Talk to me about Saturday fixtures!

[pugsandseals]

DD started at good local day school in September, but the games department are bugging me. She is sometimes asked to play for the bottom team, but we never know until a few days beforehand. Also, she tells us there are no drills or technique work generally in her games lessons as this is saved for only the top teams & the bottom team gets routinely slaughtered in matches!
Is this normal?
If she were in a good team we would feel much happier about the disruption to our weekends (both DH & I often work on a Saturday & DD tends to come with us), but with no real training for these matches they just feel like a waste of time!Experiences please

Do not the teams have training outside of games lessons? My DS has after school sessions and lunchtime sessions for all team players, regardless of level, in his year (Y7). we generally know when matches are on in advance, but not whether he has actually been picked to play until 2-3 days before. It is generally at that stage we get details as to where they have to be and when. Just part of secondary school life I think.

They have 'shooting practice' for 30 minutes one lunch hour, but very few go as there are so many other clubs on offer at the same time.
I imagined it would be more like prep school where pupils were picked for a team for the whole term & practised as a team. Can't see the point in how they are doing it

Only knowing about whether someone is selected for the team is the norm I'm afraid unless your child is obviously a sporting star and destined for a first teamplace throughout their school career. In my experience there are games lessons (for everyone including those who will drop all team sport by year 3), practices, for those who are trying out for the teams for that week, and then specific skill clubs eg shooting, ball skills or conditioning etc.

Unfortunately it is unlikely that the number of girls who really want to play for the school equals the exact number of spaces for an available sport, so either they can fiddle with using subs, or else there will be other girls hauled in to make up numbers. Frustrating for you, but the nature of team sports rather than individual pursuits.

Practically you may want to make friends with parents of other girls likely to be in the same team. We have found that the sports fixtures also help to generate some of the school social life with children going off to spend the rest of the day together after the match.

In independent schools, Saturday fixtures are generally considered part of the school week. Pupils are expected to turn up if they are picked unless they have a very good reason not to - just like lessons.

Teams are only picked a few days before but if your child is involved in competitive sport, you should expect them to have to play.

There should be practices outside of PE lessons by his is something you could check with school about.

It's a whole new way of life - not like where I went to school.

So you only want her to play if she's in the A team?

DS (yr7) goes to all required after school training evenings. Sometimes he scrapes into the bottom teams - we never know until the Wednesday before. Quite often they lose.

Excellent life training IMO

Not all DC stay in the bottom or top team, there can be a lot of movement between teams. With team sports, children get sick/injured so can't always make a fixture hence the reason why team selection is done at short notice.