Sometimes the kids just wanna have fun

 

In response to my blog about the under-14 water polo tournament last week, someone anonymous posted a comment describing what he saw at a tournament in Port Elizabeth which, he said, showed that the boys often know better what is important than the adults do.

I fully agree, and I’m repeating what was said here:

Maybe you need to hear an anecdote from a recent tournament I went to in PE. It was second team tournament at Pearson High School. Obviously these are older boys (I'm not comparing it to the u14 tournament) and being a 2nd team tournament (some schools sent a 2nd and 3rd team) it was fairly relaxed but at the same time boys being boys, very competitive.

The part that will tell you that they boys themselves understand what this is all about happened during the playoffs. As you know with these tournaments all the teams play the same amount of games so eventually there are playoffs all the way down the list including the wooden spoon.

Well, the boys decided that the wooden spoon game would be turned into the highlight of the tournament they were cheering and roaring away as if this was a world cup final. It helped that the game itself went to penalties and actually lived up to the hype that the boys themselves had created. Anyway it was a fantastic advertisement for water polo and for the fact that these young men understood what in the end was important to celebrate.

Anyway my point is the kids sometimes understand things better than the adults and we should relax and let them get on with it.

What a great story.

I’ve come across instances like that one from time to time in my 40-odd years of watching school sport and they are always heart-warming and should serve as a lesson and a reminder to the adults involved that having fun is the most important aspect of playing games

The widespread introduction of lightning warning systems and the completely justified protocols which call for fields to be cleared when the siren sounds, has taken away what used to be a great source of fun in the old days – the cavorting on a flooded field after the game has been called off following a big thunderstorm. The waterlogged covers on cricket pitch would become a giant slippery-slide with players from both sides diving, aquaplaning and shrieking with delight. And it wasn’t uncommon to see both rugby teams revisit the muddiest spot on the field after a rain-drenched game for a good old fashioned wallow.

You don’t see that anymore. Everyone has to wait for the lightning all-clear now before they can go out again. There are other safety concerns, I know, and I guess the potential damage done to the fields was unacceptable, but I remember seeing teachers going on and chasing the boys away, even in the pre lighting-protocol days, They were right, I  suppose, but if you believed having fun was important, and you enjoyed seeing boys from rival schools going a little crazy together, then, like me, you would have looked on smilingly whenever it happened.

I remember another occasion when the local responsible adults came along and spoilt it for the kids. It was at a boys schools interhigh athletics meeting and the high jumpers were all at the mat, waiting to get going. The organisers suddenly called a tea break and the teachers disappeared, leaving boys waiting.

There was no crossbar up and one of the boys decided to have a practice jump anyway. Another one followed him and pretty soon they were all having a go. Then it became fun. One boy did an elaborate somersault over the imaginary bar, followed by another – backwards. Before long everyone joined in, pulling off the most outrageous, gymnastic clearances, to great laughter and applause from all the jumpers, who had forgotten by then that they were supposed to be concentrating on beating each other.

Tea-time was soon over and, you’ve guessed it, the teachers hurried over and loudly berated the boys and stopped it all.

I was there trying to get a great high jump photo, instead I got some shots of boys having the time of their lives. They soon settled down and got ready for the serious stuff. I’d wager that few of them remember the heights they cleared that day, but they probably do remember that spontaneous fantasy jump-off.

I know all about the duty of care that teachers have, and about the importance of dedication and discipline etc, but let’s remember that the kids are supposed to be having fun as well