What is the point of non-competitive sports days?

And so, as the school year crawls to an end, we come to sports day. But what used to be a few hours of aggression, athleticism and sheer competitiveness appears to have turned into a damp squib, at least according to one father. Cue guest blogger Geoff, who is unimpressed, to say the least.

"It’s a delicious irony that a society obsessed with academic league tables is on the verge of expunging competition of another kind.

I have discovered (quite by chance) that my daughter’s school will be holding a non-competitive sports day. The idea that competitive sports day is a negative amazes me. What about competition in the classroom? Sitting tests, answering questions, stickers for being good – all results-based methods for teaching children. Surely being bottom of the class in maths is worse for self-esteem than finishing last in the egg and spoon race.

Healthy mind = healthy body. It’s true! Not just a silly old saying. The rest of the world must be laughing at us. No Wimbledon champion since the 1930’s, more than forty years of  hurt for our beleaguered football team. Maybe the school might take an interest in sport instead?  No chance of that I’m afraid. We’re told the school provides the regulation three hours a week as deemed enough by the authorities.

Thank goodness we’re top of the table for obesity levels – it’s nice to be good at something.  And non-competitive sports day is part of the problem. It engenders apathy in children and parents, knowing it doesn’t really matter win or lose. I understand that some mums and dads worry that their children may get a little upset if they don’t storm home in the three legged race but the apathy alternative is worse.

We are hosting the Olympic Games – what better chance to inspire a generation to take up sport? But let’s ditch the madness of non-competitive sport before it’s too late."

(picture from thorpegreenways on flickr.com)

Comments

[Suzie Bee]

I think that competitive sports days are important in helping to teach children that you can't be good at everything, something that some parents need to learn too! Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and you have to accept both with equal grace. Yes, they can be sheer torture for the less athletically endowed, but they do only happen once a year and can help foster a little team spirit if played not for individual glory but for an inter-class or inter-house cup.

[Mary]

And a pie eating contest. Brilliant. I'm holding out for the Mothers' Creme Egg eating race.

[Josh]

Is it not possible to design a competitive sports day including something which every kid has a chance at, even if it's not really very sporty? It would be nice to add chess, but then what about the fat, thick kids? Best solution is to include events like tug-of-war which make a virtue of solidity.

[john]

I think this sums up the debate and the 'middle class' attitude of today. Catherine tate. Very good....
click or copy link to view:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GPRfpyu6ITg&eurl=http://caitoconnor.blogspot.com/2007/05/catherine-tate-egg-and-spoon_05.html

[Rhys Jaggar]

The key thing to understand is that you can't only be competitive in SOME THINGS, otherwise you discriminate.

In my school days, sport was semi-competitive, academics not. So if, like me, you were average at rugby and bloody good at Maths, you were discriminated against in competitive terms.

Most people are best/very good at something. School must be good at identifying a sufficient breadth of qualities to ensure that such talents are recognised and honoured.

[red juice please!]

Simple answer - YES!!

[Joseph]

In the 1970's the London labour Government began selling off sports fields on the basis that competitive sports were harmful. I thought they had since seen the light. Perhaps it's just too expensive to buy back the playing fields and the blocks of flats built on them.

[Bob Hall]

Of course not. Teach'em to lose.
Idiots!

[AR]

Yawn - another idiotic urban myth propagated by the wing nuts to "explain" why the country is supposedly going to the dogs.

When it comes to school teams e.g. football then it's done purely on merit. My son's sports days has races for kids of similar ability and then a relay at the end for the fastest kids.

[Richard Sprott]

The majority of people commenting here seem to think that competition is wholly good for our children and that a sports day is an opportunity to celebrate and embrace this notion.

Clearly competition is pervasive within our society. Does this however make it an acceptable or progressive aspect of who we are?

Humans are biologically programmed to compete in order to survive and this somewhat primitive drive dominates many aspects of life.

The question remains; is competition good? Is the best manner of being one that is underpinned by a competitive drive? What are the alternatives? What would happen if we instead engendered in our children a drive to cooperate with each other?

Think of examples of competition and cooperation within your world. What does it cause us as humans to do to one another?

The values and morals that we teach our children will shape the future of humanity. Simply put we have the power to choose a future society that is either competitive or cooperative by the messages that we give to our children before they become adults. Aristotle taught that ethical virtue could be achieved through moderation. So maybe a competitive sports day once a year is ok; if so the question should be not whether the event should be competitive or not, but rather, what proportion of our children's lives are competitive and how does this event fit into that.

[Dave Farmer]

Well the adult world is competative even getting a job, so it is important that along with everything else children are taught to be competative, just how competative will mean weather they win gold in the olympics, get the career of a lifetime or the girl of their dreams. I believe competitive is an human instinct which in the past could have been the difference between life and death

[A concerned parent]

The answer to the question is quite simply, Yes. I'll never be world champion at anything and its unlikely either of my children will but I have always enjoyed playing sports even when I have been more enthusiastic than gifted at them. You take out of sport what you put in, a good pass, a personal best time etc. Its gets you off the sofa and into the fresh air, gives you a good appetite, you sleep better and you get a good circle of friends all thrown in for free.

[Naleen]

I would rather compete in academic environment than in sporting environment. Beside it takes a team to win the game, not one player along.

Competition is what made the OLYMPIAN greedy, see how many are competing for medals. Instead of protesting and abstaining from competiting in CHINESE Olympics. You can lose your moral principles when it comes to individual competitions.

[Naleen]

I would rather compete in academic environment than in sporting environment. Beside it takes a team to win the game, not one player along.

Competition is what made the OLYMPIAN greedy, see how many are competing for medals. Instead of protesting and abstaining from competiting in CHINESE Olympics. GREEDY BASTARDS - SEE WHAT COMPETITION DOES. You can lose your moral principles when it comes to individual competitions.

[Sian]

I went to an infant school in Sheffield that wouldnt let the kids compete in sports day - it was all about the taking part. At the tender age of 6 I thought that this was a totally useless waste of time; so I didnt even try. The pictures taken by my parents paint a thousand words - me stomping around with a bean bag on my head, throwing a bean bag to my feet instead of onto a target and dawdling along in the egg and spoon race. It didnt matter if I won or lost but I wanted to at least try!

[Ken]

I used to be a school governor. The headmaster was a liberal who did not want competative sports days - I spoke out and other governors agreed - so he was defeated. The first time I could not make a governor's meeting, the headmaster tabled a motion under the "any other business" rule, and pushed the board into a non-competative sportsday. When I tried to address this, I was over-ruled as it had been addressed and was told that we did not have time. I have since resigned in protest. Sometimes he blame is not the department, but the governor's body for being a bunch of hypocritical yes men (or women).

[nick]

So long as they have knife-fight and car-park-grand-theft-auto, todays kids should be fine with sportsday.

[anon]

the highlight of my childhood if not my life was the day I beat a future Olympic pentathlete in a 100 metres sprint..not that remarkable until you know I was half her size with scoliosis and rickets! Maybe the other girl was having a bad hair day but you know everybody likes to win sometimes at something and with a bit of will power they can.

[Andy]

The whole liberal idealogy appears to look at nature and then try and defy it. Men and woman are equal, gays and straights are equal, black and white are equal. Any form of competition highlights differences and then the whole liberal idealogy is exposed. We might be all equal but we are all different.

What a wake up call for children when they have to compete in an interview to get a job and then compete with colleagues to get promotion and deal with office politics etc. Life is all about competition and it is no good shielding them from it and then throwing them into it at 17 and expecting them to succeed.

[Han]

I think its good that sports days are non competitive - at least in primary schools. I still feel humiliated having never won a single race in primary school - and what with children being bombarded with "your fat" all the time - its not nice being made to wobble up and down a field in front of your smaller scrawnier friends and their parents/friends and perfect strangers.

Its just public humiliation at its worst.

[Z, london]

Agree with all the comments here - competition is about winning, about improving and about learning to loose with dignity. Also why is sports 'once a year' when being able to compete succesfully (at sport, education, life-in-general) is a much broader objective? Why single out sports days?

There are comments here about the nanny culture, department of education and the 'benfits state'. We elect these politicians, the civil servants are paid out of our taxes... Says a lot about the state of UK affairs if something as basic as this is beyond the electorates ability to influence! I think Saatchi got it right when he lamblasted current politicians (and labour in particular) for fostering a dependent society.

[Paul, Sheffield]

Question; does anybody know any person who agrees with this ludicrous decision? No, neither do I but how come we put up with it?

[extrango bill]

You're wasting your time using reason and logic - the bureaucrats and Departments who try to determine the future of all our kids are eye-deep in their own ideology and care not a fig for your reason and your logic.

[Vishal]

Am I the only one who sees the obvious link between this and the benefits culture?

Children are being taught in schools there is no need to compete - everyone is a winner.

In almost exactly the same fashion, hundreds and thousands of children are growing up seeing their parents on benefits - the parents and the government both uniting to teach them it doesn't really matter whether they get an education or not, whether they get a decent job or not..they can always depend on handouts!

I am not saying that playing sports will mean less people on benefits :) but this all seems part of the socialist culture gradually forced upon us in the last decade...

[Jack]

I used to love sports day, I really did! I didn't do very well in the classroom but that didn't stop me with my sports! After taking a big interest in sports at secondary school, I soon started running for the school at various competitions around the district. Unfortunately, other students and parents didn't really attend these events as it was during the school day. when sports day came around students, friends and family were all there to cheer you on! It was a great feeling! Unfortunately the last year I took part in sports day at school (year 10 as kids do GCSEs in year 11) my mum was due to come and watch me compete for the first and last time, and the great British weather came to play and the sports day was called off!

Not all people are academic and not all people are sporty, but why get rid of something that has been in schools for years! For kids who aren't that academic and have excelled in PE, sports day is a day worth waiting for! Showing others that you may not be the brightest of people but when it comes to sports your better then the rest!

Abit of competition in life is healthy!

So what if that short gecky fat kid cant ran fast(or cant run at all!) im sure he gets great grades in the classroom, he or she cant be good at everything!

That's true, not everyone is going to be Olympic athletes but why not give the chance to someone that wants to be!

[Trunkymunghound]

So our little darlings aren’t allowed competition. So they never learn how to win or learn how to lose. So when they encounter their inevitable losses later in life they handle them by sulking (as all kids do when they first lose). Hey presto you’ve got your compensation culture. The blame someone else culture.

As Kipling said:

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same”

One other thing: these people who advocate non competitive sports - surely they’re competing by argueing against those who want competitive sports?

How Bizarre!!

[Lee]

The below point regarding selection of events for those who are not so sporty is a good one, but may I point out that from my experience the schools already do this, so why is there actually a need to make it non competitive.

Also this is just one day of the year, what about the rest of the days when many children feel inadequate as they can't socialise or perform academically due to lack of support from their parents, but maybe the one day they excel and have their parents there is sports day.

Many schools and majority of the teachers work so hard to ensure children have a decent education and upbringing but they can't counteract the lack of support and help the parents should be providing. That is the bigger issue and the sooner the governement stops testing kids half to death and making schools accountable on results alone, the sooner we will start getting weel rounded and adjusted children!

[Mark]

It seems to that just about everyone agrees that competitive sports days are good for kids, including myself, but the message needs to get across to the schools and the Dept of Education. How many parents have told the schools they don't want their children taking part in pointless non-competitive sports days? The kids know who the winners and losers are anyway. If you didn’t want them to be competitive, you shouldn’t have taught them to count.

In response to those who suggest such competitive sports should be voluntary so kids who are bad at sport can opt out: what about letting less academic children opt out of competitive exams? Silly idea, isn’t it? Anyway, even geeky fat kids who get straight ”A”s need to learn how to loose with grace at some point, and since the advent of computer dating they are no longer certain to learn that lesson with the opposite sex.

[Victor]

I'm sure the people who think that being competitive at a young age is bad for kids, do not practice what they preach with their own children. Its another case of do as we say and not as we do.

[Terry]

Kids are not all naturally competitive. Those that are kick a football around the schoolyard at every opportunity. Those that are not naturally sportingly competitive stand around the edges out of the way.(They usually compete in academic subjects instead). The ideal would be as at my old school where the serious kids did the 'real' sports such as the 100m and 200m races and the javelin/discus etc and the rest were encouraged in the 'fun' events such as the sack race and egg and spoon. Result, an enjoyable day for all.

[Fraser Mitchell]

Unfortunately the whole idea is just another symptom of today's society where we try and wrap children up in cotton wool. The result is children who do not know how to compete and more importantly how to lose, and have no boundaries or discipline when they become teenagers.

Kids will always say they don't want to do something as it's the easy option - never being made to do something they don't like for fear of them losing or fear of upsetting them is the major cause for the teenage delinquency we see today. Many children have never had any form of discipline.
I was good at sports but hated music and art - I still had to do both for years though, and believe it or not I survived.
The world is competitive and learning to compete is a major part of development, which should be learned at the earliest opportunity.

The final point is one already mentioned here. Some children are poor academically, but excel in one sport or another. Why deprive them of the one opportunity they might have of improving their self esteem.

[Gareth Horry]

I'm 26 and my parents sent me to private school because there was competition was not encouraged at the local state schools. I believe the competition that i saw all around me at school (Durham School)pushed MOST on and in the end brought us ALL together to help us ALL succeed in our own field. I'm still very close to the vast majority of my school friends and was before Facebook took hold. Lack of the will to succeed encourages the feeling of nothing lose and consequently crime in my view. Seeing how the other half lived within reach must have helped too.

[joe]

As mentioned by others - Competition is the essence of life, and therefore the importance of sports days is to give them this mentality or at least let them understand it – vitally outside of the classroom. Those who poses a competitive element to their character enables them to strive for things that otherwise they would not and importantly these experiences will enrich their lives and develop them as people. I play alot of team sports and had a competitive upbringing with most of my friends being very determined, focused and successful sportsmen. However I am more laid back, more happy to be part of the experience than get 'very' competitive, although I am happy with this persona and character it has certainly hampered me reaching my full potential in many areas of life. Indeed I feel that this even caries across into my professional career where although driven I miss a competitive edge which drives me forward to excel again my colleagues. My point is not that of me, but only to say that to encourage children, be it you pupil or your child to have a competitive streak is important for them to develop the strong and determined character (as well as a healthy one) that is needed to survive in today’s competitive environment that will be their future. Other important character traits that people believe competitiveness often seem have a negative impact on ie good manners and good will – well, these maketh the man and he who succeeds will be the people who’s able to incorporate these into his competitive streak. Bring back sports days of old – their vital building blocks.

[Lord Justin]

The truth is that this drive towards a non-competitive school environment is just a way for sub-standard teachers to cover up their failures. A teacher's job should be to give children the skills they need to compete in the world, but that takes hard work, professionalism and dedication, all lacking in today's politically correct excuses for teachers.

[JO]

In my opinion, it's an appaulling system of no competition as children are not motivated to achieve a better result. If the school is not doing it, we shall do it ourselves in order to enable our son to learn to take on pressure, to accept failure and able to improve. I have to say nowadays so many youngsters claimed to have depression with such awful system of over emphasis on self-esteem issue. Bring back the old system and teach our children to adapt and be motivated!!!

[JO]

In my opinion, it's an appaulling system of no competition as children are not motivated to achieve a better result. If the school is not doing it, we shall do it ourselves in order to enable our son to learn to take on pressure, to accept failure and able to improve. I have to say nowadays so many youngsters claimed to have depression with such awful system of over emphasis on self-esteem issue. Bring back the old system and teach our children to adapt and be motivated!!!

[Patricia]

To see the joy of winning watch the Wimbledon Men's final. To see the dignity in losing watch the Wimbledon Men's final. To see the endeavour and effort to win watch the Wimbledon Men's final. Competition is healthy, inevitable and all around us. Dealing with the outcome is part of the learning process.

[Bill]

competition is all around us from day 1. anyone who thinks that its not has their head in the clouds, we compete for everything fm cradle to grave. To teach children that life isnt competitive is utterly wrong ..and in fact pointless as they instinctively compete amongst themselves anyway. what's important is to manage their competive instincts whilst encourageing them and to educate the competitors on how to behave properly and with decorum once theyve won or lost.

[Laura Robinson]

Geoff - I could not agree with you more. This anti-winning attitude has destroyed this once "great" Britain which is now full of loosers.

Wimbledon Champion Laura Robson only claimed her British Nationality within the last 4 months. She is in fact, born in Melbourne, Australia. Until as recently as February, she still did not have British citizenship and represented Australia in her tennis matches!

But never mind. She's British now.

Lets face another fact: Sports is all about winning and coming first. Anyone who claims that its the "taking part" that matters is fooling themselves, and that include the stupid teachers who believe the world is free of competition. THE WORLD IS VERY COMPETITIVE. We are doing the younger generation a great DIService by pretending that the world is equal and competition free.

[Lee]

So in essence mnay posters are saying that it's fair for kids with academic skills to be rewarded with top grades and a great CV, but those who excel in the sports arena shouldn't have an outlet or chance to prove their abilities?

Each child is good at different things and competitive sport is just one example of how children can learn to measure their own skills and learn what they can and can't do.

My old school now has so many children that can't be told they aren't good at something and don;t have the intellect to highlight their own development points, because their previous school wouldn't tell them they needed to improve or that they were weak in certain skill sets.

Kids want to be treated like adults and we want them to grow up and mature as they get older, so why not realise that children do understand when they aren't good at sports or academics. Do you people not also realise that football is played competitively in play time and kids still hold running races on the playground, you cannot kill a childs natural will to compete ...

[Steven]

What's wrong with winning and losing !
My local primary school has a non competitive sports day "come on everyone lets come second" !!! We are encouraging the next generation to be average and like in all other aspects of our life become clones of each other all having to do and think the same. No longer encouraging individualism and aspiration.
I would have thought in a country struggling with obesity in children surely competitive sports should feature higher up the curriculum....
We will ALL be hoping for home grown winners in 2012....Where will they come from...
Competitive sports day when I took part in them was a great opportunity for children who maybe struggled with their maths or English to shine....something to make them feel proud!
I remember winning the sack race in 1980 to this day!

[Pauline Bird]

Of course, the kids who are rotten at their studies used to be able to score some points by being good at games - everybody had the opporunity to be good at somehting (which, incidentally is what the independent schools still do). What happened to teaching kids to 'win with grace and lose with dignity'? How else do you teach this other than via school and junior sport? They certainly don't learn it from a lot of the sportsmen they see on the telly who do neither, and you need to be able to do both in life as well as on the sports field.

[Malcolm]

The whole of our lives are about winning. If this is not part of school life then what's the point of education?
Do we want our childerent to be content with being average?
I have taught my kids to ALWAYS aim high with everything they do, the result is they have naturally found the things they are really good at and can now concentrate on them.

Competition is good at all ages.

[Richard Scott]

This doesn't surprise me at all. Just another aspect of our culture being eradicated by those who have absolutely no idea what the people of this country want and they probably don't have children either! I have 2 daughters both under 8 and they have just had their own COMPETETIVE sports days. Both enjoyed taking part as and both enjoyed the competition. My eldest said after coming 2nd (with no pushing from me I might add) "If I practice maybe I'll win that race next year" Who are we to take that desire away from them, that will to do better and knowing that by practicing and trying you can be better, rather than a pat on the back and awarding the same certificate for coming last and trying as for coming first. It's this something for nothing attitude that has lead to a generation of adults who now think that they are entitled to anything and everything just because they are there on time to collect the latest benefit cheque!!!

[Neil]

My daughter is deaf and struggles with academic life at school. Her whole life so far has resulted in her being labelled 'average' as she plods on through all her different subject 'tests'. As a gangly 12 year old she has recently found she can run long distance...and win! You just have to look at her face to see the excitement and joy. Why did she have to wait until high school to feel like that when others had that feeling through school tests from age 6? If there is competition in academic tests there should be competition on the sports field.

[Frank Upton]

Kipling was right. Read 'If'. The most important thing is how you deal with winning or losing.

[Arundel]

Actually, I'm wrong. I have completely changed my mind. Let's have non-competitive sports in junior schools. And secondary schools. And let's have non-competitive Olympics too. I'm fifteen stone and with a dodgy right ankle, so I'll do Artistic Gymnastics. You can do the non-competitive Marathon - on the bus.
Non-competive football, where every game ends in a draw, and the players can sit down if they get too tired; that should be fun.
Non-competitive life, where we all grub about on the floor, not daring to stand up in case we offend others who haven't quite managed that skill yet.

[Paul Cooper]

We have had dreadful problems with children's football in this country. Nothing to do with the children, they can handle it but the adults can't.

I think back to when the children's game was just that with no adult interference, in the streets, parks and playgrounds and what it is like now.

Childrens game = everyone plays

When adults are involved = same players on the bench or left out of
the team and trials for 6 year olds

Childrens game = we picked even teams as then it was more fun and more competitive. If the score got to say 5-0 we stopped the game swopped over a couple of players and started back at 0-0.

When adults are involved = they put kids as young as 7 into leagues where scores of 10-0, 15-0 and 20-0 common.
No fun and no competition

Perhaps we should go back to letting the kids run their own games?

[Lotte]

How can I teach my children about life without telling them there is such thing as competition? It's not just the lessons they learn if they were to win - which they don't by the way - but how to cope if you're 2nd or last.

Sports day is supposed to be a fun day. You win, you lose, you plod on despite bad weather, you cheer on your friends and you do some exercise. IMO a perfect example how real life should be.

[Lotte]

How can I teach my children about life without telling them there is such thing as competition? It's not just the lessons they learn if they were to win - which they don't by the way - but how to cope if you're 2nd or last.

Sports day is supposed to be a fun day. You win, you lose, you plod on despite bad weather, you cheer on your friends and you do some exercise. IMO a perfect example how real life should be.

[Jim]

I came last in most sporting events at my school when I was a lad in the late 70's and early 80's. It never scared me for life , in fact it gave me more time to concentrate on kissing the girls behind the bushes by the side of the sports field. I have a son now and he will learn about competitive sports from us and from his cousin who is Junior World Karate Champion (Open hand and Weapons) she is only 11 years old. She has just one a place at a prestigious sports academy where there will certainly not be a non competitive sports day.

[NIGEL]

Seems like another attempt to bring everybody down to the lowest common demoninator.

[John]

"competitiveness appears to have turned into a damp squib." Not sure
what a "damp squib" is, but if it
means getting the other guy to think
not competing is good then I am all
for it. Life is competition. Get the
other guy to quit early is a great
plan.

[John]

"competitiveness appears to have turned into a damp squib." Not sure
what a "damp squib" is, but if it
means getting the other guy to think
not competing is good then I am all
for it. Life is competition. Get the
other guy to quit early is a great
plan.

[Sue]

Several decades on, I remember the sheer misery of coming last in everything on school sports day. I also remember the joy of discovering in my late teens non-competitive physical activities.

We don't expect parents to make a family day out of watching children doing badly in their SATS, why expose children to gawping parents when they do badly in sport?

[Linda]

I hold the opinion that competitive sports should form part of the school's curriculum. I think the reason why schools are paying lukewarm attention to sports is because the value of a school is seen through the eyes of academic achievements, not sports. Its just like the capitalist market place - the company which brings in the most profit (not how many trophies it won in the sports arena) is a highly regarded one. But it would be great if the company can achieve both - profit and trophies. The same goes for schools.

[joss]

Our ancestors have made a mess of everything? Really? I find that very hard to believe, yes the world isn't perfect but its a damn sight better than it was before our 'hyper competitive' ancestors did their stuff. Life expectancy has doubled, we have medicine, transport, communication. Compare that to countries who have apparently lacked 'hyper-competitive ancestors'. AIDS and poverty.

[DaveW]

Has it not occurred that the two ideas are not mutually exclusive? I have participated in some non-competitive physical games. Some of these are great fun, and good exercise. There are books on these, sometimes called "new games", full of highly imaginative ideas ideas on how to have fun and exercise not competing. Or one can just do something very simple, like cooperating with a partner (on the opposite side of the net) to create a long rally of tennis or volleyball.

On the other hand competition can be enjoyable too. And it can be argued that losing at _something_, and perhaps feeling a bit upset about it, is good for the character in the long term.

So why not offer both? I can't see the problem. Those who want to compete, can compete. Meanwhile, non-competitive games can be kept in progress for the rest.

[Mark Thomas]

Well, our hyper-competitive and world-conquering ancestors have made a fine mess of things so far, so why not disregard competition and see what happens when people AREN'T bothered about being the best at everything and beating everyone into submission?

[kevin]

Kids need to learn how to win in complex scenarios. Sport is black & white. No one really takes a hit because there are no shades of grey. The rules are rigid and the stakes are low. They need capitalism in minature and be given real money to risk. I'd attatch a business park & factory complex to every school.

[Jon M.]

Life is a competition for everything and children should learn to be competitive. Teaching non-competitiveness is a PC way of accepting failure as immaterial and phony consideration of others.

Once there was an Empire, where is it now? Do you feel good about losing all that power and influence?

[Sarah]

I never said competition was a bad thing - it can be a great motivation and actually be a lot of fun - but there are plenty of ways children can compete against each other, whether it's sport, music, maths, chess, art, creative writing, poetry etc. I hated sport, but was quite musical, and happily did all my RCM grade exams and entered piano competitions (and yes I came last one year, my fault for not practising more). I just don't see why everyone should be forced to compete at something they have no interest in and are no good at - it would have been pointless and cruel to force all the tone-deaf and uninterested children to enter music competitions, and fail miserably in front of all their friends and family, so why the fanatical insistence that all must do competitive sport?

And life is naturally full of opportunities to learn about failure and disappointment, whether we like it or not. There's no need to manufacture such situations and inflict them on little children so they 'get used to it'. That seems rather sadistic to me!

[Petunia]

I like sports day. I make the Pimms, my friend brings the folding chairs, someone else brings crisps or strawberries and we're off. We sit on the side lines and cheer madly for our children. The school is divided into four houses so each child competes for their house, not for themselves. When the winning team is announced the crowds go wild. What is not to like?

[Arundel]

There is no 'dreaded once-a-year-torment' in sports day. It's a day of afternoon away from competitive lessons in the classroom.
So get outside and start learning about the real world where people *Do* have to work out how to come last.
Doesn't matter whether we are going to be athletes or not; we are all going to have to work out what to do when we come second in that job interview. No point blubbing and saying that competition isn't fair, and it wasn't like that at school.
Anyway. Competitive sports is practiced at all secondary schools. So let's get the kids used to it at junior school, otherwise it will come as a nasty shock to their delicate little systems.

[Sarah]

I don't know - I have no problem with competitive sport in itself, for the children who enjoy it and are good at it, but it can be nothing but misery when imposed on the rest of us. Exercise and movement are important, definitely, but sport is not the only form of exercise. I'm a lifelong hater of sport, but as an adult have come to love walking, cycling and swimming, after years of being completely put off physical activity by forced competitive sports at school.

"And non-competitive sports day is part of the problem. It engenders apathy in children and parents, knowing it doesn’t really matter win or lose"

But *does* it really matter if you win or lose? Most of us are never going to be Olympic athletes (those with this potential are usually involved in sports clubs outside school anyway), and surely the real 'win' is being slim, healthy and happy for life, not coming first in a race when you were eight. The key to that for most of us is enjoyable, sustainable forms of exercise, and the dreaded once-a-year torment of 'sports day' has very little to do with it.