School sprt

Whilst I can understand that some children dislike competitive sport, many sports would become redundant without the competitive element and the flip side of the article is that some children enjoy the competitive sport. I was lucky enough to attend a school that had fabulous sporting facilities both indoor and outdoor. Taking part in competitive sport taught me to try harder if it was something that I enjoyed doing. I hated hockey so I opted not to be in the hockey team. So, maybe a choice of sport would be the answer?

Some children dislike sport altogether so maybe something a little slower paced (like golf or even fishing) could be done instead where it is about completing the course or actually catching something.

I do think it's important that children learn to compete as it is what they will be facing at interviews - competing with other applicants so total removal of competition wouldn't, imo, do them any favours.

I find myself very ambivalent here. I feel if children do not want to compete they shouldn't. but, but, but.... I was no good at sport, illness, dyspraxia and poor eyesight did for that, but I did enjoy the pressure that it put on me to really do my best at whatever it was and to enjoy knowing I had beaten my personal best or, for me, done really well, even if I knew I did not stand a cat in hell's chance of winning.

I think the problem is that whenever we think about competition, we think of winning and losing when perhaps we should look at it in terms of personal challenge. I can still remember very clearly and delightedly those odd one or two occasions when for some reason I actually did do quite well at some unexpected sporting activity.

The argument against competition is that it disheartens and undermines the losers, personally, I cannot remember ever being particularly bothered about losing and i wonder whether the child simply reflects the attitude of the adults round it.

I could never have won a race to save my life at school sports, but that didn't prevent my taking part. I once came second in a 3-legged race! Missed out on 1st XI hockey team and fell apart when asked to play competitive tennis! I still enjoyed playing. And yes, my parents just took it for granted that we would take part but nobody ever pushed us to win at all costs. I think this filtered down to my own sons.

The argument against competition is that it disheartens and undermines the losers, personally, I cannot remember ever being particularly bothered about losing and i wonder whether the child simply reflects the attitude of the adults round it

I think that may have a lot to do with it. However, some children really do dislike physically demanding sport but they can still take part in javelin, discus, shot, archery where they don't have to expend quite so much energy but they will still lean how to deal with success (gracefully) and disappointment (which they really do have to learn how to bounce back from that).

I do think competition is good, but . . . when I was at school I enjoyed tennis, rounders, gym, but never excelled at any of them and so was never amongst the first choice to be in any teams (just for playing during lessons, I didn't stand a cat-in-hell's chance of ever being selected for competitions!), which was quite demoralising.

My one advantage was that, being left-handed, I used to earn loads of points for 'no balls' being hurled at me by either a racquet or bowler, plus it meant that when I did manage to whack the ball hard no-one was prepared for the direction it was heading, so when the pickers cottoned on to that it meant that at least I wasn't the last player to be chosen!!

I agree with Flickety that perhaps more emphasis should be placed on a child's personal triumphs rather than simply winning/losing, after all there will be some children who will never win no matter how hard they try.

Yes, that's one of life's lessons, sometimes one has to accept one's limitations without developing a complex about it, however harsh it seems!

I think it must be very daunting for little ones like Mishap's DGCs they are only little and seeing some of the bigger more robust pupils must surely put them off a wee bit.

I think children need to learn to lose and maybe the public arena of sports day is not the best place to start! Some parents allow their children to always win at games at home so that they find it a shock when in nursery /school they do not always win. Adults need to model 'how to lose' without a tantrum, without shame etc! It is a fine balance between building up confidence to 'have a go' and not over emphasising the winning element in case that puts too much pressure! My DDs were different: DD1 always had a go and never minded not winning, DD2 only joined in if she thought she had a real chance of success! GD1 is awful!! Gets really annoyed and upset if she loses ...at anything. Not at school though, only home! She's her mothers' daughter

I think at Infant/ KS1 stage team competitions are better as the focus is off an individual and kids can practise the experience of winning/ losing/taking part without individual pressure. By the time they are 7/8 they should be more robust and be able to join in races etc. Also gives them time to develop the skills for running/balancing etc!

When I was at school there were no teaching assistants or support staff and so the teachers asked children who had finished their work to help those who needed assistance. As a system it worked very well for the educational culture of the day. Fast forward fifty years and schools are once again harnessing the energy and enthusiasm of children to peer lead sporting activities - with a great deal of success. I managed to find an example online so that I wouldn't need to describe the system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pnrVKM_KoE

I am a lone voice I fear! The culture of competition and of competitive sport is so ingrained in us all from our school days that we never stand back and ask what the heck it is for! I serves no purpose as far as I can see. Those who are good at it shine and the rest are just made to feel idiots. We no longer do this in the classroom - we do not pit a brilliant reader against a struggler and stand them up in front of everyone. But when it comes to sport there is a totally different mindset. It leaves me cold and mind-boggled.

And if we want to get our children fit, they need the option of games that get them moving and are enjoyable. Swimming, trampolining, dance etc.

Who made you feel an idiot when you did sport, Mishap? I was hopeless at sport but it never stopped me enjoying some, but not all sports. In fact I think being in the z team was better than being the A team, A team members had to take it seriously, us z team members were less supervised and could mess around to our hearts content.

I cannot remember anyone laughing at me anymore for being poor at sport than any other aspect of life I got teased about. And in a classroom, children are well aware of who is good at academic or craft work, or whatever, whether or not they are publicly graded.

Some children are competitive, DGS, is fiercely competitive - and while we are teaching him to learn to play a board game, even if he isn't winning, I do not see why he shouldn't also have opportunities to do something in a highly competitive way and sport is as good an activity as any for that. Lets face it sport developed so people could bet on the winners and losers.

Let those who enjoy it, do it - nothing wrong with that. Why do we impose it on those who hate it? Competing on the sports field has no intrinsic value to those who cannot do it or hate it - whereas learning maths, even if a child finds it hard, is a necessary life skill. Competitive sport is not.

Keeping fit is important and can be achieved without the humiliation of competitive sport.

We are happy to see music as an "add-on" rather than a basic human right and skill that all children should have the opportunity to be a part of and try out to see if it is for them; but competitive sport is treated differently. Why?

Some people are not athletic by inclination; neither are some competitive by nature. What is the point of forcing this on them? What is achieved? Does it increase the sum of human happiness? Does it make such children look forward to going to school?

There is growing concern about the lack of exercise children get now parents are afraid of them playing out and they have so many electronic gadgets to keep them indoors and still.

How can children be encouraged to more activity at school unless in an organised fashion, which by definition is sport. It doesn't follow that because it is sport it has to be ultra competitive. I enjoyed swimming and field sports, in my case throwing the discus, the aim there is beating your best. It wasn't something our school did competitively. I can remember games of netball with teams that varied in size from 5 to 15, with flexible rules and no real winners, ditto rounders, gymnastics, if you were that way inclined (I wasn't) country dancing and tennis played in fours with the haziest ideas of the rules and with the tennis ball more often over the hedge or on the road than in the court..

Cricket bored me and hockey left me cold (literally) and was avoided at all costs. Except when I started my secondary school in Singapore and hockey was played in the rainy season on a pitch several inches under water. It involved a lot of running round and falling over in the mud in hot weather. I cannot ever remember a goal being scored but we all enjoyed it

My attitude was, and still is, that games are OK. but some bugger will come along and take them seriously, and that's when I lost interest!

I once played soccer in the School First XI... only once: well, there was a lot of 'flu around at the time, and they were short of people. I was in goal, freezing cold. Then - OMG - the other school were awarded a penalty. A great hairy brute thundered up and unleashed a shot like a rocket-propelled missile. I tried, I really tried to get out of the way, but it hit me! And it hurt me... And our lot all said "Well saved!" - somehow that made it hurt even more...

Happily, they never picked me again.

My eldest son was always one of those who was asked to help other slower children and he hated it. He felt that it was highly unfair to him. He does have dyslexia and maybe that is why. He has however grown into a very caring gentle man who works in youth services so who knows maybe having to help those slower than him made him what he is.

My DGS is very bright indeed, and at 5 reads at the level of a 9 or 10 year old. He has just spotted that he is way ahead of the others in his class and our approach to this has been to say that he is a lucky boy that reading comes easily to him and that everyone has their particular talents, and this happens to be his - that the others will have theirs.

We have said this to prevent him being competitive and thinking he is better than them; and indeed this seems to chime with his personality. He is one of my GC who said he hates races.

But in sport we take the opposite approach, with competition and seeing who is best being the point of it.

There are plenty of organised ways that children can get exercise without pitting them one against the other.

I am dreading sports day for this little lad - he will hate it. He has never done it yet and does not know what is coming.

Even when we play board games (at which he is very skilled) he adapts the game to be non-competitive and just a bit of fun - even though he could probably beat me!

Interesting article on this topic in Observer this Sunday.

I hated sports day and finally came up with the ruse of telling the teachers that I would be away on holiday that week. I still went to school and nobody seemed to notice that I wasn't participating in any of the events (they were probably relieved - I was no great loss to the sporting world).

I think that in schools and in life generally there is already far too much emphasis on competition and far too little on co-operation (although I suppose in team sports individual players must co-operate with other members of the team).

I hate sport and cannot understand why people take it so seriously. I love quizzes but my downfall is always that I know little and care less about sports questions. I so don't care who can run faster, score more goals or whatever. I wish I could take pleasure in it because there is so much of it about. As a child I was quite good at the skills needed in sport but had no interest in the competitive element. In any contest I always want the loser to catch up.

I hated maths and science and s felt humiliated if I could not keep up but I still had to do them ! I was good at sport though. I think all children will find something they are good at. When you go to work you will have to do lots of things you nether like nor enjoy so good to get used to it early!

Seasider absolutely

I was literally stuck with sports Mishap. When in Primary School I was entered into the obstacle race for sports day. One of the obstacles was to crawl through the middle part of a hurdle (small version) and I got jammed. Hilarious for those watching but the humiliation remains with me today. Eventually a teacher came and hauled me out.

I suppose I feel that exercise should be compulsory but competitions optional. On the plus side when I left senior school, at my last sports day I gained the school record for throwing the discuss and also a first in shot put. My record remains today because the Girls' school closed and everyone had to 'Go Comprehensive'. Just between us, I hated the teacher doing the measuring so much I genuinely aimed the discuss at him knocking 12 foot off the record; got a mention in the local paper but the teacher ran out of the way fortunately.

A minority of posters seems to have enjoyed sports at school and I wonder why this had to be. My senior DGD, who was a good netball player at primary school, lost interest at high school when she discovered that sporting interest wasn't 'cool'. The same applied to the school choir. Such a pity as she was/is a lovely singer. Her younger sister at 11 doesn't see the point of hitting and throwing balls around but is an excellent swimmer. Horses for courses.

I think it is because at school there is/was no choice. Everybody has to do what they are told/given whether you like the sports on offer or have any aptitude for them.

Outside school DH enjoyed swimming and sailing and did both in his free time. Later he took up sub-aqua diving. At school it was all team games and cross-country running. None of them ideal for a short stocky boy with appalling eyesight.

I enjoyed what I could best describe as the under belly of school sports, the versions you played in the playground outside games lessons. As I have said before, netball with teams of equal size but indeterminate numbers and few rules, Competitive bad tennis, you lose if the ball goes anywhere near the net, scratch rounders. Games a crowd of you got going because you wanted to do it.