Children 'no longer care' about winning or losing in sports

The Telegraph ^ | April 22, 2014 | Graeme Paton, Education Editor

[lbryce]

Research by the MCC and the Chance to Shine cricketing charity suggests that large numbers of schoolchildren no longer care if the competitive element is taken out of sport Most children would not be bothered if the competitive element was taken out of school sport, according to research by the MCC. Most children would not be bothered if the competitive element was taken out of school sport, according to research by the MCC. Photo: Alamy Graeme Paton

Britain risks losing its competitive edge because a generation of children is no longer interested in winning on the sporting field, according to research.

Figures show the majority of children are not bothered if the competitive element is removed from football, cricket, rugby and hockey fixtures, saying playing for fun or being with friends is more important.

>> School sport: no winners, no losers, no fun

It emerged that mothers and fathers place a considerably greater focus on winning or losing, with some even admitting they would not watch their children play sport if there was no final result.

The disclosure, in a study by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and cricketing charity Chance to Shine, will fuel concerns that a "prizes for all" culture in schools over the last few decades has eroded children's competitive spirit.

[lbryce]

The initial reference to the article was expressed as "Is Britain in danger of losing its competitive edge"? And immediately I thought no. That occurred ages ago. When everything, everyone is forced to conform, where schools have eschewed the old world tradition of actually grading children in various levels of proficiency because the overachiever 'A' students were making children of lesser intellectual capability feel inferior which instead of spurring them on to do better, the liberals whined that it only perpetuated their stupidity and worse, made them cry, which only turned them gay. And so, winning at sports evolved into making the winners feel guilty, bad as if it were a stigma of sorts because it made the the losers feel, well, like losers, and that's frowned upon now, being a winner. Socialized medicine certainly had an effect as well, and I don't why or how this has anything to do with a society evolving into a country of losers, eating bangers, cow brains in a can and the rest of Britain's celebrated gastronomic jackpot, eating canned organ meat and other assorted offal will turn you into a country of losers because not only do you not feel well, you smell badly as well.

The final nail in the coffin for Britain's culture of sheeple losers is the recent circumstance whereby the British Judicial system began enforcing Sharia Law. Once you cross this telltale, raise the white flag line in the sand of that signals the end of Western Civilization, in the multiple choice list of responses of how do you feel, are you in the fast lane of life, there's only one selection you can make;LOSER.

[Gaffer]

“Mommy, what’s the score?” “Why precious, the score is FUN to FUN!!!! Yayyyyyy!

[BuffaloJack]

Another name for second place is First Loser.

[SunTzuWu]

As they become adults, that same attitude will apply to world politics and war. Then again, that was the liberals plan all along.

[yldstrk]

My child is on a lacrossse team that just started and is struggling. They played a school which was beating them 20 -1 and the mean girls on the winning were growling “more more”. It was revealing. They were beasts.

Besides that, it isn’t just sports kids maybe don’t care about, it’s everything. No one cares about anything except advancing themselves and sex, oh and did I mention sex?

[rawcatslyentist]

Sports are the opiate of the inebriate.

[Toadman]

That explains the lack of violence at football matches.

[Alberta's Child]

There are a lot of things to read into your comments about the decline of Britain, but I don't think the loss of interest in competitive school sports is one of them.

In fact, I'd go so far as to suggest that school sports programs are actually part of the problem, and the changes in attitudes among children may reflect something else entirely. I've long said that kids should be left alone to play sports, and that adult involvement in children's sports can probably do more harm than good in the long run. I've long said that kids probably shouldn't play organized sports at all until high school at the earliest, and even then there is still a danger that the development of the young adults will be harmed by the misplaced priorities of the adults who are involved.

[Alberta's Child]

I should have referenced this in my previous post. That's exactly what I'm referring to. It sounds to me like those two teams have no business competing on the same field. Looking back at the sports we played as kids, one of the things I find fascinating about it is that we'd rarely ever end up in situations where one team would consistently beat another by lopsided margins. That's because we tended to gravitate to groups of kids with similar skills and abilities.

When you think about it, it makes sense. The team that loses by a 20-1 score is likely to be demoralized, but the team that wins isn't really getting any better in the process, are they?

[yldstrk]

Yeah my daughter’s team is really a JV team but is being required to play varsity because they have been in existence for 3 years, it’s stupid.

My daughter’s team is plucky but they are struggling

[yldstrk]

And we didn’t have Title X requiring girls’ teams when I was a kid, none of us girls were on a team. We had to play field hockey in gym class and the big girls bowled us over.

[Alberta's Child]

Tell them to keep at it, though!

When I was a kid we must have set a record on my recreational soccer team by going 0-12 in one season and getting outscored by a margin of something like 75-5. One season later we were 12-0 and won our league championship. Go figure. LOL.

[Alberta's Child]

That’s a whole other side of the story that I hadn’t even thought about. Thanks!

[yldstrk]

You have a point about the adults’ interfering, a good point. We had recreational teams with coaches red faced and spit flying yelling at the kids. I complained and the other coaches got together and told one coach he was done, he was so crazed and displayed favoritism to his son and made hes son cry with his fanaticism. The coach was a dentist in daily life, he just lost it and so did his wife when the team was on the field. On girl came and stood by me because she was afraid the wife was going to attack me.

[Mygirlsmom]

Lots of life lessons in those struggles. The first win over a competitive team will be very sweet.

Our girls' school district was sort of the "Bad News Bears" of girls' sports - they were rarely competitive. But my girls enjoyed playing where at a school with a stronger program they would never have made the team. They worked hard, treasured their victories when they came, and moved on.

[CrazyIvan]

A long time ago I took tennis very seriously. I liked to win, but I liked to lose also. Why? I always tried to play with someone better than I. I lost plenty but always came away having gone to school on them and slightly improved myself. I never considered myself a loser, just in training.

[EBH]

The value in playing and learning how to win or lose, isn't about the score. It is about how to compete well, about being on a team, and even how to deal with the “beasts” of this world. But in order for those lessons to be taught by life, one has to keep ‘the score.’

It bothers me as I see the article pointing out a dangerous type of precedence...one of apathy about life. It illustrates why making things 'fair' for children removes the child's ability to thrive and find their own talents. It is my opinion that this generation is the ticking time bomb of cultural decline. Fairness and apathy are not man's best friends, no matter what the socialist/progressive model would brainwash them to believe. To remove a child's desire to compete or achieve to the best of their ability, destroys them. Children brought up in such a culture will not bring their best skills and God-given gifts to the world.

[wastedyears]

There is such a thing as pick-up games. I’m sure those have been around for a long time, where the score doesn’t matter as much as having fun. But when the competitive element is removed from organization, such as a local little league or high school-level sport, that’s when there’s a huge problem.

For example, I bet a bunch of the kids I grew up with would go to our local park for softball, and we’d have fun with it instead of being competitive.

But like I said, when it’s take out of local and school sports, there’s a huge problem.

[onedoug]

Coached HS baseball for three seasons and will be getting back into it this summer.

The kids I coached wanted to win every time they took the field.

[lonestar]

Anybody think Johnny Manziel doesn’t care about winning? LOL!