David Cameron and school sports.

With you all the way on your post, JO4.

Hear, hear! Lots of children are totally turned off by team games and by sports. Discussion on Today, Radio 4, this morning quoted Matthew Paris who said his memories of games afternoons at school were all hideous. Team games in school are OK if you are sporty; if you aren't what you learn is insult, humiliation and discrimination. Better to offer alternatives, swimming, rock climbing, dance, yoga, taekwondo.....

Agree totally. Why should school sports be so limited? Anything that promotes physical activity and a sense of wellbeing should be encouraged, not sneered at!

When I came across that bit of news, my first thought – which I have tried, unsuccessfully, to suppress – was: two-faced git!

It's particularly important that swimming remains on the school curriculum. Of course plenty of parents will ensure that their children learn to swim but all too many don't. I would hope that survival and lifesaving skills could also be taught. Most children can find some form of physical activity which even if they don't excel at, they can enjoy and if that's Indian dancing or Morris dancing, why not? My eldest GS (8) goes to judo class every Monday morning before school and loves it - except for the competitive element. His father (DS) swims in open water events and is competitive only against his own previous performances. When he was a child, there wasn't a competitive bone in his body.

It's that sort of attitude to school activity that has contributed to the epidemic of obesity - thousands of children put off sports for ever. The only way forward is for them to be doing activities that they might actually enjoy - e.g. Indian dancing. What a complete p**t that DC is!

I wasn't a big fan of team sports either, although I was on the hockey team at school for a couple of years. As I understand it, those in favour of team sports seem to claim that these are the character building ones, though I can't quite get my head around that. My DS was very sporty, and good at team games, but once he started work in retail, had to drop out because he had to work every other weekend, and now at 40, is something of a couch potato. I think there's a lot to be said for learning things such as swimming and tennis when you're young because you can continue to enjoy them at any age. Bollywood dancing looks very energetic to me!

I agree with Anagram that school sports are very limited and probably put a lot of kids off. I think there are over-hyped claims for the moral benefits of sport. We learn to win and lose, pass or fail, work with others as part of a team in many other areas of life.

Why should it have to be competitive sports?

Why emphasise the differences between what we can do?

I remember doing exercises and drill at primary school (including a relaxation exercise which must have been very up to date!) but i didn't feel about them as I did about being thrust into cricket and other team stuff later on!
Especially cricket. I felt like Flora Poste and like running away from the ball!

I've nothing against competitive sports, but they never had much appeal for me. The only person I ever really competed against was myself. I bet there's a large proportion of the population who feel the same, or would, given half a chance. I wasn't very sporty at school but I've probably been one of the most physically active members of my class ever since we all left school, and that in spite of arthritis. I do wish politicians would be less narrow-minded.

Beginning to think that in spite of his expensive education, DC may be a bit THICK!

The main difficulty about providing a diversity of opportunity for physical activity is resources. There was some idea that fee-paying schools should justify their charitable existence by opening their sports facilities to local state schools but not many have so far done this. Perhaps our Eton-educated PM could encourage this. We might, for example, have some great potential squash players who've never had the chance to try it.

Annobel DC is unlikely to give a fig about squash as it's not an Olympic sport so no chance of reflected glory.

I was thinking that about the Indian dancing, absent!

I simply cannot believe the hypocrisy of DC and co over this. One of the first things they did on coming to power was to cut funding for the established School Sports Partnerships. This gave money to schools to get trained and experienced sports trainers and teachers into schools, including primary schools. It was a brilliant scheme and it was working really well. Competitive sports had increased and there were lots of alternatives for the children who couldn't or didn't want to do the competitive activities. It was a scandal at the time that it was cut and it is quite unbelievable how they get away unchallenged with it now. The current generation of athletes who have done so well at these games are a credit to their teachers and their schools, state and independent. Many of them did go to state schools, so how come we get yet another round of, "I blame the teachers"....

Yes the SSP was great and the staff working on it, who had built up expertise in PE for primaries, have been made redundant during the last year as there is no longer a budget for it. Taken away by Gove.
Two hours a week PE does not exactly sound like a lot - but DC and Gove are getting rid of that. While trying desperately to cover themselves in reflected Olympic glory.
And they are going to make primary school hockey compulsory are they????
I absolutely agree that activity should be wider than competitive sports - there should be both, not either or! They are picking on the minority of "pc" schools that did not want to play competitive sports in order to play to the Daily Mail gallery.
I was worst at games in the class in school but am quite an active person now. But not at ball games. And no thanks to school PE.
Stupid, DC, - possibly. Eton never did offer IQ transplants, just open doors when you leave. I have yet to see any evidence of high intellect.

He managed to get a first from Oxford - presumably either Economics or PPE. See the Wiki entry on his education. Elite in the extreme. How can these people understand how the rest of us live? There is no indication on Wiki that he excelled at or took part in any sports, though, as we all know, he sometimes rides a bike if there's a camera around.

He sometimes rides a horse as well....

Annobel - what's wrong with PPE?

It would be quite interesting to know from the Grans on here what actually happens in their grandchildren's schools. My GD in the infants does a couple of sessions of PE / Games each week and (in Year 1) was picked for a competitive inter-schools gymnastics competition which was managed by secondary school pupils and staff. My nine-year-old just finished Year 4 GD does swimming, games (football, netball and others) and gymnastics in lessons. She does competitive inter-school cross-country and in Year 5 they can do inter-school football, cricket and lots more. Sports day is basically non-competitive in the infants and (very) competitive in the juniors. There is a town sports day as well.

I don't think she is implying that there is anything wrong with PPE (politics, philosophy and economics) Just that it is a predictable option for budding politicians.
Very few, if any, politicians with pure science or maths backgrounds. Unfortunately.

There's a huge number of failed lawyers though, JessM.

I was by no means disparaging PPE - simply stating a likely fact. Vernon Bogdanor described him as '"one of the ablest"students he has taught, with "moderate and sensible Conservative" political views.' He later revised his opinion of DC's political nous.

BTW the presenter on the Today programme didn't even know what Indian dancing was.

They must live in another world.

I think they all live in a London-centric media bubble and don't have a clue about the real world.