Last weekend’s Joburg boys schools inter-high athletics meeting was a great occasion: a thousand-odd boys, giving it a full go in perfect conditions, and all quite passionate about their individual performances and the efforts of their teams.
Add in a couple of thousand spectators, a decent fund-raising opportunity for the host school, Jeppe, and quite a bit of media attention – there was even an SABC TV camera crew there.
So why, you have to ask, was there so much talk going around that this might have been the last boys’ schools interhigh?
I haven’t been able to get the entire story straight, but it seems the committee of heads of the boys schools – and it’s they who are the real authoritative body when it comes to interschool sport – are seriously contemplating doing away with athletics as a third term activity in our schools.
The plan, apparently, is to let the boys who are seriously interested in athletics as their sport of choice compete in the first term, which is the official athletics season, nationally, and when there are plenty of opportunities for them to show their stuff.
Competing then has become quite prevalent in recent years, with some of the top athletes going on to great performances and even national honours: something they could never have achieved out of the third term athletics programme.
It would mean smaller, more elite groups of competitors at each school and the element of inter-school competition would be gone.
It’s all about personal bests, points earned on the national performance tables, and provincial selection there.
There is no doubt that from an individual development perspective it’s the way to go, and let’s face it, the role of the school is to help kids realise their full potential and be prepared for the next step in their lives, including a future in competitive athletics – if they have the ability and that’s what they want to do.
So why, I wonder did I not come across anyone at Jeppe last Saturday who thought it was a good idea? I made a point of talking to the sports staff at all the competing schools (except Pretoria Affies who compete in the first term as their primary activity anyway, and use the Joburg season as part of their training programme).
And everyone felt it would be a great pity if the interhigh were to be done away with. Even those from the independent schools, who are hugely disadvantaged because of their term dates – they get back to school two weeks before the interhigh – believe it’s worthwhile competing anyway.
It comes down, in my opinion, to the educational factors at play – as it should always do. Firstly, mass participation is a desirable goal to strive for and athletics, especially since most schools have B teams too, involves quite a lot of boys at a time of year when there’s not much else going on.
Then there’s the opportunity that sport offers to teach young people about dealing with success and failure, and that happens most effectively in a team context, and in the glare of adulation, or disappointment, that comes with representing the entire school.
On the other hand, I concede, there are cost-effectiveness factors at play. Running an athletics programme that includes most of the field events doesn’t come cheap (imagine how much a single hurdle costs these days).
And it’s people intensive. Jeppe ran a superb meeting, but it had to be organised like a military campaign to succeed, and it involved most of the school’s staff. I guess the heads of schools are wondering if it’s really worth it for such a limited time period?
The principals are all great educationalists and I’m sure I haven’t said anything they don’t know. I’m sure they won’t be doing away with this activity without ensuring that there is something equally beneficial, educationally, to take its place.
Because the one thing we don’t want to do is to tell all those competitors, and spectators, that on the equivalent weekend in September next year, they can have the day off to do whatever they like.
That would be to lose some great teaching and learning opportunities.