trewnes, that was a joke. But I guess there's an element of truth in it in so far as, in the grand scheme of things, those kids who are seen as 'PE gods' at school, may well not fare so well in the long term, as the kids who are seen as 'also rans' or even crap at sport.
I was going to say, also, from the perspective of someone who still has 2 school age kids but also 3 adult sons, in retrospect, some distant Sports Dat is unimportant. But of course, as a former educator I also realise it's not as for kids with things like dyspraxia, self esteem is a central and vital issue and Sports Day tends to knock self esteem badly.
As teachers, there's all kinds of stuff you can do to minimise that violently competitive edge Sports Day had years ago. But... as teachers you are rarely the one who gets to decide what 'Sports Day' is, and so it is hard to minimise the damage it might do.
I think the egos of those kids who excel at sports can be channelled and fed elsewhere - but the egos of kids with things like dyspraxia, are too fragile for Sports Day. I loathed it as a kid and FWIW, I loathed it as a teacher, despite doing my best to ameliorate its worst effects, for the kids I was most concerned about.
My youngest son is very sporty, utterly non dyspraxic, and plays football at a fairly high level for his age. He goes to a Sports College and plays on the school team as well as other teams. He's not been scouted but it is a distinct possibility. I love that he loves sport, even though the rest of us as a family find it boring. I've spent several years' worth of weekends, freezing cold and bored out of my head, taking him to games and training and spent money I don't have to keep him playing. He appreciates the fact we do this for him, week in and week out.
I'd be more concerned about the self esteem of a dyspraxic child being damaged by sport, than about the disappointment of the sporty kids having the whole thing scuppered. I've seen ridiculous things like Sports Days going ahead during heat waves when kids faint.... just... why? I long came to the conclusion it's about the ego of Head teachers, and has no educational value.
And would totally encourage OP to give their child the day off.
Most schools have Sports Days and Interform Sports etc - it is a royal waste of time, in terms of delivering the curriculum and as mum of a very sporty child as well as 3 dyspraxic kids, it's obvious to me that if Sports Days were ended, it would be no tragedy for the sporty kids as they're still out several hours a day, playing, training, etc anyway.