Non sporty child in a very sporty competitive school

[mamatothreebunnies]

DD goes to a very sporty and competitive school and as she’s turning 9 we’re finding out more and more that really she’s not very sporty or naturally competitive at all. She’s really gentle and calm and loves things like music, art and reading. Unfortunately her school focus heavily on competitive sports and matches against other schools and inter school competitions.

its really knocking her confidence as she’s not winning things and is in on bottom teams/groups for sports. End of year certificates given out to sporty kids and it’s just overall not great.

other than that the school is great and she’s enjoying other aspects of school but it’s difficult to ignore how the sports side affect her.

not sure what I’m asking here but any thoughts or suggestions?

Just to add we didn’t know how sporty the school was before we applied. We just knew it was a lovely school and had heard it was well rounded.

I would consider moving her - if it's such a feature of everyday life and it's knocking her confidence, it's not going to do her any good at all in the long run.

My DS is very similar to your DD, he's not sporty at all and prefers music and arts, and we are busy looking for a good school which isn't obsessed with sport; I went to visit one where the classrooms looked like something out of Dickens, but they were pushing fundraising for yet another sports pitch...he won't be going there!

Are there other good schools locally that she might be more comfortable at?

Is it private or state? I would say it’s unusual for a state school to have such a strong focus on sports (to the exclusion of arts/music), but on the plus side the at would mean that finding a school with a bit of a different ethos hopefully wouldn’t be too difficult.

Is she otherwise happy and settled there friendship wise? I think at 9 she’s old enough for you to float the concept of moving schools (if that is feasible).

I just wish schools would let the non-sporty kids off the hook and let them do the scoring or the sports report or something else (like dance for example). I would’ve far more enjoyed doing that and probably supported the sporty kids more if my own non-competitive nature had been acknowledged. No advice op but I feel her pain. It’s awful.

Our ds was at a similar school. We moved him to a far less competitive school, where they focus more on variety of sports and other extra curriculular. He’s quite into drama and public speaking and his new school are very strong in those. And guess what? He’s gone from being non sporty to really getting into sports now that the pressure is off!
Moving him really helped his self esteem and confidence.

Is it private? Move her .

i was reading this thread where a non sporty woman had life long effects from being the non-sporty in a competitive school.
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