Has School Sport Become too Extreme?
The last twenty years has seen an astronomical increase in the standard of the top level of school sport in UK. The increased allocation of resources – time, facilities, specialist coaching, levels of competition – has developed out of all recognition. Top level performance, and victory in an ever increasing number of high profile competitions has become more important. The result is a fierce contest for the services of the best players and the emergence of increasingly demanding programmes of preparation.
This process – the ‘academisation” of school sport – has unquestionably raised the standard of the best performers and the leading teams. An unintended consequence, however, is a subtle shift in the purpose of sport in secondary education. Many schools are conducting themselves as if their principal function is to produce a supply of players for professional sport. Frequent website boasts of competitive success and representative selections reinforce this impression. The values and practices of elite adult sport have been eagerly embraced and adopted. Specialist coaches, obsession with strength and conditioning, rigorous training schedules, one to one sessions, computer aided analysis: all have become common practice in schools seeking to emulate professional sport. Increased training loads and competition intensity inevitably place demands on young bodies that require improved medical provision to maintain. Independent schools have become a major career route for former players to feed a growing appetite for a competitive edge.
As training becomes ever more extreme and demanding, the question emerges as to whether this is good for pupil wellbeing – and whether the pursuit of ultra high performance is the legitimate purpose of school sport. Certainly, the pursuit of excellence and self discipline in the pursuit of medium term goals are important life lessons, and sport provides an opportunity for this. But, is the intensity becoming excessive?
A focus on the highest performance inevitably targets a small elite, who dominate both the resources and recognition within an organisation. High intensity, late maturation sports such as Rowing, Rugby, Cricket and Hockey demand a huge commitment and sacrifice, creating a tension which sometimes appears irreconcilable with a search for exam success.
In this environment, it is easy to lose sight of other purposes in school sport. For the great majority of pupils, learning a love of games, adventure and physical activity is the triumph of school sports provision. Health and social benefits that lead to a lifetime of low intensity participation appear unimpressive alongside a cabinet full of the trophies of stellar performance. Of course, it is possible for a school to value both. However, high performance can be an addictive intoxicant that can lead to undervaluing non-competitive participation, whilst at the same time putting extreme demands on promising performers that may not be in their long term best interests.
Performance and participation often co-exist uncomfortably within schools. The former is often disproportionately valued, leaving the latter as a little-recognised consolation prize. Latterly, schools have embarked on a route to high performance that has gathered pace to the stage at which it is almost out of control. But youth sport is not a microcosm of the professional game. The best schools create an environment whose primary purpose is to stimulate all to participate enthusiastically - as well as supporting a small number to excel.