The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ..

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Comments

  • Wish, not which!! It's late.
  • Good posting Bryn. My experience was similar. Unfortunately, every year we had another teacher, sometimes two in one year. Hence, there was no consistency and we had to follow the "curriculum" outlined by the government, ie. gymnastics, which I don't need to mention, I was pure rubbish in. At later stages it was even more funny as it was fashionable to skip classes, usually 10 people turned up, what should have been 20. In addition, our teacher had some funny methods giving grades. For example, when we did Badminton we had to hit a sport (two pages of a newspaper) from the other side!
  • Bryn - that's the scheme I was thinking of I think.

    The Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme factors in performance and application in the physical activity section if I remember it correctly from when I did it. (Bronze, Silver & Gold). Maybe this would be a good template?

    My school (grammar) had a fiar range of activites, I enjoyed them all (except gymnastics) but I was reasonable at all of them. Having talked to my wife recently who went to a public school, the range of activites she could do was much greater and included ATC, squash, climbing etc. I'm sure this greater range wold involve more people.

    Application can work. I improved from someone who could not make the school forst team for XC to an international in 3 years.

  • <BR> Sadly for many kids in this instant society, if they don't have the talent they won't work to achieve success,</BR>

    There's more to it than that when it comes to kids at school.- It's hard enough to be bad at sports.- To keep keep trying to do the things you're getting ridiculed for being bad at is an incredibly difficult thing to do.
  • Gary T - I think that 'non-triers' is pretty unfair, below average I would accept no problem, but it doesn't mean I don't try.

    I think scoring students for effort and participation has to be the way to go, in fact most running races are like this with a medal/good bag for all participants, and the old 'it's not the winning but the taking part that counts'.

    I got a D in sport at school and remember my mother berating the teacher that someone who could swim a couple of miles and had every swimming badge going, and who ran 3 lunch times a week helping training with the Junior Running club, did gym and sailing etc. should be given a D just because I wasn't much good at Netball or Hockey. (Personally I knew I was pretty rubbish at the type of sports we were graded on so I wasn't too bothered by it)

    (However is that like saying that just because I was reasonably good at poetry, I should have been given an A in English even though I was crap at Drama?)

    Commitment and application mean more than pure talent, David Beckham wouldn't be where he is today without absolute dedication to his sport. Paula Radcliffe wouldn't hold her world record without the 100+ miles per week. Talent is nothing without passion and dedication. How do we engender that love of sport, or anything else, in our children?

    Another comment which comes up often, we talk about lack of facilities in the UK, well do you think that the Chinese or Romanian Gymnasts have the same facilities as the Americans? Of course not (well maybe these days), well good facilities are a great bonus, but hard work is more important.
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