David Cameron and school sports.

I have a confession to make.
I loved netball at school, played on the school team (we didn't win many matches though) and years later, when my children were little, started playing again for a team in Hongkong.
The friendship and camaraderie with the other team members, most of whom I would never have met otherwise, was something I'll never forget, and kept me sane during those years when it's all too easy to get bogged down in the world of domesticity.
I think all children should have the opportunity to play competitive/team sports, and should be encouraged to do so, even if they don't like it at first.
Life itself is competitive (look at all the graduates struggling to compete for a job) and if competitive sport teaches them to cope with disappointment and move on, and to work with others for a common goal, then valuable lessons will have been learned.

flickety you are describing me apart from the glasses. I felt the same about racing as well. In fact I only bought our yacht on the promise we would cruise not race! I'd had enough of that in marlin rockets at edgbaston!

Why do DC and so many other people always equate doing competitive sport with 'leading an active live'. Like so many people I was the child nobody wanted in their team and who generally loathed school team sports because I was dyspraxic and short sighted so useless in games like hockey, netball or tennis but I loved swimming, still do, walking, which I also still do and sailing, which I took up at university, although again I hated it when we belonged to a sailing club whose whole raisin d'etre was racing.

If we want to get people, old and young, more active we must enthuse them with the pleasures of getting out of the house and into the fresh air and not dragoon them by telling them it is good for them. I currently live in a village and every morning go for a long walk on footpaths round it. I watch the countryside changing through the year, the top of the downs offer magnificent cloudscapes and currently I spend time on each walk picking blackberries and freezing them to go with apples from our fruit trees.

When I lived in town I would walk for miles around where I lived and worked exploring all the little byways, looking at the architecture of the houses, finding useful little businesses up byways and in cul de sacs, watching the people I met as I went. Both types of walking provided manna for the mind as well as exercise for the body.

I don't think it matters what a child does - as long as s/he does something! Anything that involves social interaction, that holds their interest. I was horse mad and worked and saved all my pennies for lessons. DD1 was the same, working in a stables in return for lessons. DD2 was into ballet and DS involved in scouting. Some kids just don't get on with team sports. The important thing is to be part of something.
And of coarse it stops them hanging around the local shopping mall getting into stuff they're too young for.

He's probably remembering that 'the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton' (Wellington).

There are other team activities other than sports though! Being part of a drama production, and orchestra or choir etc can build the same skills.

Of course children and young people need to learn and to have access to a wide range of sports skills otherwise they will never know what they enjoy and can do well. BUT I think we have to be realistic. There are tens of thousands of kids (mainly boys) who spend time on Saturdays playing football in leagues and many are talented and have skill and determination to do well but very few will go on to be adult league players, fewer still will become word class. For a government to promote one aspect of the curriculum as 'Call me Dave' is doing on the back of Olympic euphoria is likely to impact on opportunities for drama, music, art etc..there are only so many hours in the school day! For those kids whose skills and interests lie in the arts rather than sports life might get rather sad! Balance and common sense needs to prevail not knee jerk curriculum re-organisation!

If you don't have team games in schools, how are we ever to compete on a world stage, or doesn't it matter? Of course they will sometimes be on the losing side, but at least if you're in a team you aren't the only loser and not the only one responsible for the loss. I am old-fashioned enough to believe that being a member of a team is character-forming. I used to enjoy playing hockey as a member of a team but have also enjoyed the social aspect of 'solo' games like tennis, squash and - for a short time - golf, even though I wasn't specially good at them.

Mind you, although I was never fantastic at games, I'm glad I was made to play hockey. When I watch it now, I remember what it feels like.

fewer 'school' team games suited to short legged person like me..I did play reserve for hockey but not ever full team . I did dance at college though as my main.

Now he has added the proviso "team sports" to competitive. I hated team games and also wasn't very competitive. In my teens I discovered fencing for which I had real aptitude and the perfect physique (long arms and legs) and became moderately competitive with that. My coach quite often used to get us to play basketball as a warm-up before starting fencing training and I enjoyed that (a team game) but then again I had the right physique and, anyway, we didn't take it seriously.

Are boxing, Graeco-Roman wrestling, judo, tai kwan do, kyak slaalom, BMX and, of course, fencing, to name a few Olympic sports, team games?

Does this wretched man have any idea what he is talking about?

It was all netball, rounders and hockey at my school. If you weren't good at team games you were b******d, basically, and largely overlooked; but, like Goldengirl, at college I also did judo, badminton, trampolining and fencing! I wasn't much good at any of them (especially judo, which we sometimes did with the local police cadets! I seemed to spend a lot of time on my back looking up at sweaty men - perhaps the less said about that the better!), but I enjoyed trying. I don't know what my five year old grandson's school PE sessions consist of (they sometimes do music and movement apparently) but he does after school RuggerEds once a week through the school, and will be doing football this coming term, also through the school. He could have done judo. These activities are not free and are quite expensive (£65 a term for RuggerEds and probably the same for football). He is lucky enough that the money for these activities is there (well, grandparents have to be good for something!), but what about parents who can't afford to give their kids the opportunity to try these things? It seems you can catch them early, but at a price.

At the end of Newsnight last night, they brought on a lovely group of Indian dancers (not all Indians) - very energetic and great fun. I hope DC was watching.

The whole point of competitive sport is to create winners.. but to have winners you have to have losers! We all prefer to be a winner so many of us ( well certainly me) when we realise we are not likely to be able to compete on equal terms choose to opt out and do some non-competitive activity..like Indian dancing... to keep fit and have fun!!

I think if the focus is too early on competition, before the kids have even developed the skills, then many opt out. Stick with the learning how until mid- late primary then start with competitions for those who show skill and aptitude.

Bonkers 'call me Dave' was bemoaning the fact that few school kids took part in competitive sport..that's because only the ones with a chance of winning get chosen!! A whole cohort of kids could not all play competitive games..they would not have time to do anything else for all the fixtures!

I think the great thing about the Sports Partnerships was (or is because some schools have worked really hard to retain them despite the coalition's funding cuts) that primary schools could get specialist teachers such as male football teachers into an all female teacher primary school (for example).
When I was teaching in primary schools PE was definitely not my favourite subject (though I could do a mean dance lesson) and I would have loved to have worked alongside someone who was a real specialist and enthusiast.
We had something really good until two years ago, they cut it, people lost their jobs, now it will have to be reinvented. That is a real waste of taxpayer's money.
Do I hear the taxpayer's alliance shouting about it? No, I thought not.

I hated sport at school which consisted of netball and hockey where my legs rubbed together and got sore in the winter. I was delighted when I went to college to try judo and carry on with swimming which I learned at primary school. Not sure what my GC do. I know one enjoys tennis.
I think it's the choice that's on offer. It shouldn't have to be competitive. Sport should be FUN!
I don't know what the matter is with our Dave. He leaps into things without thinking and then has to backpedal like mad whilst the rest of us have to suffer the fall out.

Bit harsh dear ,give "im a break !!

Oops, should have typed 'horizontal jogging!'

A politician that quotes obscure Greek philosophers at the drop of a hat couldn't possibly take his head out of the clouds long enough to understand the pressures suffered by 'bog standard' schools, could he?

I see Mad Boris has chipped in with the idea that schools should offer 2 hours sport a day, as he did at Eton. No, I'm sure they don't have a clue about the real world Mamie although a rather naughty tweet did suggest that if Boris now had to do 2 hours sport a day, it would have to be his favourite ie 'vertical jogging'.

jingl - could it be that he had never seen 'Slum Dog Millionaire' with that superb end sequence?

There are quite a few sports that don't require much in the way of extra resources. Most schools already have netball pitches (why not an Olympic sport?) and these could easily be adapted with a couple of goals for handball which has been an attraction at the Games and could well take on in this country. It's unisex too. Secondary schools that have badminton courts could use them also for volleyball (not the beach variety), I think. Hockey might be played on grass pitches, but is mostly played on astroturf nowadays and that's an expensive invesment. The school my DSs used to attend shares a pitch with a local hockey club. Now, if only these sports and activities can be staffed!

Some local authorities provide basketball courts and tennis courts. It would be good if they all did this.

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

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

They must live in another world.

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.

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