Same group of girls in EVERY sports team

[Yr8Sport]

DD's school are very proud of their girls' teams' sporting achievements. And rightly so - they do very well.

However, it is the same group of girls in every team from netball to table tennis and everything in between. The other girls don't get a look in - and my sporty DD would loved to get involved.

I really don't want to sound churlish but shouldn't the school be encouraging the girls to do sport by giving enthusiastic kids the opportunity to join in? Or is winning all that matters?

Genuine question as I was a bookworm at school and couldn't have cared less about sport.

Doen’t Your DD’s school have an A & B team?

My DD’s school has an A & B team for Netball - she is in the B team and gets to play against other schools.

I think I even heard that the has A, B & C boys football teams.

No, just one team for each sport. And if you're in the girls' team for netball, you're also in it for football, basketball, everything. It's been this way for DD since the beginning of Yr7.

that does sound a bit shit.
would it be worth having a word with the headteacher or don't you want to stick your head over the parapet? as it were.

I'm just wondering if I would be wasting my breath, to be honest. Don't want to come across as "why hasn't my daughter been cast as Mary in the nativity" kind of mum.

Does anyone know if the school has some kind of "duty" to be more inclusive with regards sport or do they get "points" for having outstanding sports teams.

AFAIK there is no 'duty' they just care about results at sports fixtures.I know what you are saying about 'why isn't my dd Mary' type thing, but maybe you could frame it in more general terms? or ask other parents of 'non stars' what they think?

I’d address it as “can we have B teams as well to give more girls a chance to get involved?”. It’s quite likely that this group of girls genuinely are the best at every single sport especially since they’ve had far more practice and training in fitness and transferable ball skills for the last 18 months so you’d have little chance at this point of persuading the PE teacher to sub them for less able girls and you would look a bit “why isn’t she Mary?”

This does annoy me on two fronts.
These schools sell themselves on their sporting reputation and draw in lots of sporty kids who don't get an opportunity which they possibly would do in another school.
Secondly , sport should be for life and health and making kids feel that they are second rate or not worthy of chances at this age can snuff out their interest.

I suppose part of the question is whether you feel they just shove the same ones in without looking at the others, or whether it is a case that they are the best ones.

I'm just thinking about when I was at school. I'm not sporty. However I played tennis out of school to a fairly high club standard, so was naturally better than the sporty ones who played just for half the summer term.

The tennis team had 8 members, me (who was the best) and 7 who were also in the hockey team, the netball team, the crosscountry team, the athletics team, the cricket team, the rounders team... you get the picture!
When they split the year into athletics/tennis for the summer term, it was always done on the best athletes, and so I was in the bad group, and so used to then end up being sent to join in the tennis when I was meant to be doing athletics to help the rest of the tennis team. I loved that.

I'd do as others are suggesting and ask if there are any possibilities for a B team. our B team often used to play small schools that wouldn't have stood a chance against our first team, and other big schools who also had a B team.
But the B team tended to be the same people in each too.

I just want them to encourage girls to participate in sport if they are keen and able rather than simply the best.

There is a similar situation in my child's school albeit not to do with sport, just every time there is anything that requires children to be selected it's the same ones.

I am going to take it up with school. The children (yr2) even recognise it is happening. As a parent I'd be more impressed by all children being given a chance to shine rather than great results from a select few.