Inclusive sport


Teachers who love coa inclusive competitive spo


Sitting on the back seat of the coach, playing Ariana Grande at full volume on their phones and so excited their shin pads are already on, the U12C team are totally pumped to play in their first tournament.


The rain is pouring down and they will finish the day


completely drenched. But none of these girls have ever missed lessons or been to a tournament before. They’ve never experienced the buzz of a tournament with hundreds of students from different schools.


They’ve never been in an A team at primary school or their club. But what they will learn through a day of competitive sport with their peers, in the fun festival environment of a tournament, is completely irreplaceable.


Rebecca Jutson, assistant director of sport at Hurstpierpoint College in West Sussex, is convinced of the value of making sure everyone gets a fixture.


She explains: “During the last netball term, I had teams up to U15F, which now means we can’t even all get on the courts at the


by Sarah Eversfield


same time – but there is sport available for everyone. If we don’t have that like for like fixture, then we’ll go and find it.”


And why is it so important that the U15F team get to play competitive fixtures? Jutson is passionate that they should be able to.


“I just think giving children access to this is so important. First and foremost, they learn about a healthy and physical lifestyle, which everyone should be doing, competition, success and failure. The biggest thing is teamwork – being part of a team is amazing – what the dynamics of team sport can bring to you as an individual. The teamwork and camaraderie of everyone coming together and all trying to focus on the same thing.


“Also the students can get the approval of their parents – their parents can come and watch them do something. They’re doing it at their level – they’re not playing out of their depth.


This is why we work so hard on our fixtures, pitching them at the right level. Sometimes our C team might play a smaller school’s A or B


team. It’s not going to do anyone any good to go out and thrash a team or be beaten heavily. So that’s something I get my heads of sport to focus on.


“They look at the fixtures a year before and look at what the result was last year because we’re not going to go back and pummel them by 20 goals. I’d rather my teams lost by one or two goals but had a really good game.”


It’s not just a normal fixture programme either – Jutson also runs B and C team tournaments at Hurst to allow students who would not normally access tournaments to experience this unique environment.


It is an investment for the school to run high quality tournaments of the same standard as conventional A team tournaments – with teas, marquees, a technical table – but Jutson is happy that it is money well spent.


She adds: “A tournament is just a different environment, a competitive environment. The students who come to these tournaments are not used to the numbers, not used to playing multiple games, not used to the


22 SCHOOL SPORT Issue No.81 January/February/March 2021


round robin. The tournament emphasis makes it great fun.


“Yes there is a bit of marketing involved with it too – particularly from the prep school point of view – we can show off our great facilities and look at getting at some of those younger pupils across to the senior school.


“But ultimately – it’s because we want to do something a bit different. We’ve taken on the role of being hosts for lots of schools of Sussex. The students look forward to these moments every year, rain or shine.


“It’s also an important part of our coaching development. Some coaches are new to it and can go to a tournament and not feel out of their depth in terms of their coaching or their umpiring.


“We give our less experienced coaches who might be coaching lower teams at the start of their career exposure to tournament- style sport, experience of umpiring in tournament games and help to build their confidence too. There’s some good CPD going on there too.


“This is an important point – umpiring in a tournament setting,


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