Buckle up.... Long time, First time...
I have been in the 'system' as both a student and now teacher for some 25 years. Tragic I know, but I have to keep food on the table and there is not much else I am good at or qualified to do! That said, I am passionate about my job and have never had a day that I wish I was doing anything else. I have been an avid reader of the articles and blogs set up regarding these latest developments and can only describe the whole thing as SAD. This may be a far to simplistic summary but the greatest problem in all of this is over ambitious and egotistical ADULTS, both Staff and Parents losing sight of what schoolboy sporting competition was intended for.....EDUCATING YOUNG MEN.
In my 15 years of teaching in both CAS/GPS Schools I have coached various sports at the highest level (if that is what coaching a 1st team is called), got my hands on some silverware, lost some 'nail bitters' and had teams I have coached 'smacked' by the might of various schools, dependent on the 'cycle' that the school is in. I can't offer any firm 'solutions' to all of the issues but my experience tells me that the very ones we as teachers have a duty to nurture and care for, are the ones who are suffering in all of this. I feel deeply for all the students involved. It is never the student’s fault, that lies with the ADULTS.
I have slowly watched the increased 'professionalism' in these competitions and this is not driven by the students......it has been created again by....ADULTS. I remember coaching a certain sport and observing the opposition coaches with a ear piece in, getting instruction from another coach who was observing the game from another vantage point.....at that stage I began thinking this is progressing faster than we might be wanting it to! At the same time HOW CAN IT BE STOPPED? Parents can be fanatical about their children, I have been told many times that 'you know my little Johnny is going to be this, or going to be that'..... It is human nature, a little bit is good so more MUST be better right? I can tell you the 'Talent ID programs' of the ARU have certainly 'inflated' all of this. You have boys in these programs, given 'Wallaby' gear, who are believing that they will make a living from the sport, as do some Mums and Dads!
When I first started in the game of teaching, so many staff had a desire to move through the ranks and maybe coach the 'top team' of their chosen sport. Those days are LONG GONE. With the greater expectation, massive increase in training sessions per week and pressure exerted on them from both the 'school' and parents, it is no longer a goal of teaching staff. I wonder how many schools have members of the teaching staff coaching their top teams? I dare say many would have 'outside coaches' some with no experience or qualification in educating, or coaching, young, impressionable men. I was shattered to hear that various coaches and administrators had called each other 'cheats' (with a few expletives added) throughout the course of the year in different sports in GPS competition. These interactions alone PROVE we have LOST THE PLOT. Add to that schools not shaking hands before games…..Where are the ADULTS in this telling their students about ‘sportsmanship’? Schools need to EMPLOY staff who are there for the STUDENTS not their own CV's or 'brand', who don't worry about how a 'winning or losing' season might affect their future prospects as a 'career coach'. Get the staff back in charge who want to be there for the right reasons, to galvanise and develop meaningful relationships with their teams and assist them to develop skills that will help them in the biggest game of all.....LIFE! Get back to recovery sessions involving diving in a cold pool and a Sausage sandwich talking and laughing around a BBQ….no oxygen mask required!
I think we are in grave danger, if it has not already occurred, of losing the 'goodness' that these competitions and fixtures provide. All perspective appears to have been lost. Having your schools name on a trophy is just that, a name on a trophy. There are 100 names before it and there will be 100 after it…… although recent events suggest that might not be the case in the future! It is well overdue for the ADULTS to grow up and pull their heads in..... for the sake of the most important commodity in all of this ... THE STUDENTS. What ever happens from here on in, it MUST be in the best interests of the kids, they are counting on us, THE ADULTS, to get it right….. A Utopic, nostalgic notion? ….perhaps it is all too far gone! I still live in hope....