Skip to main content

Blog

Where is the Fun in School Sport?

Posted Thursday, 7 March 2019

One of the few things on which most people are agreed is that school sport should be fun. Whilst that might not always be obvious from the ways in which it is delivered – or the response of pupils to its demands – it is one of the few universal...

The Forgotten Majority in School Sport

Posted Wednesday, 27 February 2019

All schools have kids who love games. The size of the group may vary, to reflect the culture of the environment. It may also be subject to attrition at different rates as pupils get older. But there will always be a sizeable group of boys and girls who love being...

The Inverted Economics of Independent School Sport

Posted Thursday, 6 December 2018

Provision for high performance in school sport has never been more extensive, or of higher quality. There are more staff, more specialist coaches, conditioners, analysts and physiotherapists than ever before. This has led to an increase in training times, individual programmes, one to one sessions and visits from a glittering...

How Good do you Want the Opposition to be?

Posted Friday, 16 November 2018

School sport needs opponents. Programmes of competitive activities require other teams - whether they are houses, schools, counties or countries. We feel that we need to compete against them. The word suggests that. But mostly we need to compete with them. There is a subtle, but significant, difference. Elite competition...

What does Sport for All really mean?

Posted Friday, 12 October 2018

In the 1970s, the then Sports Council came up with a number of campaigns designed to improve levels of physical activity within various groups in society. The laudable generic title was ‘Sport for All’. Few things have survived intact from the era of long hair and flared trousers, but this...

Why does a School need a Director of Sport?

Posted Friday, 28 September 2018

The Director of Sport is a relatively new role in schools. Twenty five years ago, fewer than a handful of schools had a position of this title. Now everyone has one. Many Heads report that this is the most difficult position to appoint to, because – unlike other subjects -...