As the Olympics is in full swing and Team GB are currently doing us proud (go, Team GB!) it brings a stark contrast to how competitive sport is now almost obsolete in various schools across the country.
When I was at school, it was a case of there being 1st, 2nd and 3rd places as we all raced for ourselves.
Nowadays, and as was the case at the small ones school this year, there is no such thing as competitive sports.
Children don’t race for themselves. Instead they race in teams and collect team points. So, no medals, and in effect, nobody ‘wins.’
If you do, it’s not a personal achievement – it’s for the team.
Now, teamwork is all well and good, and also an important life lesson.
Should it apply to sport though?!
If children have never had the opportunity to win or lose, then how are they going to cope with life if they are beaten to the post as grown ups? It’s just as an important lesson to learn than working well in a team.
The athletes at the Olympics are getting the chance to run, do their best and win a gold medal if they really shine.
What would happen if the non competitive school rules were in place for the Olympics? There’d be no gold medals for starters.
It’d be a case of everybody getting a shiny medal, regardless of if they came first/last/ fell asleep half way round – and all the same colour so nobody felt left out.
Give the children a chance to be recognised for their achievements again.
After all, we let the athletes…..
I quite agree, Wendy, I hate this idea that nobody must lose out and every child must get a medal. It just doesn’t prepare children for the real world.
It’s the same when I hear parents say that they can’t disappoint the children over anything. If children don’t learn how to cope with disappointment when they are young how are they going to manage as adults when they find that everything in the garden is not always rosy?
I totally agree with you, children have to learn that some people win and some people don’t. This is the only way to encourage children to try their hardest so that they can win as well.
I get very frustrated by the softly softly approach that schools seem to be adopting, although I am pleased that at my children’s school they do have a first, second & third in the sports day (except this year it was cancelled due to the rain!).
I totally agree. My oldest two boys go kickboxing and I always enter them into the competitions as I think it’s good for them, whether they get trophies or not. It is difficult when one of my children wins, and the other doesn’t (as happened recently) but it’s good life experience. How else will they learn?
My OH and I were only discussing this the other evening! It doesn’t teach children that actually the big wide world is not always fair and that taking part isn’t always the answer. We also wondered whether the whole everyone’s a winner mentality hampers determination and fulfilling potential to some degree. I know as a child it was the competition of being the best at something that drove me to strive for better and made me push myself. Maybe I have these views because I don’t know what it feels like to be at the other end? Competition prepares us in dealing with the difficult situations in life – we win and we lose but most of all we learn from both – they are important life skills I believe.
I disagree.
There is a lot of evidence that if kids are allowed to compete in sports ( or anything really) too early, it can put them off. Young kids just don’t have the emotional strength to deal with losing, they fail to see that it’s the ‘taking part that counts’ and just see themselves as a loser. They don’t realise that with time, they may be able to improve.
However, if young kids are gently introduced to the skills needed for sports, and are encouraged and supported as they learn, then around the age of 8-9 they have the resilience to compete and lose, and still want to keep on trying.
There are also some interesting studies that show that even kids that do well in sport, often give up by the time they reach adolescence if they are placed in competitive situations too early.
So, in short, yes competition is good, but not too early, which is what most First and Infant schools have non competitive sports days. By the time they get to Junior, and secondary schools they will have all the competition they can handle!
Although I also think that competitive sports are good for children I also agree with Jacq that this should be introduced when children can emotionally handle the disappointment of loosing. From Key Stage 2 on wards seems a reasonable point at which to introduce competitive sports and activities. I think the lessons that competitive activities introduce to children are extremely valuable in later life and as others have said, gives them the impetus to try their hardest to achieve their goals.