Should sports day be optional?

[Nothinglefttosaynow]

I remember dreading sports day as a child, I was slow & awkward and always near the end if not last. It was public embarrassment for me & I dreaded it. My nephew has sports day next week & is already worrying about it. He is fit and healthy but not a fast runner & has come last for the past 3 years. I absolutely agree with kids taking part in sport at school & at home, but I wonder if forcing kids who clearly don't enjoy it to participate in front of a crowd is fair.

@PotatoPudding lots of things happen in front of the entire school or class already so I can't say an academic test or quiz would bother me - especially as it was actually quite common when I was growing up.

Surely the issue is that sports day makes kids feel bad, not that sports day as a concept exists in the first place?

@ThinkingOfMe that certainly wasn't my experience - it was part of the lesson so you just had to get on with it.

@taxguru except they do lead to bullying. Kids are picked on all the time for being stupid or for not knowing the answer to basic questions.

Let's not act like it's only the kids who aren't great at sport who get picked on by others.

Same with SATs - they give academic kids a time to shine, and sports day gives sporty kids a time to shine.

I don't think a comparison to SATs is reasonable.
They aren't asked the SATs questions in front of the whole school and parents, with cheering for whoever gets to the right answer first, and it being really obvious who is bad at maths because they are by far the last one to solve it.

That would rightly be complained about in pretty harsh terms.

I think Yabu, I understand why you feel this way, not everyone is sporty, however, a lot of it comes down to how the individual deals with the things they are not so good at. I don't think they do these things to laugh at the slow awkward kid at the back, yes, they may well get noticed but I do think most of the people watching never actually bat an eyelid. I feel it comes down to how that individual feels about themselves and how they think others are seeing them.
There are some situations which are toxic though. I'm crap at things like netball, volleyball etc, but Im happy to join in and have a go, I think there can be an issue when those who are better at it get all competitive, telling you your shite etc when it's just a PE lesson, general coaching session or a team building event and not an organised competition. These people are dickheads and forget what the session is about., but again, it's how the likes of myself handle it. I know it's not a formal competition, if it were I'd leave it to those better than me, but this
theses dickheads won't stop me from having a go in a more relaxed setting and I have pulled them on it and told them to wind their necks in.
It can be about having a go, joining in etc but you need to be comfortable with in yourself to do this being the 'slow kid' and not be phased by it.

Its my experience at my kids school and know friends have had schools make adjustments to. Schools are often very reasonable and want to help.

My kids didn't mind it in primary school but hated it in secondary. My daughter was already being bullied and there was no way I was going to make her take part in front of the bullies themselves. So she had sports day off every year.
Can't say it's affected her development.....

I think they should keep it and also introduce a forced “Musical Theatre Day” where all the kids are made to sing/dance in front of everyone whether they like it or not and told it’s not important that they can’t sing, and just to get up and on with it.
sports day is pointless and grim for most kids.

What do people think the purpose of sports day is? It seems that for some people, its purpose is specifically to prove to kids who are good at other things that they aren't good at everything, and to take them down a peg or two.

If the purpose is to have a school day out, or get kids in the fresh air, they could have a picnic/party.
If the purpose is to have races to see who is really good, then they could have an optional sports day.
If the purpose is to make children feel that sports/exercise is fun and encourage them to carry on with it in later life, they could allow them to choose fun activities on a regular basis rather than one day of stuff they don't enjoy.
If the purpose is to teach children that losing is good for them, then they need to spend time teaching how to lose and not feel awful about yourself
If they want all children to learn to be better at sport, then they need to actively teach how to run/jump etc. on a regular basis.
Is it meant to be a moral lesson, to show children they have to do things they don't want to in life - in which case, why? and why sport? why set up a whole day that people don't enjoy just to teach them that lesson?

What is the main reason for having this one-day-a-year competition? When schools have decided what their reason is, then they can consider how to make it serve that purpose for as many children as possible, which might include making it optional for many. Of course children can't opt out of everything in life that they don't like, but why not sports day? It seems just something set up to prove that point to them, but there seems no good reason why it has to happen in this form.

And when has repeatedly coming last actually taught a child that they can't win everything? I guarantee the child already knows that. You aren't teaching them to lose gracefully or become resilient just by making it happen over and over, and increasing their hatred for the whole experience.

I dont think it should be optional but there should be more of a focus on exercise and on fun. You could still have competitive races and matches in front of parents and the entire school but maybe those should be optional.

Also, why is it always assumed that kids are either sporty or academic? In my dd's school the best athletes are in general good at everything and some kids don't really shine in any of the competitive areas in school.

yabu

a good sports day has a range of activities that are fun for all abilities.
and doesn't have parents watching.

Your second paragraph is absolutely on point.

These threads invariably feature people making the argument about sporty kids having time to shine, and setting the issue up as though everyone's good at one or the other and it all balances out. But that's bollocks.

Then do you not think it would be better to adapt sports day rather than get rid of it altogether?

Er, have you never been to a nativity play or primary school musical? I don't remember anyone appearing to find these 'grim'! DDs secondary did an inter house drama competition which iirc everyone participated in - some on stage, others doing costumes, sets, lighting etc.

The issue with sports day is that it happens in front of the whole school and parents.

You mention having to read out loud / tests in class : the equivalent are the PE lessons, where all pupils perform in front of their own class and PE teacher. These also happen weekly or even several times a week, no?

These happen anyway! School assemblies, nativity plays, choir...

Every sports day that came up with my2 they seemed to be really unwell on them days.
It happened with school plays aswell they were so ill couldent get out of bed.
Not as i blamed them it was the most boring thing ever.

@LaCouleurDeMonCiel I don't recall ever doing any kind of in class test in PE?

Our lessons weren't competitive ones.

I completely agree OP. I have horrible memories of both sports day and also our compulsory annual swimming gala.

I went to a prep school and we had to wear our usual PE outfit for sports day which was an aertex (polo) shirt and massive knickers. As we were attached to a grammar school, local year 6 primary school children were invited to watch, to let them see the school facilities. Obviously we had the absolute mickey taken out of us, it was horrible and I still shudder to think about it 😬

The drama competition you mention is an event where the people who don't shine at performing, struggle being the centre of attention or just don't want to do it have lots of other options. It's much more inclusive than the traditional sports day model. It's not at all like a forced musical theatre day, or a sports day. It sounds much better than that.

I had truly horrible experiences of PE at school, the gym mistresses were awful to any child that didn't bring glory to whatever sport. I think they and others like them shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near any children, ever.

I've often wondered how it would have been if there had been gym teachers in post who looked for skills in whatever child they were coaching, any aptitude for anything at all? Imagine being told not to worry and that there's a sport out there for them and the teacher will help them find it?

It's taken me many adult years to do this for myself and undo the damage wrought by sub-standard 'teachers'. I really enjoy exercise but I loathed it at school.

I agree that sports day shouldn't be exclusive for sporty types but there's absolutely no need for parents to be there at all. Parents can do any manner of sports with their child outside of school, they have no business viewing other childrens' performance.

This!
I also propose a yearly mental math competition in front of all parents.

To the people still commenting that pupils should exercise / english & maths are mandatory :
Nobody is asking for PE to be optional. Pupils are already doing sports in front of each others all year long - this is building their resilience.

If you think a big event in front of parents is needed in addition to the weekly PE lessons, why only for PE and not for all topics?

I’ve already said that if they made it optional, and a lot of kids opted out, they they should look at the reasons why, and change it to make it more appealing to more kids.

I doubt they would ever change it enough to make my child comfortable doing it and it’s probably not ever going to be ok for everyone, so it being optional seems like a good thing to me.

My DC are doing matches (football, rugby, netball, hockey…).
There is also athletics - I remember from my school days (a long time ago) that the teacher had a grid to write down how high you jumped etc and we would see the ranking at the end.
Or the swimming where they would also time
us.

I guess it varies with every school but your classmates definitely know who is good/bad at sports!
You also receive a grade every term for PE.

No, Sport is part of the school curriculum just like Maths is. Should we say Maths tests should be optional too? Some kids are only good at sports. They should be given their chance to outperform the kids who usually outperform them.