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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Cross Country

11 replies

Bobby65 · 14/02/2011 09:48

Maybe I am just having a bit of a rant, but I guess that is ok on a Monday Morning?
In my sons school they have sport twice a week, and all they seem to do is Cross Country and ocassionaly football.
Is it just me ( be honest I dont mind ) or does this seem a little excessive? personally I feel that the sports teachers do this so that they can stand and watch the kids run around, and they don't have to do anything. There are so many interesting sports that kids can do, that involve skill, team work and agility, cross country does not involve any of these.
I want to express my concerns to the sports dept. but I dont know if I should or if I do, what to say.

OP posts:

webwiz · 14/02/2011 11:06

If you want a comparison DS (year 9) has games twice a week and they change the two sports every half term. So the first Autumn half term will be cross country on one day and gymnastics in the sports hall on the other. Then the next half term rugby and basketball rotating through football, cricket, athletics, tennis and goodness knows what else throughout the year. It gives a good opportunity to try lots of sports and find something that you are good at or at least enjoy.

Original poster

Bobby65 · 14/02/2011 11:48

Yes, that makes sense. It just seems that an activity such as cross country can be so unfair on some pupils. My son does not complain as he enjoys sport, I just feel that it is rather pointless, when they could be doing something more enjoyable that involves a little more skill.

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Pterosaur · 14/02/2011 11:56

DD's school is similar to webwiz's - I think they rotate sports in six-week blocks. If you want to participate more in a particular sport and try out for a team, you have to join a lunchtime club, but nobody is obliged to do a hated sport for months on end.

Original poster

Bobby65 · 14/02/2011 12:05

Lunch time sports at my sons school are good, he does Basketball, Golf and Dodge Ball, but of course these are voluntary. Its a shame that the compulsory sports are not as interesting and fun.

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GrimmaTheNome · 14/02/2011 12:08

My DDs does different activities roughly half at term at a time (eg at the moment football outside, dance inside), but they only did cross country for 3 consecutive weeks.

TBH, I wish they were made to do a cross country run twice a week (in addition to the team sports and indoor) - get them all properly fit. Its hard in winter to get them to do enough proper exercise when its dark in the evenings and the weather's mostly foul.

CrosswordAddict · 14/02/2011 12:09

Bobby65 I often feel like having a rant about PE.teachers in particular.
The ones at my DTDs school have put them both off sport full stop. Until they joined that school they were quite keen on games and athletics but in the last 18months they have turned into PE-haters.
One daughter is a very good player at all ball sports but now refuses to do anything connected with them because the teacher is "an evil bitch" (her words not mine) Rant over. Feel better now!

Original poster

Bobby65 · 14/02/2011 12:24

Yes, that was my exact point, kids can so easily be put off sport when they get to secondary school. I really thought sport had changed from my day, but obviously not. You have to make it fun, it's fine for the athletic 'sporty' kids, but some can be put off so easily, and running round the streets or the athletics field for half an hour in the cold and rain cannot be anyones idea of fun.
Sorry GrimmaTheNome but there are many ways to get kids fit, but it needs to be enjoyble for them, not just an easy lesson for the P.E. teachers.

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HSMM · 14/02/2011 13:42

Ours rotate each half term and alternate indoor and outdoor. I think DD has done Hockey, Gym and Netball so far, with Swimming to come next. She is hoping that they will forget about Cross Country, but I suspect she will be sadly disappointed .

OesMorDdreng · 14/02/2011 16:27

That's definitely excessive. At my school we used to swap every half term. Netball>Hockey>Swimming>Tennis>Athletics etc. Then at GCSE we still had one lesson a week and were allowed to vote as a class for a sport for each half term. It was good because we got to do different things like badminton and table tennis.

It seems cruel to force so much cross country since it's not a sport everyone can enjoy, really. It's especially bad when the teachers don't take part! We had one teacher that ran along with the slowest people, and that was really encouraging. The other one made us run in circles around a small field so that she could watch from the middle.

I think you definitely should express your concerns. Asking for more variation in the sports done.

RatherBeOnThePiste · 14/02/2011 17:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

seimum · 14/02/2011 19:36

I find the 6 week rotation really annoying, as the kids never really get good at any particular sport, and you end up buying football boots etc that barely get used before the sport changes again (and they have grown out of by the next time it comes round).

Personally, I enjoyed cross country at school, as you started it from the school door & were done in half an hour - as opposed to hockey etc where you had to traipse down to the playing field & back again as well as playing the game.

But I can see that it would be tedious if that's all you did (especially if it was just running round a field)

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