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?

It would seem to me the problem isn't sport, it's that a fair few of you have had shit teachers in the past.

Good teachers either pick the teams or let the kid who will never get picked choose them. No teacher should ever humiliate a child either...

YABU. Being competetive is not just about football and netball. It's about teaching children to try and keep on trying to be the best they can be. This feeds through to every other aspect of learning. If children only try hard at what they want to do, what happens to the important things that they need to try at but don't want to do, like getting up in the morning, doing boring things that need to be done, being organised etc etc.

It is a very valuable lesson to learn in life, one that too many children don't learn at the moment.

You can learn to be competitive and to keep trying in many other areas,though - there is a tendency to talk as if without competitive sport no-one will learn to compete,or how to win graciously,or to lose,and that just isn't true.
I am all for all of that,but I think competitive sport at school for the kids who don't like/aren't good at it doesn't actually teach them those lessons,and it risks putting them off sport and exercise in general.(In fairness,yes,it could teach them to keep trying,but you could extend that argument to any subject - should children all learn Greek and continue regardless of ability or love of the subject because it is important to keep trying?)
For me it is more important that school sport instills confidence and pleasure in some form of exercise,so that children have a better chance of being active,healthy adults.

GlassofRose, agreed - but an awful lot of us had terrible teachers. I think there's something about PE teaching that can attract really unpleasant personalities, because you can get away with bullying and humiliation in a way that you just couldn't in other lessons these days.

Downandout

Charactrs with not the greatest level of sensitivity...