him.
He's not very co-ordinated, or really very interested in any sport, and he got picked on so hideously during PE lessons (and not just by the children, either) that he's completely against any form of exercise now. Put him off for life. Same happened to me a few years prior.

You wouldn't make a child who can't act/doesn't like acting take a major role in the school play - it would be considered cruel, something done by people who enjoy hurting people "for their own good".
I really don't get why it's not the same in sports. Sod learning to win/lose well, children can learn that anywhere - in any academic subject, at home, just by playing out ...
We should be encouraging children to enjoy exercise, not putting them off it, otherwise they'll all end up obese like me and unable to face the very idea of running for ten minutes Sad