After the Olympics

[Pete]

I'm reading a lot about our young people being inspired to get into sport by the Olympic Games.

Is it just me who thinks that it is just wishful thinking?

I reckon that once it is over we'll all return to normal and money pledged to new sports related activities will be wasted.

It is a teenager's job to be awkward, stroppy, selfish and not give a fig about what the powers that be say.

Just like the local tennis club is packed immediately after Wimbledon, but it soon dies away and what we call normalilty returns.

Just a thought...

[therealjr]

It's not wishful thinking but you've answered your own question. There will be a bump in the next 3-5 months of people wanting to get into sport.
Then things like the winter and Christmas will put the majority of them off.
But if we get just an extra 5% of the 5-14 year olds in the country playing sport on a regular basis that will be something like 300,000 kids. And thats EXTRA to the ones who would do it anyway.
Team GB is only 541 people. We don't need many of those extra 300k to reach the top to continue with the trend of positive role models.
BUT Where I think there will be a problem is this. Lets assume that we now have a massive influx of kids wanting to take up sport in Chesterfield.
Do Chesterfield AC have the facilties, coaches and funding to encourage all the new Jessica Ennis'?
Chesterfield LTC the next Andy Murray?
Ogston Sailing club the next Ben Ainslie?
Do we even have infrastructure for cycling? Rowing?
And will that position be mirrored in other towns and cities across the country?

[Old Cruser]

When it's the footie season people play footie, when it's the tennis season people play tennis, when it's the ------- I will fizzle out and we can all get back to normal coach potato's 

[Pete]

I take your point Jon, but still wonder if all the proposals, including changing schools' curriculums, is all a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to something that will not be good value for money in the long term.

[Fly]

After the oly***** have finished, the African Village will still be shut. Pity as the rent is paid. The French company running it seem to have gone bust. With £290,000 of African countries money.

Correct me if I'm wrong, i'd only caught the end of a bbc news story.

[Fly]

After the oly***** have finished, the African Village will still be shut. Pity as the rent is paid. The French company running it seem to have gone bust. With £290,000 of African countries money.

Correct me if I'm wrong, i'd only caught the end of a bbc news story.

[therealjr]

I take your point Jon, but still wonder if all the proposals, including changing schools' curriculums, is all a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to something that will not be good value for money in the long term.

Things like changing the school curriculum is IMHO merely a political soundbite by Boris to keep his public profile up.

[chesterfieldchris]

POST DELETED AT USER'S REQUEST

[Slacker]

I got my bike out last week 

Seriously, we are probably good at cycling and rowing because these are thinks you can go down to the local gym and practice.

Few people get chance to have a go at sailing. As for horsey events even fewer get chance to spend as much time on a horse as it takes to achieve a high standard (can't imagine members of the royal family running the 1500m for instance or one of the events that relies totally on their own fitness an stamina.) Respect though to the Eton boy (forgot his name) for taking part in one of the running events which isn't something money or background can buy.

Impressed by the women in the events normally male dominated like football and boxing, "fights like a girl" may not be an insult soon.

[k4blades]

I fear you are right Pete, we are a nation of watchers, not do'ers, and everyone is carried away by the hype of the Olympics but that will soon fade.

I don't think its just a question of money / facilities, its also about attitude. We have to get away from the sterilised idea of failure, hurt and disappointment being bad and should be avoided.
In school, my lad will often say they didn't have PE because of this or that. If its raining, no-one wants the poor little mites to get wet afterall. And there is a shocking lack of male teachers in primary schools, not that female teachers can't teach PE but young boys will react and respond much more to a male teacher. And God forbid any kid that wants to show some patriotic pride when they should be embracing "multiculturalism"
And out of schools, if we want our kids to use up some energy climbing we take them to a "play area", these sterilised places that have popped up everywhere, where the kids won't get hurt jumping in ball pits, etc, so much safer than climbing trees.

In Africa they don't have the money that we have, yet they consistently produce the best long distance runners, and in the West Indie nations like Jamaica, again relatively poor, but the best sprinters. We have the most over-paid, over pampered prima donas in our football league but ask them to play for team GB and suddenly half of them aren't fit.

Im currently very overweight, and am on a mission to lose weight so I can play with my son in the garden or park for more than half an hour before daddy has to sit down.  While I can still ride a bike to rother valley and back, and swim until the cows come home, when it comes to running around, im jiggered in 30 minutes.  Ill be blowed if my son is going to be like that, and Im going to try and ensure I can be as active with hime as I possibly can.

Pretty much sums me up Chris.

But last weekend I took my kids over to the park, I'm trying to teach them to ride their bikes without stabilisers. There was no one about and after 15mins I was knackered, but then another couple of kids turned up, then another couple, so I sneaked off back to the house. Before long there were a dozen kids from around the cul-de-sac and they were out all weekend on bikes, playing football, shooting games, etc, we couldn't get the kids in.
But I think all these kids would have been sat inside on their consoles until we went out. We have to let our kids go a little, let them get dirty, let them fall off their bikes, let them come last as well, because all that taking part is what makes it fun for them, and the more fun it is, the more they will stick at it.

Having said that, yesterday on my way home I glanced a few kids about 5/6 years old playing a game of rounders or something on the park. It must have been organised formerly as they were wearing coloured vests, so lets hope things like that continue. If we can get young kids into sport, that interest and demand will mean that facilities will follow, no point in spending a fortune on facilities if no-one is going to use them so lets get our attitudes right first.
As for me, I'm rapidly approaching 50 and have 2 small kids so would like to enjoy playing with them but the waistline keeps getting bigger, and stamina, less....but I still take them out to do things, cycling, swimming we do a lot, etc, etc...and the consoles are strictly limited in our house.

[therealjr]

we must have a legacy
We must have more sports in schools
we must promote healthier lifestyles and get away from the playstation generation.
Are these all just political soundbites at a convenient time?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19263693

you decide!!!