Do you have any idea who won two Grammy Awards in 1969 for ‘Song of the Year’ and ‘Best Contemporary Song’? That is a long, long time ago, plus it is not uncommon for artists to win two such awards in the same year, so it may not be easy to know the answer. If we knew it was a singer / songwriter called Joe South who won the two awards, do we know the title of the song that achieved those awards? Probably not! So let us put you out of your suspense and reveal it was a song called “Games People Play”.
To put some flesh to that piece of information, “it was a protest song whose lyrics speak against various forms of hatred, hypocrisy, inhumanity, intolerance, and irresponsibility, in both interpersonal and social interactions between people.” It is suggesting that people play games with other people’s lives, simply to try to gain an advantage, by what they say (“Oh the games people play now, Every night and every day now, Never meaning what they say now, Never saying what they mean”) and by what they do (“Oh we make one another cry, Break a heart then we say goodbye, Cross our hearts and we hope to die That the other was to blame”). It summarises it all with the lines: “Look around tell me what you see, What’s happening to you and me; God grant me the serenity To just remember who I am ‘Cause you’ve given up your sanity, For your pride and your vanity, Turn your back on humanity, Oh and you don’t give a da da da da da”.
So, here is the thing: are we playing games with our children’s lives and futures in our school sport? It might be said, accurately, that we are often doing that literally, coaches playing the match for the children by shouting instructions all the way through the match; they are ‘Play Station’ coaches. We may also be seen to be playing games with their lives by adding more and more practices, matches and tours, running throughout the much-needed holidays. And we may be playing with their lives by doing it all for the school’s reputation, not for the child’s education or the country’s development.
We need to stop playing games and start doing sport correctly, educationally, principally. We can do that in two ways: by instilling standards of coaching and by coaching important standards. The standard of coaching should be absolutely in line with the school’s Vision statement, not the coach’s own personal vision or ambition, which in a school has at the heart of it, the place and purpose of learning, with each child looking to be the best that they can be. And it should be equally in line with the school’s stated Values; it is not a matter of win at all costs.
The standard of coaching should be geared around the five Fs of why we do sport at school - first of all, and above all, we do it for Fun but then also for Fitness, for Friendship, for Forever and for Values (note, a V is a hard F). Those Values should include at least Humility, Accountability, Integrity, Empathy, Respect. And they should be aligned to the five Ls of Education: Education for life, with life, in life, of life, from life. That is the standard we must set for the coaching in our schools.
Equally, we must ensure the coaching of fundamental standards and values is happening. In that regard, it is imperative that what happens in the co-curricular activities is totally consistent with what happens in the academic curriculum and therefore the coaching offered is standardised to that of the classroom, namely ensuring that the five Cs of twenty-first century learning (Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication, Collaboration, Character) are employed consistently by coaches as much as teachers. Furthermore, the coaching must ensure standards are met with the five As regarding the coaching, namely the involvement of all pupils, in all positions, all the time, in all aspects of the curriculum, in all ways possible.
Do we give a da da da da da about the way sport is done in schools? Maybe we should look around and see what is happening. Then we must not simply pray that God grants us serenity and sanity in place of our pride or vanity. We must ensure the standard of coaching is high and the coaching of standards is strong. We must stop playing games but rather do sport correctly. The emphasis is not on Zimbabwe doing well in sport but rather on us doing sport well in Zimbabwe. Who our pupils are is more important than what they do. If we do not do it right, we will be the ones heading south.