Non competitive sports day at Junior school

[Le Chat]

I have to say that I was rather glad last week when the 'sports day' at my youngest son's school was cancelled due to the rain.
As a dutiful mother, I was always going to take a couple of hours off work and go to see him but the whole thing is really just a mish- mash of different little corners of things going on and no spectator really has a clue what's going on!
The last school my son was at (which was a small school that closed down) had a sports day with running races, sack races, a start and finish line. a starting whistle and cheering parents...and it was great. Afterwards there would be a parents race and medals for the winners.
I found that last year a couple of the parents said to me afterwards "Ah! Wasn't that lovely?" and when I said "Well actually, I though it was a load of rubbish!" they then agreed with me and said that they too thought that really!
Even my son thinks it's a non-event!
What is wrong with winners and losers and those that make a fantastic effort either way?

[boxtops]

Nothing, le chat, that's what sports day should be all about - to teach youngsters that losing at one thing doesn't mean you can't be good at something else, it's the taking part which counts. PC gone mad.

[rockyracoon]

My daughters was like that this year, usually it is races etc but this year they decided on an olympc theme. The kids were bored while they were waing for their turns to do anything, it was absolute crap, the events were more suited to 5 and 6 year olds, not 11. The only race that the kids enjoyed was the 100m relay.

[aps1]

It's a tough one Le Chat.When I was a lad we had the usual races and parents races as well, and it was great. I was rather disappointed that when my kids have their sports days it is all team events with no winners or losers. I suppose it's a sign of the times, but it lets down the kids that may be good at sports. What happens to the poor kid who might not be good academically, but is outstanding at sports. Surely they deserve a moment of glory every once in a while?

Fortunately, there is a new Headteachecr at my kids school who is changing the sports day beck to a more traditional day. There will still be the team events, but there will be individual races, and parents races, so I am sure it will be great fun.

[Bambiagain]

I was always useless at sports, but I still think it is good to teach young children about winning and losing. If they don't learn when they are young they will get a nasty shock when they are older and are used to being told they can't lose, which is far worse.

[cazzz1975]

Im not a fan of this cotton wool treatment, its a shame that learning to deal with losing or failing is not addressed at this young age, kids get older and go out in the world thinking they can have it all and life is wonderful, sadly they are in for a shock!

[cathfromsaron]

yep, sounds really round shouldered and namby pamby!

i used to love team and individual sports, and you really can learn that you need to work hard to win but that winning isn't everything!

[Le Chat]

I agree with all the points. The ethos behind the non competitive day is so that there are no winners and losers but that doesn't run alongside the fact that in the school classroom they have exams...and some do better than others!So it happens in that environment. Winning and losing cannot be avoided. I have been both a winner (in Junior school where I was fast and won) and a loser (in senior school, where I put on weight and felt self conscious so didn't do well at all!) Neither psychologically damaged me or infact bothered me! There are winners and losers and lots inbetwix in life. Can't be avoided!

[ummmm]

Loads of kids that don't excel in academic subjects, excel in sports. They are being denied their day to shine.

[cathfromsaron]

when i was in school some people who achieved won medals and represented the city and county etc!

or you were in a team which competed against everyone else's teams and the atmosphere was great! i played netball and rounders and ran the sprint!

it wasn't just 'YOU' who was winning or losing, and there was no shame in being a supporter!

what is the world coming to?

[jamesnan]

The headmistress at the school my grandchildren attended told me that it was not necessary to win any of the competitive sports, taking part was enough - I disagreed with her but her opinion was that just going in for something was enough to make you feel good. I told her that in today's world just entering something without expecting a good outcome was simply not enough, children should learn that there are winners and losers in everything.

[EDDIE51]

I was very small for my age at junior school and never stood a chance in the running races. But I found one event I was great at , the wheel barrow race!, I was the wheel barrow, I was so small and light that we won every time , the 'pusher' ran with my arms hardly touching the ground he didn't need to slow down at all.

[lcg]

a good idea that i had regarding your post came from my experiences at primary school. instead of it being overtly 'winners or losers', they put on about 20 different events such as threading a needle 5 times in under a minute; egg and spoon over a relatively short distance; running 400m (no times taken - just doing it) and so on. what we kids did was get a gold star for each event we took part in and got small prizes for the amount of events completed. so those who acheived the 20 events got a medal; 15 got a rosette; 10 got a choc goodie bag etc. i think that is a far greater idea - could you not suggest a style of sports day like that? i remembered enjoying it thoroughly and was chuffed to bits with my rosette.

[Booldawg]

non competetive sports days? I wonder if they'll all the kids grade A GCSE results because its unfair on the less academically gifted?

[BobLo]

Children must be taught to compete against each other as individuals and in teams in order to win. They should also be taught to appreciate everyone’s efforts to win. Non-competitive sports days should be banned and it should state clearly in the national curriculum that schools must promote healthy competition between individuals and teams through an annual sports event. This will correct the current flaws in several of our systems we have in the UK – i.e “wimp-cultivation” in schools, failures at international sporting events (just look at the London olympics so far), ridiculous social benefits and immigration policies … ALL of which other nations see and recognize as the weakness and naivety of the population of the United Kingdom and they will continue to take full advantage of those weaknesses. Competition is a basic element in natures rule of “survival of the fittest” – or do we want to give up our descendants right to exist in the future as well ?