“Let’s play!” For most of us, that short sentence, invitation even, would be music to our ears but the question may be this: what sort of music is it to our ears?
Music can be sorrowful, inspirational, energising (foot-tapping, get up and dance), comforting, grating (think of that young child, beginning to learn the recorder or the violin), all of such emotions and more.
While most of us will think ‘sport’ when we hear that sentence (“Let’s play!”), we could just as easily have used it with reference to playing a musical instrument.
Come on, let us play! But those very words, while evoking different emotions in us with reference to school sport, may well also induce different responses.
For some, school sport is Hip. Yeah, it is cool!
We can do it. It is “in”, accepted, trendy even, something we should be doing.
It is up to date with modern thinking, with mature thinking, but let us be cool about it. It is what young people do, what they should do.
It helps. Yeah, it is good for the CV. It is good for the body. Yes, let’s play sport. We are in.
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But then, for others, school sport is hop – hop it! Get out of it!
Avoid it by all possible means. Hop it - get lost, beat it or buzz off.
No ways do we want to play! It is just bouncing around with no real intent, fluidity, purpose; it is repetitive, unnatural, awkward. Forget it.
Though, come to think of it, if we combine it with hip, then maybe we will go for hip hop!
It is a rap, after all! We can enjoy cultural interchange through the experience. It is different. OK, cool, let’s play sport.
Increasingly, school sport is becoming more about the hype. It is becoming all about intensity (of attention and results and behaviour).
It is an exaggerated emphasis on the importance of results, trying to whoop up excitement, enjoyment and expectation when it does not come naturally or normally.
It is designed to stimulate greater interest, belief and passion in something that is far less important.
So, now, schools do not simply have the players go out and play a match between two teams; now we have bands and blazer-displays, animals, war cries, hakas, burgers, alcohol, fancy kit, all seen to be an essential part of the spectacle which in truth is actually, simply, unquestionably, purely meant to be an important learning experience for the children.
But, no, “Come on! Let’s play sport, big time! We’ve got it! Yeah!”
Ultimately, though, the hype is just the froth on the top of the beer or the cappuccino.
Blow on it (bring difficulty in, winds of opposition, indifference, defeat) and poof, it is gone; the whoop turns to poof.
No-one buys a beer or cappuccino for the froth, though; no-one takes any pleasure in the froth.
What is wanted is the real thing below. And that is, without reverting to hyperbole, hope.
Hope comes from experience in the real world. As one writer put it, “suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character and character hope”.
Children need the harshness of sport, the loneliness of sport, the pressure of sport, as well as the joy of sport, the benefits of sport, the values of sport, to learn and to grow and to see a clear way ahead.
We need to instil in our children a sure and certain hope for the future, their future, the world’s future, and sport at school can enable them to have that.
The principles, values and lessons that can be learned in sport will bring great promise and hope for the future.
Sporting results or qualifications (the froth, the hype) do not do that but rather involvement, participation, enjoyment, learning, all serve to bring hope.
The hope we must have is sure, strong, bold, quiet, certain – and constant.
Like the caffeine or the alcohol in the actual drink, hope is what wakes us up and keeps us awake.
It is what refreshes and strengthens us; the hype does little to sustain or impact us.
And as the one person we have quoted above added: “Hope does not disappoint us”.
The players should not need to be hyped up to play a match at school, with threats or promises or gimmicks.
We need to exchange the hype of glory for the hope of glory.
Hype is only concerned for the present; hope focuses on the future.
We cannot simply live in the present, in the moment, but rather must have an eye on the road ahead.
Children must push through the froth to enjoy the liquid. The froth will leave them with a mark on their lips; the liquid will leave them with refreshment in their soul. We do not need a song and dance about this – no hip, hop or hype – just hope. Play!
