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Are the Glory Days of the Alphabet Game Over?

Posted Friday, 13 December 2019

The 1990s were the peak of the Alphabet Game in school sport. This reflected pressure from parents who all wanted their children to be in a school team, and heralded an unprecedented era of inclusivity. There was an exponential growth in the number of teams which schools operated in every...

Book Review - 'The Infinite Game' by Simon Sinek

Posted Friday, 13 December 2019

The premise of this book is the distinction between “finite” games that exist for a fixed period of time and have a winner and a loser, and “infinite” games, which last indefinitely and have no winner: there is only ahead and behind. The author suggests that this is mindset, which...

Should the Half Game Rule end at Under 15?

Posted Friday, 6 December 2019

No one would dispute the spirit of the RFU’s recently introduced rule requiring all members of a match day squad to participate in at least half of the available game time. Those marginal players standing on winter touchlines hoping for a few minutes at the end of a match whose...

The Resilience Dilemma

Posted Friday, 29 November 2019

Schools used to be inflexible places. They knew what was good for pupils. Compulsion was everywhere. Latin, Rugby, CCF, Cross country running, cold showers. A combination of liberalism, market forces, educational enlightenment and social change put an end to all that. The climate of modern schools places greater value on...

What Happened to the Honour of Selection?

Posted Friday, 22 November 2019

“The following have been selected to represent the School…” These were the coveted words that brought pupils racing to the noticeboards, hoping to see their names listed. To be one of the chosen few. Upholding the school’s honour on the metaphorical battlefields against all rivals. There has been a subtle...

When School Sport is Truly Amazing

Posted Thursday, 14 November 2019

Whatever the difficulties and frustrations of school sport in the twenty first century, one thing is for sure. The shop window is in amazing condition. The top level of games in schools has never been of a higher standard. The time, effort and investment in developing the best players is...