How does your school pick sports teams?

[chickensaladagain]

Dd's school it's always the same children who get picked

No try outs, no regular practices to attend, just 'you, you and you'

One of the mums challenged a teacher on this and was told the gifted and talented kids get picked then if they need to make up the numbers they will choose someone from a pe lesson

Opinions please

Those who go to after school clubs in the sport get first dibs. Anyone else who wants to after that.

I assume they mean the sports gifted and talented people?

I am a bit mixed on this - they pick who they see is best I suppose from PE lessons. The thing is they could miss someone who is excellent in a defence position because they have never given them the chance to try one as they are always stuck in attack positions or something or a child who does a sport outside of school could be overlooked because they didn't know.

When I was in yr6 I remember the school trying a thing of we ALL played in at least 1 netball match regardless of how good we were. At the end of the day it was marginally exciting I suppose for a few minutes then we realised we were still the ones who weren't very good especially when the visiting teams wiped the floor with us and we all ended up hating the idea.

I think they ought to do try outs of some sort if they want to select teams and depending on the age of the children I think there should be some level of commitment to a lunchtime club or something to practice as then the children who are good but not necessarily the best but who put in the most effort get included.

They pick them from the best in PE lessons. Sometimes they have them race and pick the winners.

I think it would be weird not to pick the best for the team. Do you mean gifted and talented at PE?

I used to teach in a private school. We had an 1st team which was the very best of each year and if you were picked you were expected to be at regular lunchtime/afetr school practices. There were then 2nd teams in which the PE department tried to ensure everyone who wanted to play had at least one chance each season.

We pick those children, who turn up for training. That's usually just about enough to make up the team. We are a small school.

Yes the children who have been identified as g&t at pe

The only sport they have regular practise at is rugby which runs at lunch but you get invited to join that, you can't just pitch up if you are interested

Years 3 & 4 its meant to be on rotation so all the children get to have a go at playing matches against other schools.

By years 5 & 6 its the best children in the A team and the other children make up the B and C team.

We pick the children who are the most talented at that particular sport, as on the whole matches against other schools are competitive and we want to do the best we can. We encourage children to attend practices and we pick the ones who try hard and have a good attitude. We have inter house competitions which are fully inclusive and our area runs 'bottom's up' tournaments in some sports, where we select from the weakest child up rather than strongest down. I enter children in competitions that I think they will cope with, and will be a positive experience for them.

Everyone is invited to sign up for training / practice sessions.
Everyone who comes to those sessions then will get to play in fixtures.
They always take a 'squad' (ie, include about 3 subs) and everyone who goes to a match, plays. They enter every competition going, and if there isn't a competition / league and children are keen, then they try to set one up
This year, almost 200 children (out of a Junior School of just under 360) have represented the school at one sport or another.
For those who say they should pick the 'elite' or the 'G&T' my answer would be that this is probably the most successful school in the County in terms of trophies won / leagues won / cups won. they end up with such good teams because they nurture children who are keen, and give them ALL experience in real games. In turn, that then improves the skills and experience of all the children who ant to play, and they end up having strength in depth in lots of different sports.
They arrange 'friendlies' against other schools to give match experience to younger children before they get into the 'A' teams as they get older.
There is a culture of welcoming parents or local community volunteers, or coaches from local clubs into the schools to support many of the teams.

Wednesday afternoon every fortnight is interschool competitions against another school in the area (eight schools in total). Children must pick one sport per term to participate in and are encouraged to change sports each time. They write down three choices then the teachers sit down with a few bottles of wine and put everyone on teams. After a few practices, the best players are chosen, and they play against the top teams from other schools. Every else plays fun matches, which aren't even scored until grade four or we may have training sessions instead.

If it's an actual tournament (i.e. competing against several other schools with defined first/second/third places) they tend to pick the best players. If it's a friendly match against one other school they share out the opportunities so that everyone has a chance to play.

this, of course, perpetuates the best as they have the most practice - you wouldn't run an academic lesson like this where the most able got the most support and time and the least able were left to fend for themselves. This is why so many children hate sport as they are not helped to improve.

Those who go to school netball club, football club, village/school cricket club, local swimming club.

Those who want to play and yes the mystic primary choosing people algorithm (no one is meant to fathom this, or they'd understand stars of the week).

The children who are interested turn up for training

Those that attend the after school and lunchtime clubs for training get chosen at dd's school. It's quite a competitive school so training is taken very seriously.

I like the attitude of Backforgood's school!

It's FAB vess, really is. I know my dd is so lucky to have had the opportunities she has had

Anyone who wants to play (or represent) gets a chance.

I am well intrigued how this must work at other schools, how much competitive sport are your DC getting to do?. DC's is a Big school, but must not take sport very seriously compared to some. DD (y6) is very sporty & this yr has done

1 tag rugby tournament (finished last or next to bottom)
a short series of netball matches (lost all, last one by 21;nil!)
1 cricket tournament (finished 7/8)
Cross country (Dd & a few others got thru to 2nd round)

NOT
football, hockey, although they were on offer.

Well our school is so small that if you have a beating heart and vaguely operational lungs you get to have a go, and if there aren't enough then being a year or two too young is not a barrier. Surprisingly, despite this approach and the small school size, the school is surprisingly sucessful in sport and their "spirit" is often remarked upon.

My children were previously at a BIG school where many children would not get the opportunity, or be encouraged to be in a team if they were a bit ruubbish. I love the fact that now they get to have a go at everything (and even if they are not that interested they will have a go for the school and their schoolmates - although I think getting DD to do Xcountry is going to get harder over the years!)

The school has competed in

Rugby
Football
Cricket
Netball
Handball
Dodge ball
Golf

Dd got to play rugby as it was the same day as a yr 5 trip

Teams are mixed yr 5&6