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.

It should absolutely be optional. Especially in front of an audience, the sympathy claps were the worst.

Sports Day is a ridiculous anachronism that deeply unfair and unpleasant. Ritual humiliation. Schools don’t have a “maths day” or a “French day” where the most able children get to show off and win prizes while everyone else gets left behind, do they?

If schools want to get everyone together and have a picnic, fine. Just don’t do it in the name of sport. It’s damaging to make kids think the most important thing about participating in sport is being fastest/winning. For most, all it does is put them off completely. For some, it makes them hate sport forever.

It shouldn't be optional - but it should be fun and inclusive.

They don’t do any of that at DS’s school. Every single child has to do a 50 metre sprint. They do it 6 or 8 kids at a time. KS1 then do something with a beanbag and hoop, but that’s it.

‘Sports’ Day is misleading. It’s bloody Athletics. There are many other sports that suit children who don’t enjoy running or throwing things.

I think sports day should be compulsory but it should have a range of events - some where the sportier can shine but others that are just more fun.

I think it’s good to make it a team event so kids can cheer on their team and get excited even if they won’t perform well themselves.

I don’t understand why parents attend sports day. That was never a thing when I was a child, I would have hated it.

Totally agree with you OP

Dreaded and hated every sports Day and was glad to leave due to it . That was a long time ago in the late 70s and I would have hoped, by now, it would already be optional
Not all of us are Sporty, or even like it

If a child does or says something ridiculous, at worst it's a quick giggle and soon forgotten.

This really isn't the reality for many kids.

I don’t think it should be banned but I think there needs to be lots of fun / silly races or mini events so it’s not just about who can run the quickest.

Non academic children aren’t allowed to opt out of maths just because they get embarrassed getting the answer wrong

I remember my mum coming to our sports day in the 1980s, and she definitely wasn't there to witness my glory . I remember her letting me have a cola flavour cup drink, which in retrospect was probably a sympathy offering.

No. We shouldn’t protect kids from things they’re not good at.

This. My eldest has many strengths academically and it can make him cocky, it does him a world of good to not be one of the best on sports day & recognise strengths in others.

Depends on the school. Our son's school included football, cricket, rounders, , etc., on sports days along with the usual athletic style of running/throwing events.

There's a difference between acceptance that a kid isn't good at something and putting them in a situation where they're going to publicly humiliated, bullied and ridiculed for it!

I don't think it should be optional as there is an important life lesson about joining in and overcoming something that makes you anxious.

But I think parents should be uninvited. The parent behaviour at our school on sports day is somewhere between loud and obnoxious. I'm hardly surprised that the 4 and 5 year olds, some of whom have special needs, are frightened to run past that yelling mob! (I also notice GPs are typically sitting on their deck chairs looking bemused at us "adults")

No, as schools can easily develop models of inclusive sports days. When my kids were at primary school they competed in "houses", every race was a relay of some sort, mixed boys and girls. No individual races, and even if a child came last in the obstacle race or something it didn't mean they were particularly weak, just that the team wasn't great.

Only is STEM subjects can also be optional. We have far too many fat children without them opting out of sports too.

At my kids school they are not humiliated, ridiculed or bullied for it. Its a friendly and supportive atmosphere.

That's how some kids feel about maths lessons all the time, or French, or music, or science. No, it shouldn't be optional
Nobody is saying PE lessons should be optional, did you really not get that?
But are all pupils asked to do a math quizz and spelling bee in front of the whole school + parents? Because that would be the equivalent of sports day…

I remember dreading maths lessons in school and even faking illness to try and get out of it.

I couldn't opt out because I struggled 🤷‍♀️

Yes, they "can", but lots don't. That's the problem. Some schools still have the brutal "wait of shame" when team leaders select their team for football, rugby, rounders, hockey etc., which is surely only designed specifically to humiliate the kids who are chosen last! If the school/games teacher can't organise things to avoid the bullying/humiliation, then they shouldn't be doing it at all!

Well there kind of is because it’s common knowledge who is in the bottom / lower sets & therefore doing foundation papers.

I think what actually needs addressing here is why children feel bad for coming “last” and in doing so start taking the feeling that they shouldn’t do things if they’re not good at them into adulthood. I’m about to run a 10k race at the weekend and the idea of me winning is laughable but that’s not why I’ll be there! Equally, two of my kids recently participated in a fun kids triathlon. They both came in the bottom 10th for their age group but they had a ball and I am so proud of them for taking on a personal challenge and completing it, and they don’t care about their times just that they had fun and they did it!

We need to teach our children to enjoy doing sport as and end in and of itself, not just to win. I think the suggestions for a wider range of activities, and also the poster above who said they split the day with fun non competitive activities in the morning for everyone, then a more competitive optional set of races in the afternoon, would be moving in a better direction. Sports day should be contributing to this goal, whilst also providing a challenge for those kids who are more sporty.

Oh and secondary school sports days aren't a thing in my part of Scotland. Certainly not as a whole school, everyone participates like it or not sort of thing.

It may not be in front of parents but it's often in front of the entire class (or school if it's assembly based).

MN is very anti sports day in general though and I do wonder if it's because it's primarily made up of intelligent middle class women who hated PE growing up.

If they had been on the side of those who struggled academically every single day, maybe they'd see things a bit differently.