I don't really know why I've started to be so much of a sports fan over the last couple of years. Looking at it sensibly, there's two main things lining up: first I moved in with a boyfriend who watches a lot of sport, and second, I've found a sport I really like doing so maybe I have a better understanding of why people care so much about it.
This week there's been a load of brouhaha about the link between school sports and the very obvious fact that most of our Olympians were privately educated. I don't think it's a surprise. In fact, I'd crawl to the edge of a diving board on this and take the plunge on saying, hmmm, I bet most of the bankers are privately educated, I know most of the Cabinet are and I'd expect the same of most elite positions of power in this country. However, it seems to come as a shock to the Tory element of the coalition government who have spent the last few years taking money out of schools and public services that our state schools are not churning out athletes by the LOCOG-endorsed busful.
First: British kids do not like doing PE at school. Fact. Here's some mental images for you. Let's start in maybe the 60s or 70s. Picture the Dandy or the Beano. What's happening? The popular (probably "naturally good at sports" kids) are bullying the 'weedy' kids and making fun of their physique. Nicknames. Playground hierarchies. Stuck in the national psyche, that. Oh, and for the record, I would think this was 100 times worse in the private schools. I've read How to Be Topp. The difference is, and I'm being serious here, is for those kids in private and especially boarding schools, they really were spending hours and hours on the playing field, so yes, an advantage. 80s mental image is brought to you by the classic film Rita, Sue and Bob too. The world's worse taught tennis lesson participated in by reluctant girls wearing inappropriate kit, lacking the ones who'd gone off round the back to smoke. While I'm in the 80s - that sports pitch from Boys from the Blackstuff? That's what we were meant to learn on? My mental images from the 90s are probably pretty personal, but I suspect quite typical. Being put off sports I actually quite liked by bitchy girls, rule-breakers, show-offs, being the average kid who never actually learned much in the lesson because we just sort of faded into the background and learned the rules of sports by default. And hockey? St Trinian's (in any era) has that about right as how teenage girls approach a team sport. I haven't much to compare to in terms of other countries, but my time in French schools seems to show that they very much value time spent on any kind of sports and activities and they make a wide range available. In the US I'm aware that the same issues of bullying and a certain 'type' (the jocks) making up a large part of the participation is an issue, but they do get a couple of things right - extra credit for taking part in extra-curricular activities and sponsorship programmes for college athletes.
Second: You get out what you put in. Stopping funding, taking kids out of PE to catch up in other subjects, are not going to create an atmosphere where this is seen as something important. My personal struggle has always been that I lack confidence in my physical ability, and the mind rules the body when it comes to succeeding at any discipline. I wasn't born with that lack of self-confidence. I went to a school that recognised and encouraged my academic ability and made me someone who can literally stand up in front of a large number of people and speak, perform, stand up for what I believe, ask questions, whatever... But fail a task like vaulting the horse in gymnastics (I recall it well), then I'm not that confident person. I will throw a strop, give up and can probably be found sobbing in a corner. I did not have that in primary school, I started to try out new activities again once I left school and found that I quite enjoyed them, and so I'm forced to conclude that the atmosphere of high school did that to me. My union, the ATL, has this to say:
"It seems that David Cameron has forgotten that the ethos of the Olympics is about taking part and doing your best. Schools and teachers would love to have the curriculum time and facilities to teach a range of sports that will appeal to sporty pupils as well as non-sporty so that they can keep fit, enjoy sports, learn the importance of taking part, being a good team player, of persevering, the determination to win, and being competitive. But instead of helping, this government has sold off playing fields, cut funding for the Schools Sports Partnership, and removed the requirement to teach a minimum amount of PE while increasing the pressure to focus on subjects that will score well in league tables. "
There's been a lot of fuss about "doing your best" becoming so politically correct that kids aren't allowed to win any more etc etc. Read it carefully, that's not what this is saying. This is saying, allow each person to do his or her own best and give them the determination that it requires.
Kids learn very quickly who is good at what - give them the same 100m race to run every week and the ones who know they can't win stop trying. Allow them to try out some new things and they might find out what they're good at. Show them how to improve a skill, get them to aim for personal best, create a team that actually needs and values each player and BOOM! Then we all achieve. I do have good memories of school sports. My favourite is from sports day when we were about 13. Horrible age of hormones and bodies changing and moody strops. My form had just realised we were going to suffer terrible defeat at sports day because we were seriously lacking in people who could run races and jump over things and that. I'm guessing this to be the age when a lot of us stopped enjoying putting on horrible shorts and running around the lumpy field. Then the PE teachers announced there would be some other events now we were a bit older. Hammer throwing. Turns out we had a boy in our class who went on to compete nationally. Tug of war. Brilliant. The entire class, boys and girls, got to compete in the tug of war together - and guess what? We took on every form in our year and won. It made us feel strong and united and whenever any of us meet now it's one of the things we talk about. That's a powerful mental attitude, I wish more of us had been able to apply that attitude to other challenges. Javelin? Total nightmare, but we enjoyed having a go!
It is a sad fact that, at a time when teaching in all subjects has really improved, that the focus has been pushed so hard onto such a small number of factors - mainly passing Maths and English - that PE has often been pushed aside. I had at school, and I know now, lots of really good PE teachers, who give up their time to run clubs, tournaments, take pupils to matches and events and really support them. So please don't blame the teachers. But please do give them the curriculum time to teach things properly, a class size where more kids can achieve and be coached properly and the opportunities to do the things that you simply can't do in a hour in school.
*I'd like to include this viewpoint add right here*
I still struggle to be competitive - against myself and in a team. However, I did learn the positive benefits of physical and mental challenge and developing a skill. And I think this is the first time in my life when I would rather be doing or watching a sport than quite a lot of other things and my nerd side is still pretty shocked about that. I still hate being out of my comfort zone, I'm still a massive wimp with a fear of failure, and you'll still find me throwing a strop or dissolving into tears fairly regularly...but years and years of forcing myself out to try things and persevere with some of them reports a little like this:
- I can dance fairly well, in about 6 kinds of dance
- I can double timestep
- I can swim better backwards than forwards
- I am hopeless at diving
- I can swim well outdoors
- I can jump over an object on skates
- Still can't reverse crossover on quad skates, although I can on ice skates
- I can ride a unicyle
- I can't juggle
- I like to play on the wing in hockey and netball
- I'm better in defense in football and basketball
- I can abseil
- I can flip a kayak under water (I'm mainly proud of this because I wouldn't even out my head under water until I was about 11 years old)
- I can cycle up bigger hills than I think I can
- I am petrified of going downhill on anything with wheels
- I can somersault on a trampoline
- I can hip check pretty well in derby but I generally miss
- I can run for 15 minutes
- I can serve in tennis.... but I pretty much suck at anything that involves hitting a ball with a bat
- I can kick a door in with my roundhouse kick and have done so in both anger and emergencies.....
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