druddle

My 9yr old sister had her school sports day last week and i was a bit annoyed at the whole format of it.

No more individual races, long jumps, etc., it was all team-based activities and so politically-bloody-correct it makes me sick.

My sister and her friends were fed up they couldnt see who was the fastest, best and jumping, etc. That was how my sports days were run when i was younger and im not emotionally scarred because of it. I know there will be the kids that cant throw, run fast (yep that was me) or jump very well, but competition is healthy, not wrapping them in cotton wool for fear of some kid or parent complaining that their kid is last (prob because they are some sort of lardar5e that never turns the telly off and couldnt do anything energetic if they tried).

Rant over......

rik1471

Your not emotionally scarred because you probably wasn't a 10 stone 8 year old who can't finish the 80m dash.

Reffro

I agree with druddle, sports days should be run to old formats with the sprint races, obstacle races, throwing the welly etc etc. Its a tough world out here and the sooner you start competing the better. Team sports have a place, but sports day is about individual competition, the team element should be in the form of points going to a house competition. I'm sure everyone remembers which house they were in at school, for the record mine was Glenn at primary and Rawlinson at my seondary school. I was crap at most things at a sports day, but that didn't stop me trying my best for myself and my house.

Primary schools should start preparing children for secondary schools better, where you will get judged on individual performance, so the sooner you get used to it the better. I speak from experience, at school I took end of year examinations in all my subjects from the age of 7, plus seperate IQ tests occasionally. When I got to secondary school I couldn't see what all the fuss was when we got to exam time at the end of the year, with almost everyone else dropping a load in their pants. By that time it was normal, and do you know what, I did far better than most too, as I'd had the practice from an early age. I have heard some secondary schools don't even have end of year exams, which is ludicrous.

PS I am also the big fatty from my class, but I've never let that bother me, meant I had an advantage when it came to the shot-put and javelin later at secondary school, I left the sprinting for the skinnies.

Tiggs

yep- my kids (6 yrs) sports day was the same.

load of cack and a waste of my day...no teaching them how to start so when the whistle went they stood still!!!! no teaching them how to run so they all jogged along chatting to each other!!!!!! and no teaching them how to finish so half stopped befor ethe line!!!!!!!

and every one got a badge- no winners, no losers.

waste of time..no wonder we suck at so many sports.

T

ps- if you are so unfit that you are emotinally scared from a sports day...then your parents need shooting.

JackClark

"if you are so unfit that you are emotinally scared from a sports day...then your parents need shooting."

Or you should consider competitive running!

krankyd

I was bloody c**p at school sports. So someone decided that I should do the 800 meter race for sports day

looking back at it now it was really funny. I was on the second lap, about half way round when everyone else had already finished. Then they started playing the monty python song "always look on the bright side of life" as I plodded home. Got a massive cheer in the last straight, and all of the crowd was standing up clapping and cheering!

I was so embrassed!

so I made a vow to never be unfit again. Currently I am slobbing infront of a workstation drinking coke. Shows you what peer pressure really does - forces you into IT!

ChrisB

Diet coke I hope?

krankyd

Nope.
Full calorie with extra caffene and a few asparin thrown in