Is This Normal - Running Competition

[purpleme12]

My child is in year 7
On Friday in assembly they were told there was an athletics running competition this week and anyone who wants to do it needs to sign up. And then they'll pick who goes through. They were told it was long distance.
My child put her name down.

Yesterday she found out she was picked with one of her friends. She found out it was 800 metres yesterday! She didn't really know what long distance looked like. And it's against other schools in our area. She had assumed it was just something in school.

However my concern more is that they've not even practiced this in PE at all! No build up or anything. The most she's run in PE is 100 metres.

Is this normal to do no practice or build up in PE for something like this?? It just seems wrong

She came 2nd to last and brief periods where she walked a bit so she wasn't too happy after

So I was right to be nervous for her

But I'm proud of her for volunteering and I'm proud of her for doing it

I'll see how she's feeling in a bit

You say ‘well done’ and move on

Yes I know

So next time (and hopefully there will be a next time) she'll know not to go off too quickly.
My DD used to run the 800m at primary school sports days (did yours not do this?) and every year she won by letting the field run away from her at the beginning while she gradually overhauled them one by one once they got past the 400m point.

Good for her for taking part.

thank you

I've told her I'm proud of her for doing it

No at primary school sports day it was a very short running race! Although she was always good at the running

Congratulations to her for putting herself out there and doing it. Someone needs to be second to last (and even last).
The world would probably be a better place if we all spent more time doing things we weren't very good at, just for the sake of doing them and not to win.(that's not to say she couldn't improve and become good at it if she practices!)

Well done her! Given she’s done no training and it’s the first time doing it, just putting herself forward is brave. We should all try new things. Hope she thinks about doing it again!

Well done to her for giving it a go! My son randomly put himself down for high jump at the school county athletics. He’s never been taught how to back flip over the bar because they don’t have the right mat so just winged it on the day! His school also just say you can sign up to do whatever and they don’t do much (if any) practice before hand. Mine said he came 6th out 10 and was happy to have a day out of school!

Oh wow. Have we really got the a place where the average 11yo needs to train to run 800 metres/half a mile?.

@Manyleaves Yes, we have. Similarly with swimming more than a couple of lengths, or even walking a handful of miles without a break.

Swimming I can understand because you need access to facilities, but walking and running, just part of what DC do....?

@EmeraldSlippers @chillichoclove @Watchoutfortheslowaraf thank you

Yep. Happens here. From Y1! Distances get further with age, but “Neilly Races” is a right of passage. A healthy Y7 should be able to run 800m if they don’t try to sprint.

I’m a bit surprised at these answers. An 800metre race is known to be a hard distance for anyone. Any decently fit kid can run for that time or distance, but racing is another animal.

To me it’s another example of schools having to rely on sport experience outside school because they don’t have the time, facilities or funding to actually do proper sport in school.

I think your daughter did brilliantly to sign up for something unknown; I hope she doesn’t take the lesson to never do that again! Good for her.

Thank you @PermanentTemporary

Yes indeed. Sticking to it and completing the course is an achievement. Being not last is an achievement. Onwards and upwards. well done to her.

800m isn’t a long distance it is only half a mile or twice round a running track. I guess the PE staff wouldn’t even have thought about it. We did 800m at secondary school every summer, and cross country in the winter.

My ds is year 2 and his year group have done “mini marathon” round the field twice already this term: it’s 1 mile (about 1600m)

I think the expectation is that children are fit enough to do this.

if your concern is that your dd doesn’t have a clue how to time a run like that, well, no substitute for having a go! I would suggest she plonks herself middle of the pack and try and keep up. Simple!

@CoverLikelyZebra thank you

@Manyleaves Some kids, but really not all. Some kids get a daily walk to a school a mile or so away, but lots have very short walks, or get driven to school right through primary school, and for various reasons, not least of which is cost, aren't doing other sports or activities, e.g. swimming. Kids are spending far less time being active than they did a generation or two ago, so yes, it is the case that a lot of kids in secondary school struggle to run a couple of laps of the athletics track without needing to walk for a bit. This isn't a pop at the OP - it's brilliant that her daughter is confident to volunteer for things and give them a go - it's just a reflection of how things are.

Well done to your DD.

I hope she understands how proud you are of her for giving it a try.

Her place doesn't matter, what matters is that she put herself out there to try something new and did the best she could.

If she does another race I'm sure she's learned a bit about how to pace it from this one.

Well done her for doing it. It was at something similar - albeit in Yr5 in her case - that we accidentally discovered DD is a decent runner. She’s always been average in school sports day 60m type thing but it turns out she’s got real stamina. She’s done cross country ever since.
I know your DD has done it and may not have enjoyed it being second to last but hopefully she found it was a supportive environment and that it was probably tactics and experience that led her to come to that position. In DD’s first 800m at secondary, she was trailing quite significantly after the first lap and I just thought “oh well, she was good for the local primary competition but not for the wider secondary field” but, actually, she just reeled them all in in the second lap and won by a good few seconds whilst those who had been leading ended up
walking. It might be worth reminding her that she’ll run further than 800m in any of her team sports over the course of a training session.

@WhosGotTheKeysToMyBimma @FoxandDuck thank you

(someone mentioned about walking earlier. We don't drive so if somewhere is walkable we walk it. She walks back from the bus station most days which is a mile and a half. To the bus stop is almost a mile. Walking to Guides is over 2 miles, then 2 miles back. Walking to gymnastics is over 1 and a half miles. We used to walk that back as well but now sometimes drives us who goes there (I miss walking back to be honest). And the anywhere else we might go. I don't think that's too bad?

Hi @purpleme12. I mentioned walking, in the context of it being the case that lots of kids at secondary school struggle to run a couple of an athletics track. Your daughter sounds like she's active and probably wouldn't struggle to maintain a run for a couple of laps once she has a better idea how to gauge her pace for the distance, which can take practice experience. Unfortunately, that's not the case for many kids of a similar age.

Well done mini purple. She did well to keep going and finish. Now she knows how far 800m is I hope she sticks at it, practices and I’m sure she can improve in another competition.