This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
46 |


FUN, CHALLENGING AND ACHIEVABLE


Forget elite sport – it’s getting kids active and having fun that counts, says Imogen Buxton-Pickles





As MPs, the NHS and the media all get their knickers in a major twist about girls’ reluctance to get involved in sport – and the health consequences of a sedentary lifestyle – they’re looking in the wrong place for solutions.


I did my university dissertation on why girls drop out of PE at nine or 10 – and that was ten years ago! My fi ndings were exactly the same as the ones we’re reading about now.


Much of girls’ reluctance to do sport is to do with body image: they don’t like their bodies being scrutinised by teenage boys (‘I don’t want them looking at my legs’) and they don’t like messing up their hair and make up. But my 15 years of working in schools have told me that some of these image issues are already present in nine and 10-year-olds, if not earlier. They worry about what boys will think of them, especially when they’re not fully dressed and covered in sweat. Are they too fat, too big, too small…? The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee report on women in sport, published earlier this summer, explored many of these issues and came up with some sensible recommendations. But I believe there’s too much focus on the need to create a talent pipeline to produce elite sportswomen. The big wins are in getting young children active and, crucially, having fun. That’s how we’ll fi ght obesity, type 2 diabetes and all


THE LAST WORD





● Get the habit of exercise ingrained at prep and primary school – secondary is far too late to address an underlying resistance to take part in sport. But we have to make it fun: a bad experience of sport or PE early in life stays with children throughout their school career and beyond.


● We shouldn’t be focusing on which sport or PE activity pupils do or don’t take part in. Children have widely differing responses to individual sports, so they tend to be less inclusive. Some sports demand skills that children simply don’t have. It’s doing a physical activity that counts – not which activity.


● My mantra is make it fun, challenging and achievable. I go into schools across the country to teach dance, but nothing to do with pirouettes or tutus. I teach classes in everything from Sportsjam to Streetjazz to Smarty Pilates and Bollywood. And if the boys are suspicious that dance is a bit ‘girly’, we fi nd that Creative Combat soon changes their minds! It’s inclusive in terms of gender and ethnicity and can be adapted to the needs and abilities of the pupils


the other health consequences of inactivity that are taking such a dreadful toll. Committee chair John Whittingdale was on the right track when he said: “Good habits are learnt early, and it is a sad fact that many girls are put off sport by school games lessons. Many of our recommendations therefore are aimed at increasing the variety of sports on offer.” He’s right – though in my view we should be aiming to increase the variety of activities on offer. Here’s what we need to do:


Contact: www.imovesdance.com


There’s so much to gain from this type of approach, so it’s particularly depressing to see recent analysis of primary school children’s involvement in arts activities which shows a 33% decline in participation in dance. Why is dance being pushed to the back at the very time it should be doing centre stage? It's up to the independent sector to do better. ISS


›› Imogen Buxton- Pickles is the creator of dance and movement teaching organisation imovesdance. com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48