Anyone else find school sports day traumatic?

[Wishiwasonholiday11]

Just had school sports day. All quite nicely done with a range of events etc. Son in year 2 not particularly sporty, tries really hard, but just can’t run fast enough. He’s holding it together and putting a brave face on, but can tell (from the other side if the field) he’s upset.

Not helped by medal winning children (same ones winning most events!) flaunting medals.

I know it’s life, can’t be good at everything, need to celebrate successes and good for building resilience etc etc but just finding it hard to watch!

Yes. It's not comparable, because it's far worse.

Less academic children go into school every single day knowing they will be bottom of the class, that they will answer the question incorrectly in front of the teachers and their peers, that there name will always be at the bottom in an exam, that they struggle in English and Maths or, indeed, that they are physically removed and put in a different set (which, to all intents and purposes, is academic segregation).

But anyway, tell me how much worse it is that someone came last in the egg and spoon race.

Sports days and PE teachers are why I still, at nearly 40, struggle with exercise. I hate it because I had years and years of essentially being bullied by teachers and humiliated for dropping batons in relay races etc. The range of sport seems so narrow too. I could have probably aced a French skipping sports days, but was crap at 100m

The assumption that you'd be naturally sporty of you can't spell is also a little odd. There are many children who will be in the bottom sets academically AND in PE.

I hated sports day, as did my children. I used to allow them to bunk off and we'd go to a museum and have lunch out.
i might have been less inclined to do this if anyone, once, had dedicated a day to, say, languages or History, but it was always bloody sport. Competitive and tedious. Don’t get me started on being asked to take part in the flying fillies race as a parent.

Well I'd probably suggest my child stay at home.

I wouldn't demand that Sports Day become optional and declare it serves no purpose because I can't see beyond my own child's needs.

@notacooldad Yet again, as has been said at least 200 times over 4 threads, you don't recite French in front of: all the students of the school, the teachers, ancillary stuff, AND 300+ teachers.

It is NOT EVEN REMOTELY COMPARABLE.
Ok taking part in a s musical performance 4 nights and one afternoon and having to sing a verse from the song.
I cant sing I dont like people looking at me. That was humiliating and has stayed with me for over 45 years.
I did get mocked over that. However as my mum said ( ok shes not the most nursing person) ' Why do you care that someone you dont like doesnt like you.?' She was right. My friends were really kind about how bad I was.
I got more stick over that than any sports day where I came last.

Because it's every, single, day.

Agree with so many on this thread. I don’t understand why so many people think the children in bottom set for maths will do well in sport. Often it’s the kids who are good in everything academic are also good in sport.

my child is actually good at sport and tends to win medals but even she doesn’t like sports day as it’s not very fun with all the sitting around in the heat

*Yes. It's not comparable, because it's far worse.

Less academic children go into school every single day knowing they will be bottom of the class, that they will answer the question incorrectly in front of the teachers and their peers, that there name will always be at the bottom in an exam, that they struggle in English and Maths or, indeed, that they are physically removed and put in a different set (which, to all intents and purposes, is academic segregation)*

But it isn’t public. That’s what people have pointed out over and over. The non sporty kids will still struggle in P.E. And they might also struggle in maths or English or science. But until the day the entire student body and their parents are invited to watch you struggle through your English exam it’s a completely different situation altogether.

So those same kids going into school to struggle in bottom set English might also be the ones dreading the obstacle race. I don’t know where this ridiculous idea that less academic children are fantastically athletic is coming from.

When I was a child sports day was a fun afternoon, parents came with a rug and picnic we could go to our parents between races for a drink or visit to the loo. It was the same for our children we had a BBQ afterwards as well.

Went to grandkids sports day what a miserable experience we were behind the fence there were some chairs or you stood on the tarmac the children were a fair distance away. It was one run after another. The saving grace was the egg and Spoon and sack race at the end. When was all the fun sucked out of it

has it been assumed that those less academic are better at sports? I missed those posts. I think the point is school isn’t just about the academic side? I’m more than happy for it to be optional but calling it a ‘waste of time’ isn’t right. Otherwise we should stop all non academic events like choir concerts, drama etc

Fair enough.

As I've suggested previously, I do think children need to learn that element of public performance, even when it is in something they struggle with. My sporty son, for example, has to perform every year in the school play. No ifs and buts. He absolutely hates every moment of it. Hates having to dress up. Feels ridiculous. Is nervous and self conscious. We tell him to grin and bear it, and try to laugh it off.

'Just getting through it' is a valuable ability to cultivate. Of course there are always exceptions; if the abject terror is that visceral, then they should skip it. But again, I'd suggest that terror isn't symptomatic of something else, which needs to be worked on.

People often talking about wanting their kids to have a well rounded education; I think that learning how to lose is part of that.

I have empathy for people who have been scarred for life through poverty, abuse and neglect not fucking sports day, crack on to yourself🤯

Are there compulsory choir concerts? If so I’ve obviously missed those.

Nobody is saying sports is a ‘waste of time.’ I actually think health & fitness/exercise should be promoted far far more in British schools. But making kids join in competitive racing in front of an audience of parents and peers one day a year isn’t doing that. Perhaps more accessible after school sports clubs and events, more variety in P.E lessons, better P.E provision. Sports day doesn’t provide any of that.

And what I meant by lumping them together is the silliness about ‘well what about the kids who struggle in English?’ What about them? Maybe they struggle in sports too! The implication is that the academically struggling kids will somehow shine at sports day - but that’s not automatically the case at all.

What an obnoxious, unpleasant lady you are.

Your posts are dripping in the sort of mean spirited venom that you accuse others of showing at Sports Day. The fact that you associate sporting talent with stupidity speaks volume.

Lola called it a ‘waste of time’. And yes all concerts and drama performances in schools around here are compulsory. My child absolutely hates it!