The British Olympic Association have announced that they are in support of the governments new policy on School Sport. The new government plans for school sports aims to bring back competitive sports in school by helping schools to organise national schools championships in the run up the the London Games in 2012.
“I want to give a real boost to competitive sport in schools using the power of hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games to encourage young people whatever age or ability to take part in this new competition. Sport, whether you win or lose, teaches young people great lessons for life. It encourages teamwork, dedication and striving to be the best that you can be.” Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
There is currently a network of 450 schools and partners that are working together to help improve competitive sports and encourage children to try to find a sport or event that they can excel in. The goal is to give every child an opportunity to find their inner athlete – every person has the potential to excel in an Olympic or Paralympic sporting event.
On the announcement of the new plans for the sports in schools the British Olympic Association (BOA) stated:
“We are in full support of the new competitive school sport initiative introduced today and congratulate the Secretaries of State, Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove for their revitalised commitment to school sport.
The programme will provide a true framework of competition across many sports, providing a great pool of talent for our governing bodies of sport. In addition to encouraging a healthier, more active lifestyle, participation in competitive sport delivers lessons that are applicable to every aspect of life. Values such as perseverance, teamwork, self-confidence and tolerance should be learned at an early age, and competitive sport provides an ideal framework for doing so.
We look forward to working with government and the governing bodies of sport on the new proposals set out today which we believe will provide a lasting legacy for sport post-2012.”
This could be a sign that school sports are going to finally start to improve again. Many state schools have seen their athletics and sports education decline dramatically in recent decades with some schools even abandoning in the annual school sports day.
Maybe state schools also do not have adequate facilities at the moment to help young athletes develop. Some secondary schools have no athletics fields at all, so track and field events are impossible to practice. Although gymnasiums are still the centre piece of many schools the equipment if often out of date and rarely used.
Hopefully this government initiative will actually see new sporting facilities opening that allow children to learn and develop their athletic skills and for games teachers to actually be able to spot raw talent.
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