Lets ban sport at school.

[Iseeyouthere]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/...ans-ball-games

A Melbourne primary school is under fire for banning children from playing ball games before and after school.

Black Rock primary school assistant principal Sue Leighton-Janse issued a statement in the school's newsletter saying students could not "play, use, and bounce or throw balls" out of school hours.

”This is a safety issue as many children get hurt from balls or get knocked over at this time due to the larger amount of people in the playground,” the newsletter reads.

But the school, in the city’s south east, has come under criticism from the chief executive of AFL, Andrew Demetriou, AFL.com reports.

"It's obscene, absurd, in my view. And I'm sure the view of many people is we need sport of any type in our primary schools for our children, tackling childhood obesity," he said.

"I just think it's over-regulation, and I actually fear if we're going to go down that track, because we just need our children participating in sport."

The school's principal Julie Luiten told Nine News that the ban was in response to three or four parents' complaints after a toddler was hit with a ball last week.

Oooh no... kiddies might fall down and get a booboo. BAN SPORT!
Alright, alright, serious time.

I can see the danger of balls hitting younger children... but to punish kids for being active? Come on! It is hard enough to get kids out and about playing nower days.
Add on that this is more pandering to bubble wrap children and all pointy things.

*sigh*
Bloody over-protective parents and bloody school officals....

Also:

"It's going to be permanent. With 1000 people in the yard, students shouldn't be running around and kicking balls."

Well then start issuing cups as part of the school uniform....

[TheHuckster]

It's not as bad as a town near where I live that banned tag.

Their reason? Some kids might feel hurt that they're "it".

[telecom_goddess]

omg seriously? This whole attitude of "everyone must win so they don't get their feelings hurt" is starting to make me sick. These kids are going to get a shock when they realize life ain't fair and no one gives a shit about their feelings.

As for the physical danger, hell my mother got her head smacked/hit several times in school. Kids fall off of things and get hit by things all the time it's part of childhood. They can't live in a bubble, again they will have a shock when they get out in the real world.

[TheHuckster]

omg seriously? This whole attitude of "everyone must win so they don't get their feelings hurt" is starting to make me sick. These kids are going to get a shock when they realize life ain't fair and no one gives a shit about their feelings.

As for the physical danger, hell my mother got her head smacked/hit several times in school. Kids fall off of things and get hit by things all the time it's part of childhood. They can't live in a bubble, again they will have a shock when they get out in the real world.

Agreed 100%. I used to get scrapes and bruises during recess and Phys. Ed. all the time, and after a quick visit to the nurses office, who gives me an ice pack or a band-aid, I'm fine. Hell, they wouldn't even notify my parents unless it was real bad, and by real bad, I mean they're notifying my parents to take me home for the rest of the day. My mother would see me coming home with a bandaid on my arm and her reaction wasn't "OMG WHAT HAPPENED TO MY POOR BABY?!! I'M GOING TO SUE" it was "What did you do this time, TheHuckster?"

As long as you do your due diligence to keep the cut from getting infected, there's nothing dangerous about a minor injury like that, and it only gives kids first-hand experience of how to prevent future injuries, because sometimes you can't prevent accidents just by telling them second hand what might happen, sometimes they need to find out on their own.

As for the "everyone's a winner" mentality, learning how to compete is an essential skill in life, especially nowadays. This skill isn't only in how to perform best to win, but how to deal with failure and loss. I am worried as to what job interviews and auditions are going to look like once some of the most coddled of the next generation are grown up.

[Andara Bledin]

We need to stop trying to child-proof the world and do a better job of world-proofing the children.

That includes teaching that them life is unfair, that sometimes people get hurt for no good reason, and to have a winner, there are going to be losers but losing isn't necessarily failure.

^-.-^

[Andrew B]

I remember getting hit in the chest by a kickball at the end of recess back in grade school. I wasn't playing or anything, I was just walking by and got hit by accident.

The game wasn't banned from the school, my mother didn't scream at the school for letting me get injured, nothing like that. I just spent a couple minutes in the nurse's office getting checked and then went back to class.

Accidents happen, but we need to let them happen when we are young, so we learn to be more careful as adults.

[bex1218]

My injuries happened outside of school grounds. Are they going to ban those too?

[Hyena Dandy]

How big is th eyard?

Because to be honest, when you're talking about, 1,000 people, that COULD get dangerous if there's not a giant yard for them all to throw stuf fin.

[fireheart17]

the placement school I went to banned kicking games before and after school....this was a school with 270 kids roughly, from ages 5-18. It was a bit asinine I will admit. >.>
Note that it was just kicking games. Basketball and the like were fine.

[Andara Bledin]

I got smacked in the ear one fine chilly morning with a volleyball. Those things aren't nearly as soft as a typical schoolyard ball. I saw stars for a bit then got on with my life.

^-.-^

[AdminAssistant]

I'm wondering why a toddler was injured...what ages are involved here? Because a 5-7 year old can survive a konk to the head better than a 2 year old.

[fireheart17]

I'm wondering why a toddler was injured...what ages are involved here? Because a 5-7 year old can survive a konk to the head better than a 2 year old.

Two reasons why a toddler would be on school grounds:

-The school is a birth-7 campus (or whatever the maximum primary school age is interstate), meaning that there is a daycare and primary school on site.

OR

-Parent with toddler coming in to pick up their school-age child, which I think is what exactly happened.

Either way, it's a knee-jerk reaction set by the parents. If there were a huge number of parents complaining, then fine, set the ban. But 3-4 parents is not exactly worth a ban?

[MadMike]

And this is one of the reasons there's an obesity epidemic. Not only are kids not being encouraged to go outside and play, they're not being allowed to. People have been eating bad stuff in one form or another for generations, but they were more active back then.

When my brother and I were kids, we weren't allowed to just sit around the house. If it was nice out, my mom wouldn't suggest we go out and play, she'd tell us we had to go outside and play, and get some fresh air. My mom didn't freak out over bumps, bruises, or scrapes, or even more serious injuries when they happened on occasion. Then again, she's a nurse, so she's probably seen much worse things than most parents do.

[fireheart17]

Here's another one that's relevant:

kids banned from doing cartwheels and handstands