Well I would have thought Philippa you would know about the attitude that says that there should be no competivness in School Sport in case little Fiona/Tarquin gets a 'hang-up' for coming last.However I do agree that there are other factors, such as loss of Playing Fields, and the unwillingness of Teachers to give spare time to Sport in Schools, very often for perfectly valid reasons of for instance, living far from the School. Which in turn is probably due to lack of affordable housing near the place of work.Failure in any sport usually finds its reasons back at grassroots level. Football is no different, and as someone who has been involved in Raquet Sports at Junior level for many years, I know that the base of the Pyramid must be as wide as possible. If that is achieved then you will produce top players, but also many participants who know enough to appreciate the skills at the topmost levels, but have enough skill themselves to enjoy playing at lower or social levels. Then their children are more likely to be the next wave of talent.Takes organising though, unfortunately the number of voluteers for all this is dwindling fast, and that has much to do with fear of working with children,lest one gets accused of over familiarity or worse, many think its not worth the risk, but thats another story.
Colin Vaughan ● 6888d