What's happened to competitive Sports days?

[Maybee]

Just been to a really boring sports day at my son's school on Fri for the 3rd year in a row. A non event. All teams of mixed agegroups doing lots of activities around the pitch. no winners- no losers they get their points on Monday! I can't help thinking its v boring. I mean when I was a kid some people really excelled at Sports day and weren't necessarily that good at anything else. Wonder why this is no longer celebrated especially when kids often come home with daft little 'I ate my dinner today' 'I was polite' stickers. It seems as if everything else gets a reward these days.
The kids seemed to enjoy it ok but none of us had a clue where our kids even where half the time!

DD's prep schools till does competitive sport's day - a mix of straight forward running races and some novelty races. They run for their houses, and the house competion is a big thing.

All the girls learn to lose and win graciously. There really is no tears and tantrums, no upsets, etc. It all works really well, and just seems to give the whole event a point to it.

At my sons school ability in reading/maths/drama etc is recognised fairly well. Also able kids usually fare ok at school. I was v average at athletics (like my son) at school but absolutely loved sports day. It can be done in a way that isn't humiliating.
It should be about celebrating kids that are good at sport without excluding others. There is definitely potential for teamwork and all that but winners should be allowed to win and kids that don't win need to learn to accept that. We genuinely admired kids at school that excelled at running but didn't feel bitter about it. I think its PCness gone over the top.

I agree with hullababy. At my DDs state primary they have a competitive sports day to win points for their house.

Also, we have a dedicated sports teacher and a TA with responsibilty for sports.

However, as DD wears glasses she does find sports requiring hand/eye co-ordination difficult, but she enjoys dance club, and swims for the school at the inter-schools swimming galas.

I hope she will continue to enjoy these sports into adulthood.

agree Maybee it is the PC disease. At primary school I was the fastest runner and there was no better feeling of pride than breaking the ribbon first and being cheered to the rafters. When we competed with other schools it was even better. When I went to secondary school, on the first PE lesson I thought I would show them who was champion, but I was beaten and was about 3rd best, 2nd best in 800m. It was good to taste defeat and realise that you can't always be top. It doesn't matter, it is the effort that counts. But the champions should never be deprived of their place in the sun.

That's great, Claig, but how would you have felt if you were the child who was always last in everything - and your classmates made it extremely obvious that you were letting them down?

And would you support going back to a system where the children all stand up and recite their lessons one by one in front of the class, and it is made very obvious who is the slowest? If not, why not - surely it is just PC disease to think that we should help the slow readers and encourage them?

Also, I'm not sure why you are assuming that the children who are bad at sports are automatically good academically - what about those who are bad at both and will never have 'their place in the sun' as you put it?

I have to say in my experience the 'golden boys/girls' tended to be golden at sport and academic work, I don't know where this myth comes from that somehow it is all children who are bad academically tend to be the ones who shine at sport.

I don't agree with children reciting lessons one by one, I think that can be humiliating.

I don't think that sports is really humiliating for children. They know that they are not equally capable at sports. Also there are usually 6 or more competitors (so it is not a one to one humiliation) and they don't put the slowest against the fastest. At our school we never said that anyone was letting our team down. We knew that everyone was trying their best. When we competed with other schools we had a real team spirit and knew that everyone played an equal part in the overall contest whatever their level of capability. It was the same in netball competitions and other competitions, we were one unit, a team of differing talents united trying to beat the opposing team. It created a great spirit of unity and drew us all closer. Competitive sport teaches great lessons for life, winning, losing, playing by the rules etc. I think the PC brigade are killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

I don't think that just because some children are not top academically or in sport that we should deprive those who are top from the pride of being recognised as top. Throughout history all societies have always celebrated these successes and those who lost were always the majority and I don't think it has harmed society. It is only recently with the advent of political correctness that we have thrown the baby out with the bath water. Fortunately PC will go the way of the dinosaurs and we will return to the way that humans have always been. Otherwise we will soon have no quizzes, no spelling bees, no spelling tests and soon no exams or tests at all. Let's hope that day never comes and PC sails off into the sun and those who excel are given their place in the sun.

But surely they know that they are not equally capable at lessons? And certainly at dd's school they all run together from one year, so it is very obvious who is slowest. Why is it ok to humiliate bad runners, but not bad readers? And surely it is worse to be last out of a whole group, rather than just worse than one person?

I have absolutely no problem with team sports - very different in that those who aren't good at sport just don't get to be in the team - exactly the same as those who are bad at singing/reciting not being in the Eisteddfod, for example.

I think claig that I have a rather different view of education.

My view is that it is about making sure that all children have the skills and knowledge that they need to become useful and productive members of society, rather than deciding who is 'top'.

because running is not as important as reading and all the kids know that. Sport is fun and if you are not the best then it doesn't matter. Elena Baltacha knows she is not as good as Justine Henin, but she still keeps trying to beat her. That is all she can do, play to the best of her ability. In a race of 10 people someone has to be last. Someone will even be last in the Olympics. It is not a humiliation to be last in sport, it means that you tried but were not better than the others. That is life.

Takver it is our different views of life. I agree with your views on education. I just don't think it is a crime to celebrate those who are champions and excel. That is also why we have different political views. I am sure you don't believe in grammar schools, whereas I do. I believe in levelling up, not levelling down. I see the glass as half-full, not as half-empty.

Re. the PE teacher comments. Our primary school does have a PE teacher, it's not a good thing as he's a complete knob and kids will have to endure him for their entire primary life. At least having your year teacher taking PE means a new teacher every year.

As for sports day, our school has a mixture of non- competitive actives and competitive ones so every one has a chance. Works quite well.

As someone who was rubbish at sports, but good academically and got prizes for this at prize-giving, why shouldn't the kids who are good at sports have their moment of glory?

PlanetEarth - it's fine if all the children get recognised for their achievements.

But at DS's school they have a super-competitive sports day but academic achievement is never celebrated.

PlanetEarth - it's fine if all the children get recognised for their achievements.

But at DS's school they have a super-competitive sports day but academic achievement is never celebrated.

I'm fine with competitive sports days...as long as taking part is voluntary. I think most kids who are slow at running would choose to do something else like read a book or just chill out.

I have issues with sports day. I think there should be one and it should be competitive but children should be able to pick their own event/s.

Why would we line up the slowest child with the fastest and expect them to race over the same distance? We differentiate in other subjects give work/support appropriate to the needs of the child but in some sports days (those which lack empathy/imagination) some children are set up to fail in front of their peers AND their parents!

good point AngryPixie that is ridiculous. It probably comes about because they are determined to show that it is non-competitive and therefore deliberately line up the slowest child against the fastest and then pat themselves on the back, not understanding that of course the kids do treat it as competitive.

'backtotalkaboutthis so it's ok to abuse a line judge if your child was close but not close enough? Either I'm missing your point or you missed mine."

er no it's not ok to abuse, what a very abrasive thing to say, but I'm not surprised they were cross with you, you don't seem to understand at all

Please explain because I really don't understand. I judged a place, they disagreed, I got abuse.

Shaz 10 I'm sorry you got a hard time from parents and a teacher but it does happen! I'm not excusing it but as a teacher myself and a parent obviously I've met unreasonable parents and fellow teachers and been treated unfairly on occasion too. Its still no reason to change sports day. Those are the breaks when you teach I suppose.

I think the kids should get together and show the teachers what they think of them. When the starting gun is fired for the race then all the kids should casually stroll their way up to the finishing line. Some could even hop their way down there. The child who is winning could then stop short of the winning line, turn around and hop their way back to the starting line. Then the teachers could be proud of their PC non-competitive sports day.

DD's private primary school has competitive swimming galas and sports days. They have a PE Department though so are able to spend a lot of time timing the kids, measuring how far they can get in long jump etc. so that they compete as part of their house team against others of similar ability. They also have a few novelty races (including teachers vs kids) and nobody ends up feeling humilated.

Excuse me: if you were just deciding who came first or second then I understand. I thought you were refusing to award first and second etc.