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!

I agree- I think those who want to compete should be able to and those that don’t like it shouldn’t have to. My daughter (unlike me) is v athletic - it’s not actually enjoyable watching her race kids that are crying etc. It’s also not much fun for her. I’d prefer she could race with those that want to in a competitive way. I believe PE should support those who want to develop skills competitively but equally promote fitness and well being. I think kids should be able to choose and not be put off for life

What I find interesting about MN is the calm, thoughtful and balanced views one sees in answer to a straight-forward question.

There never seems to be any anomosity or malice - it's just like Prime Minister's Question Time !

Complete opposite at my dc’s school. My girls are athletic, belong to an athletics club
and feel very disheartened running with bean bags on their heads and crawling through hula hoops. They put in a lot of effort into training and it seems like one big joke on sports days with these types of races.

Surely you tell your daughter to go with the flow. Currently sports day is something that the school do, she is particularly good at athletics and she has her place away from school to shine. No need to be disheartened. I'd tell her to stop being so daft and lighten up and have a bit of fun with an egg and spoon!! She is not above that!.

Using words like ‘traumatic’ on a thread about sports day is ridiculous. I imagine there will be a number of Ukranian children taking part in British sports days this summer who might have had a genuinely traumatic time recently, but still take part.

Isn’t this just the same as the silly ‘oh the African babies would love that food’ talk? Just because some children don’t have access to food doesn’t make it acceptable to force kids to eat food they dislike. ‘Others have it worse’ doesn’t mean you have to tolerate anything that makes you really unhappy.

Are you the feelings police?

as adults we should be able to empathise with other peoples traumatic moments, regardless of whether we can relate to them or not.

Everybody assumes kids goot at sports are struggling in acadamics...in my personal experience ( in our school)all the winning kids have one thing in common; competitive parents.

All of these 'sporty' kids I know are also academically excellent...

I only know 1 kid who is like good in subjects but sucks at sports.. my son

I wish all the sporty kids to have these happy bursts of confidence, I am happy for them.

But can this be done without the cost of average/struggling performers lose their share of confidence?.. I feel the pain because my daughter is this type. She is good at some things but competitions never happen in them ( gentle, kind, caring and laughing at her own jokes).

It's been an ordeal for my family in the past - DD1 is popular, loves various sports (kickboxing, swimming etc) but can't run fast, and DD2 has dyspraxia. Both of them tend to come last in races for their own reasons.

In the past we've had gems such as someone's grandad howling with laughter at DD2 trying to do a race (I did refrain from decking him but wish I had done) and DD1 being devastated at coming last again and again.

Thankfully this year the school were giving out the usual 1st 2nd 3rd stickers, but also stickers for being good sports or smiling throughout, and when DD2 was really struggling, her teacher finished some of the race with her. DD1 is now at the stage where sports day is just an excuse to arse about sitting on the field chatting to her mates and no longer cares much.

As for needing to learn resilience - DD2 is the most utterly determined and formidable creature going where resilience is concerned. She picks herself up time and time again and is desperate to please adults - the last thing she needs to do is to have more resilience forced upon her.

You’re talking about academic kids in this post, I was never good at maths in primary, I just needed extra support. As someone who went through that, you help the kids who are below average at academics by giving them extra support (like giving them one on one assistance), not by hosting an event that is just a big f-you to the acedemic kids. Also I’m talking as one of the kids who weren’t good at sports but at English, by getting out of my comfort zone did you mean crying my eyes out, feeling not good enough to do anything, and basically gaining a less-extreme version of schizophrenia when I got out of primary? Because that’s what happened to me as a result of sports days.