Sports Day – Healthy Competition??

Life is full of competition.

From a young age our children experience that in life, there are, and always will be, winners and ‘losers’. From board games to playground activities, star of the week to sports day, recognition and achievement is an important lesson that is reinforced from a very early age. Now 5 years old, Erin understands that she won’t always win, as much as she would whole heartedly like to. She has learned that the reality of any form of challenge is that sometimes she will win, but sometimes she will fall on her arse, sometimes she will fall behind and feel like giving up, and sometimes she will wonder why she was even taking part in the first place. That is life, and now 35 I still have those feelings often in relation to my own life.

There has been quite a lot of debate about school sports day recently from parents who feel that it is forcing unnecessary competition upon our children, rewarding only those who excel in physical education and even questioning the results of such activities by using ipads or phone to record and adjudicate the decisions made by staff rewarding medals and place markers. Some are even calling for sports day to be stopped altogether.

I find the whole debate about sports day a little bit ridiculous. At times it feels like the world is becoming so politically correct and over cautious that we appear to have forgotten that for most, these activities are all about having fun. Helicopter parenting and bubble wrapping our children to prevent them from getting even minor feelings of disappointment, for me, actually has the opposite effect, failing to teach them that outside the security of their educational walls, life is not fair. Children won’t always get what they want, and why should they expect to? In life, there will always be someone who is ‘better’ than you, always someone who is more talented in a particular area of their life, and always someone who you feel doesn’t deserve the success they achieve. Some people cheat, some people use dubious tactics and there will always be that one person who uses their thumb to hold the egg on the spoon and yet crosses the finishing line to huge cheers of support. I only have to think of the blogging world to know that I have all of those feelings on an almost weekly basis. If I had grown up being taught that everything would always be equal, I fear I would spend most of my life being disappointed.

I want Erin to learn that as she will grows up, I will support her no matter what. Whether she comes first, last or somewhere in between, I will be there on the side lines, spurring her on with a huge smile on my face, just as my Mum did for me.

Today I watched Mums Dads Nannies Grandads and Friends cheering on all the children at Erin’s sports day, and I found it incredibly humbling to see how much everyone rallied behind the entire group – including those who stumbled, those who fell and those whose bottom simply would NOT stay on their space hopper no matter how hard they tried. Each and every child crossed the line to huge cheers of support whether they were first or last, and it was bloody fantastic. I have never laughed so much and been so proud of a group of little people in my entire life!

Erin did win one race and came third in two others but for me, these ‘successes’ aren’t the only reason to be proud of her today. What I was most proud to see was her community spirit – she cheered on her friends, she clapped, she smiled and waved at me even when she bought up the rear, and most importantly she had a hell of a lot of fun. The entire class worked in their teams to represent their ‘countries’ and whether they won one race or not they all tried their absolute damdest.

For me, sports day is a school right of passage. We won’t all be athletes, we won’t all find it easy, and we won’t all be winners; but when we’re old, we will cherish those days and remember that once, just once we were flexible enough to bounce on a space hopper without a crick in our knees!!

What are your thoughts on sports day?