Jessica Ennis?

[PiqueABoo]

Does she always do that blistering sprint at the end of the 800m? I was squirming enough to want to crawl under the sofa when the two amazonians overtook.. was pretty gobsmacked by the response.

[bossman]

She's a good strong Northern lass from Sheffield and I have to say that some of our other athlete's who never faired well should take note of her attitude as this has really made people sit up and take notice, it's not just the chosen few from the southern athletic clubs and the elite rowing fraternity that can attain Gold medal status!

 

My hat off to her and all the other British "Gold medal winners" as second and third is just that "Not first"

[localzuk]

Her performance throughout was amazing, achieving personal bests repeatedly. Her 800m finish was brilliant - show's that even when she's well ahead, she still gives all she's got. People need to learn from that attitude.

[twin--turbo]

It's a dream Olympics, I am not sure how home crowds have affected other teams over the years but the GB seem to be feeding on the energy in the stands.

 

I felt for the two gus in the rowing who though they had been a failure with a Silver. The ladies Scull was amazing! That long Jump Outstanding, The 5K looked like the guy had started the 100M, GB Cycling is in a class of it's own. And Jess,,,, Need we say any more..

 

My 8yr old and 4yr old are jumping up and down every time we win a medal.

 

It will have done a lot for the country's moral , at least for a few months.

 

Rob

[witch]

She's a good strong Northern lass from Sheffield and I have to say that some of our other athlete's who never faired well should take note of her attitude as this has really made people sit up and take notice, it's not just the chosen few from the southern athletic clubs and the elite rowing fraternity that can attain Gold medal status!

)

Watch it @bossman mate, your inferiority complex is showing Why would you say such a thing when there are many athletes from the North - as well as many from the Midlands, South and all points in the UK. Might be South to you, but trust me, Becky Adlington and Bradley Wiggins, to name but two, come from a long way North of us down here!

* Just saw an article that mentions the large number of medals won by Yorkshire men and women!

The rowing fraternity as you call it are not all elite - a few went to private school, but not all, and it is just the case that your average state school doesn't really 'do' rowing. (Katherine Copeland is from Teeside)

What has interested me is that there have been several occasions where the athlete has been given an opportunity to learn a skill, or even been picked out as a possible star, by various sports initiatives often lottery funded. This is very good news given the parlous state of sports in a large number of schools.

Now we could do with the same sort of thing for music and art which are being neglected in a similar way

Edited August 6, 2012 by witch

[PiqueABoo]

Haven't paid much attention to Olympics since becoming an adult, but being hosted here & having a just turned 9yo child (who does some sporty things and got a large dose of Olympics in July from school, Brownies and so on) we ended up watching the opening ceremony on holiday and a fair bit of stuff since getting back. It has certainly worked for me on lots of levels and a big hurrah for the medium: Freesat and all those event-dedicated HD channels. Hiss-boo to some of the wretched commentary and cringeworthy immediately post-event questions: "I know you probably don't want to answer this now but what..." One of the things I've really, really liked though, is Sprogette getting to see all those females in the spotlight. That said I'm secretly hoping it won't be too inspirational - a home life dominated by a child's dedication to some sport isn't especially appealing.

 

This is very good news given the parlous state of sports in a large number of schools. Now we could do with the same sort of thing for music and art which are being neglected in a similar way.

 

Don't think state schools have ever been good at those. My quite serious concern is they are very good at increasingly squeezing available time to do things like that outside school. All this engagement/involvement waffle seems to have done is unleash more patronising one-size-fits arrogance: Dear School, Contrary to your apparent expectations, Sprogette does not spend all her brief evenings and weekends stuffing crisps in her mouth whilst glued to a DS and/or EastEnders from which she can be rescued via randomly relevant worksheets hurriedly plucked from the net, or by monotonously learning yet more model answers to yet more SATS questions. She is in fact often busy on her own initiative compensating for your indifference to...". The increasing trend for typically more time-costly "preparatory work" (as opposed to the reinforcing stuff) to encourage independent learning, will make the clash sigificantly worse.

 

Edit: Was expecting this in the immediate aftermath but it's starting already - Step change in government sport policy needed, BOA says

Edited August 5, 2012 by PiqueABoo

[PiqueABoo]

Monday: Olympics: Ministers seek to boost 'patchy' sports provision

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mr Hunt, said "primary schools is where it all starts and catching people young is incredibly important" but he accepted pupils faced "an element of luck", for example in terms of having an inspirational teacher.

 

Luck? Think you've got more chance of winning the lottery.

[Oaktech]

it's not just the chosen few from the southern athletic clubs and the elite rowing fraternity that can attain Gold medal status!

 

If yorkshire were a country it would currently be 7th in the medal table, so I think that shoots down that opinion!

[aerospacemango]

She's a good strong Northern lass from Sheffield and I have to say that some of our other athlete's who never faired well should take note of her attitude as this has really made people sit up and take notice, it's not just the chosen few from the southern athletic clubs and the elite rowing fraternity that can attain Gold medal status!

 

My hat off to her and all the other British "Gold medal winners" as second and third is just that "Not first"

 

Sadly, this is a common misconception that probably alienates kids from taking up some of the sports already.

 

Thankfully, the performances of Jess and her teammates could very well "Inspire a Generation"!

[PiqueABoo]

Thankfully, the performances of Jess and her teammates could very well "Inspire a Generation"!

 

 

To do what, to what level though?

 

For the most part we're watching the results of some rather extreme life-styles: You want to be a Beth Tweddle? Better start young enough to be competing by the time you're 7 years old (and good luck with the lasting physical harm that may well do). Athletics is generally more forgiving (Ennis's bio says 10), I saw someone in a thread talking about tennis at 6, another with competitive swimming at 7 (Sharron Davis was on the national team at 11!) and so on. The reason I mocked "primary schools is [sic] where it all starts", is because the truth in lots of cases is that primary school age is when it starts, and the primary school has very little to do with that or the "it" Mr Hunt implied.

Edited August 6, 2012 by PiqueABoo

[witch]

But are we talking about producing Olympic athletes or are we talking about getting children to get involved in a sport? Any involvement is good and there are lots of competitions you can do without aspiring to Olympic standard - and that doesnt matter -what matters is getting children out there, surely?

[Guest Guest]

The rowing fraternity as you call it are not all elite - a few went to private school, but not all, and it is just the case that your average state school doesn't really 'do' rowing. (Katherine Copeland is from Teeside)

 

Shes from the village I grew up in, already got the golden post box

She's definitely not elite, privately educated mind.

[bossman]

If yorkshire were a country it would currently be 7th in the medal table, so I think that shoots down that opinion!

 

Well that is a long way South from me so it really doesn't shoot down anything much at all......................................don't take up clay pidgeon shooting would be my advice to you

 

BTW I am a Yorkshireman by birth before I moved to the North of the country

[alttab]

growing up, most of the major sports would 'inspire' me and my friends to get off our backsides and participate. Home test matches, world snooker, footie world cup, wimbledon. generally sports which were fun to do and had reasonable good access and didn't require a great deal of resources.

 

i don't really remember feeling compelled to put myself threw the rigours of a 400m after watching roger black do well in one olympics, and we didnt really have the resources to pursue the current flavours of the nation - cycling and rowing. which neither really tick the fun or easy to do or fun to watch category for me.

 

maybe these home games inspire kids these days beyond the usual halo effect of a major tournament to join a sports club, but the inspiration commentators are looking for is the inspiration to reach the level of elitism of the olympics. i don't think anyone is under any illusions about how elite the level of competition is. And as someone else mentioned the change in lifestyle required, the age at which you'd need to start to stand a chance, and even then how do they earn a living without funding if they're not at the level to be reaching final rounds to get big sponsors.

[PiqueABoo]

But are we talking about producing Olympic athletes or are we talking about getting children to get involved in a sport?

 

Sorry. I hadn't quite finished dissing Mr Hunt who very clearly had finding future medal winners in mind.

 

At a more reasonable level, and being immersed in primary age I forsee some re-enactments of Olympic races with giggly Boltisms at the end which is fine. What I'm mostly thinking though is that the majority of those kids all love running, jumping, climbing, balancing, scooters, cycling, swimming etc. Where does it go wrong i.e. should the focus be on inpires, as opposed to what discourages all that natural inclination as they grow up and move through school? Merely growing up is some of it, but I reckon most of the rest is that @alttab's fun factor isn't there, expecially at school where you spend a lot of time being bored.

 

[school swimming - the one they had to do because of the 25m target - a common parental conversation when that kicked off (especially with parents of older kids who'd been through it) was whether to withdraw your kid so it didn't kill their existing enthusiasm.]

[PiqueABoo]

Just found more press here and there today, a lot being grumpy about the relevant funding cuts and demise of School Sport Partnerships. Looking on their enter-postcode web page there aren't many schools around here registered for the School Games, including Sprogette's which like many also managed to completely ignore some county school sport stuff (with quite a few U11 categories) a few months ago. But anyway, I found this assertion in a press article along the way:

 

"No Olympics host country has ever seen an increase in sports participation after the Games."

[PiqueABoo]

Cameron displaced economic non-growth and said his bit today. One with a fair few teacher's comments (Guardian):

 

David Cameron defends move to scrap compulsory targets for school sport

 

Didn't spot any "I work N (=lots) hours per weeks" which felt compelled to add "for M (<< 48) weeks per year" so all this maths focus is clearly doomed.. still I supposed if it worked, everyone would understand probability, stop doing the lottery and given the loss of funding we'd get Eurovision SC rankings in the Olympics.

 

I've got some sympathies but it's interesting how many teacher+friends apparently don't entirely grok the job contracts, or don't care to contemplate how those jobs/salaries/annual hours measure up to many others. Still it is the Guardian..

[Guest Guest]

David Cameron defends move to scrap compulsory targets for school sport

The prime minister said the key to the regeneration of sport in schools was the return of competitive sport: "We need a big cultural change in favour of competitive sports. I think that is what really matters."

 

Bang on the money imo. All this "everyone is equal, and everyone is a winner" is just pure nonsense. That's not how the big bad world works, and it all ties in with the current attitude of expecting something/everything without actually putting the effort in; anything from sports to money/jobs. Now I'm not saying the less sporting should be excluded, there is certainly a fine line, but a bit of honesty is never a bad thing. If you aren't good enough for the football team then you don't get in, and then maybe you put the effort in, get better at it and genuinely achieve something. Or you go put your efforts into something you are good at.

 

Obviously where this line is is dependent on age; primary is more inclusive than secondary...

Edited August 8, 2012 by Guest

[witch]

I quite agree - the local comp does a good job at sport - the children get lessons in technique and ability and then when it comes to playing, say, football, they are split into those who want to play a proper game - and those who want to run about with a ball, get fit and have fun. They are encouraged to join the team and learn if they want to.

All games are competitive around here - both the schools I work in enter all sorts of county competitions in football, cricket, touch rugby and netball.

[PiqueABoo]

Bang on the money imo. All this "everyone is equal, and everyone is a winner" is just pure nonsense. That's not how the big bad world works, and it all ties in with the current attitude of expecting something/everything without actually putting the effort in;

 

Using Sprogette-O-Vision which includes reasonable knowledge of ~1/3 of the class (mostly girls though): They're half-way through KS2 and for the last year or two housepoints, stickers & certs have had very little currency with them unless they're awarded for a proper achievment, including winning. If they're not doing it in outside-school clubs they create their own in play and they appear to cope just fine with competition... provided it's scrupulously fair, there's nothing too significant at stake, that "taking part" is genuinely a reward to them. I doubt this is unusual.

 

The 'culture' thing does chime with me. Not all, but Primaries around here do seem rubbish, apathetic, at taking part in inter-school anything, not just sport. That School Games postcode search I mentioned, has at best 25% of the quite large number of Primary schools within 10 miles of me registered (it will be worse because the search has a 100 results limit which the unregistered total hit). Secondaries with their dedicated staff have around 60% signed up. The irksome thing about the Primary scenario is that, should they be genuinely burried under real work, I'm sure most would find parents willing and capable of sorting out some of this stuff.