[Dennerers]

As it says in the title, should we encourage competitive sport in secondary and primary schools?
As the olympics have popped up, interviews with athletes etc have brought up elitism in certain sports, of course a lot of this is nonsense, I think its more about the fact that competitive sport is discouraged.
I remember when I was in primary school there were no medals for, the same with much of my secondary school.
Also there is not enough choice in schools for kids, i may have tried only a few sports, i would have loved to try high jumping but never got the chance. There is only real focus on 'main' sports like rugby. And to be frank i was too small for that.

Thoughts?

[Hopple]

No need, just let them have a proper lunch break with enough time to eat and play, as well as provide them with equipment such as balls and bats. Finishing school closer to the time parents finish work would be good for parents too - teachers need not worry, they get a longer lunch break too.

[g_star_raw_1989]

It should be and I agree with the message of the Olympics that is 'to inspire the next generation' but being in a recession and with cuts to funding, I don't see how it can be done.

[Nick1sHere]

Yeah definitely. I wish our school had encouraged us more. If you wanted anything to do with sports you had to find somewhere else

[I.D.G.A.F.O.S]

Yes. i regret not joining a sports team earlier. i think at year seven pupils should choose a sport to do continually for a season atleast 4-5 hours a week (ie rugby, 2 hours drills 2 hours conditioning etc) with students being able to switch between sports they have fallen out of love/trialled and disliked etc

[ckingalt]

A few things that competitive sport can instill in our youth are; Teamwork, resilience, attitude, agression, grace under pressure, dealing with adversity, to lose with dignity, and to win with class.

People who oppose competitive sport do so because they want to shelter children from any negative feeling that may come from a perception of being being excluded or physically inferior.

I believe our schools should seek to teach or children to succeed in all facets of life, even if that means they can't protect all of them from a little disappointment.

[Dennerers]

(Original post by Hopple)
No need, just let them have a proper lunch break with enough time to eat and play, as well as provide them with equipment such as balls and bats. Finishing school closer to the time parents finish work would be good for parents too - teachers need not worry, they get a longer lunch break too.

I used to get about 40 minutes for lunch in Secondary, it was long enough for lunch plus some football, but i want more!!!

(Original post by g_star_raw_1989)
It should be and I agree with the message of the Olympics that is 'to inspire the next generation' but being in a recession and with cuts to funding, I don't see how it can be done.

This is what im on about, i wanted to achive in my sport, rowing, but the olympics have given me a boast and excitement, i want to compete in Rio! or in 8 years time maybe...
But i didnt get the option in school, britain wants medals, so the government should pay a bit more for it, its not like it wont benefit everyone. local sports organisations get money, obese children numbers go down. How is this not the logical option!?

[Dennerers]

(Original post by ckingalt)
A few things that competitive sport can instill in our youth are; Teamwork, resilience, attitude, agression, grace under pressure, dealing with adversity, to lose with dignity, and to win with class.

People who oppose competitive sport do so because they want to shelter children from any negative feeling that may come from a perception of being being excluded or physically inferior.

I believe our schools should seek to teach or children to succeed in all facets of life, even if that means they can't protect all of them from a little disappointment.

Could not have put it better myself. rep

[Dennerers]

(Original post by Nick1sHere)
Yeah definitely. I wish our school had encouraged us more. If you wanted anything to do with sports you had to find somewhere else

The exact same story in my school.

[RobertWhite]

Yes, sports and exercise has many positive physical and emotional benefits to children.

Our country is getting fatter and more unhealthy every year, we need to start encouraging healthy living at an early age, what better place than in schools?

[Nick1sHere]

(Original post by Dennerers)
The exact same story in my school.

Its sad really, and there were so many people who didn't bother because it wasn't just offered to them. I guess in a way I was lucky enough to be motivated to join the clubs I wanted

[MathematicsKiller]

No. Children should be taught and encouraged just enough to live a healthy lifestyle.
There are very few places for people wanting to play sport professionally so there is no point in making children play competitively.

[Drewski]

(Original post by MathematicsKiller)
No. Children should be taught and encouraged just enough to live a healthy lifestyle.
There are very few places for people wanting to play sport professionally so there is no point in making children play competitively.

Total garbage.

There being few places in professional sports is the absolute worst reason to not do any kind of competitive sports at school. There are few spaces at Oxbridge, should we stop getting children to try and attain good exams results?

[Aspiringlawstudent]

I don't think the government should provide schools, let alone encourage sports in them.

[NB_ide]

No, because the children who lose will feel bad and inferior, when maybe they're better than the "winners" in other ways. For example, if you make everyone play rugby then some of the weak and timid students will do really badly but only because they're weak/slow/scared, etc. So it's not fair, it's not a level playing field. Because if they were better at rugby, then maybe their team would have won instead. The only fair solution is do away with concepts of winning and losing, and just play non-scoring games for fun and general health and fitness. Sports days should be done away with completely, as they encourage unhealthy competition and rivalry between forms/houses/classes or individual pupils, and again fail to take into account the fact that it's completely unfair to penalise someone for being worse at something.

[Dennerers]

(Original post by NB_ide)
No, because the children who lose will feel bad and inferior, when maybe they're better than the "winners" in other ways. For example, if you make everyone play rugby then some of the weak and timid students will do really badly but only because they're weak/slow/scared, etc. So it's not fair, it's not a level playing field. Because if they were better at rugby, then maybe their team would have won instead. The only fair solution is do away with concepts of winning and losing, and just play non-scoring games for fun and general health and fitness. Sports days should be done away with completely, as they encourage unhealthy competition and rivalry between forms/houses/classes or individual pupils, and again fail to take into account the fact that it's completely unfair to penalise someone for being worse at something.

No, i would completely disagree with you, i was one of the ones that wasn't good at rugby always getting beaten about because i was so small, but it encouraged me to find my sport, and when i lost it encouraged me to train harder, be better, And when i win, it is one of the best feelings. Kids should be given the opportunity to find their sport like i did. Also if the competitive side was encouraged it would mean that more sports would be introduced anyway.

[MathematicsKiller]

(Original post by Drewski)
Total garbage.

There being few places in professional sports is the absolute worst reason to not do any kind of competitive sports at school. There are few spaces at Oxbridge, should we stop getting children to try and attain good exams results?

You have a whole range of options to go with if you have good exam results, and if you don't have good exam results, there are still a lot of opportunities.

Not the case with competitive sport where it is "go big, or go home". It is like being a pop star or something along those lines - you wouldn't encourage children to attempt to become top class singers, would you?
Being selected for the Olympics is along the lines of getting to the final 20 in X factor.

[Drewski]

(Original post by MathematicsKiller)
You have a whole range of options to go with if you have good exam results, and if you don't have good exam results, there are still a lot of opportunities.

Not the case with competitive sport where it is "go big, or go home". It is like being a pop star or something along those lines - you wouldn't encourage children to attempt to become top class singers, would you?
Being selected for the Olympics is along the lines of getting to the final 20 in X factor.

Getting people into sports doesn't mean everyone will then expect to go do it professionally. Talk to any kid in any school football team. Ask them if they think anyone of them willa ctually make it professionally. When you finally get them to be honest, they'll all say no.

Being sporty isn't about making it professionally. It's about giving you another part of your life. Academia is fine, but it's one part of a character. And if that's all you've got, I genuinely feel sorry for you. Everybody needs more. Read post 6 and tell me the things he lists there are bad attributes for someone to have.

Don't equate getting into sports as meaning they have to go to the Olympics. It doesn't. And noone sane would ever believe it does. I did sport through school of various flavours. I wasn't any good, I won a medal or two here and there, but I had fun. I stayed fit, I learnt a lot. I had other aspects to my character that went above and beyond what happened in the classroom. Sports are not a bad thing and must never be treated as such.

[RobertWhite]

(Original post by MathematicsKiller)
You have a whole range of options to go with if you have good exam results, and if you don't have good exam results, there are still a lot of opportunities.

Not the case with competitive sport where it is "go big, or go home". It is like being a pop star or something along those lines - you wouldn't encourage children to attempt to become top class singers, would you?
Being selected for the Olympics is along the lines of getting to the final 20 in X factor.

I don't think we should encourage children to get into competitive sport for the chance of becoming a professional but for the benefits they'll gain from it. Such as:

- Learning about competition (which we all face in our everyday lives)
- Improved health
- Self-esteem
- Teamwork, cooperation, friendship
- It's an outlet, so there's less chance of dangerous/illegal behaviour
- Perhaps they'll learn how to stay determined, cope with stress etc...

There are lots of reasons why it's a good thing. The Olympics and the such isn't the end all of competitive sport. I have a friend who boxes competitively and earns £250 a fight. He's only been boxing for two years and it's not very difficult to get into. It's a nice amount of money to earn on the side as a student.

[Super Cicero]

What a load of rubbish. The UK needs scientists, engineers, inventors and academics if we are to succeed as a nation in the future, not a load of morons whose only talent is kicking a ball around. Now there's talk of introducing 2 hours of PE a day?! What is this madness? There's things called "evenings" and "weekends" during which there's time to tackle some rugby oaf to the ground, why waste time which could be spent studying in the library?

In my opinion, there shouldn't be any compulsory sport on the school ciriculum. Its just a method of oppressing those who aren't any good at sport and making them lose confidence, and since the people who are worst at sport are often the brightest most academic pupils, making the kids who are the real future of our country lose confidence is just madness.

You can run around a running track faster than some Chinese guy who's spent his life enslaved into being an olympian? Great, good for you, have a gold medal. But the real heroes are the people who innovate, invent, and actually benefit the lives of the rest of us.