The holiday season just past perhaps offered opportunities for party games, dreaded by some, adored by others!
Some of the games are surprising and intriguing, as in asking everyone “If you were a fruit, what fruit would you be?”
The answers could be amusing, revealing or damaging! Then, we might try “If you were a car, what car would you be?” Do you see yourself as a Porsche, a Toyota Hilux, or Honda Fit? Maybe we might also go with the question, “If you were a subject at school, what subject would you be?”
Doubtless we would have some smart answers for that one. But let us get to the relevant one for this article – if you were a sport, what sport would you be?
You can submit your answers on the back of a 100 dollar note and send them to the writer, by all means!
Turning the question around slightly, we might well ask: if writing articles is a sport (note the word “If” at the start), how would this writer be doing? Would we be winning? Is this article like some sporting fixtures providing a bright start but the performance is fading as we go on?
Is this becoming a stodgy stalemate or a dazzling dribble (not drivel) full of perceptive passing and tantalising tricks? Are we going to score any goals in it? Is there anything to cheer?
Indeed, if we look not just at this one article but look back at the previous season of School of Sport articles (after all, this is the 338th School of Sport article that this writer has contributed to this newspaper over the last seven years), do we rate them and can we say which one was the best, like we rate sporting teams? Can we actually even remember any articles?
Have we read them all (as a keen sports fan attends every match)? Have we re-read any, going back to review special ones again (as a keen fan may do of favourite matches)?
Do we cry out when we finish reading a convincing article “Ole ole ole ole, ole, ole!” as we might do while watching a match when our team is doing well? Is there a fist punch at the end of the article, confirming success? That is not the point, surely!
In passing, we might do well to realise also that just as a sports team may have a bad day (or have a bad spell during a match), so the writer of articles may have poorer performances, hard days, blank days with no goals scored.
The article may have no drive, no sparkle, no life. It may seem to meander aimlessly around the park without really penetrating the defences readers may have. It may struggle to make any headway, just going through the motions, drifting along. Stop!
At the end of the day (or at least at the end of the article) are we going to ask: “Who won?” Has the writer won? Has the reader won? Has the newspaper won? All of the above? None of the above? Is it about winning anyway? There is no trophy for the articles; there are no prizes (rightly so). Are we trying to win approval or admiration, to win followers and ‘likes’? No!
Are we wanting to win converts to our thinking? Not exactly, but certainly to get readers thinking about these issues which we tend to take for granted. Are we wanting to win a reprieve, for readers to come back again next week to read and reflect more? That would be good but we will not know.
Nor, however, do we lean back and rank the sports article against each other or the sports articles against the religion or business articles. There are no league tables for articles; there is no prize for the best contributor. Do we need to have such in order for contributors to provide quality pieces? Of course not! So, what is the point of these articles and more specifically this article? Are they for just your entertainment? Are they to prove who or which is best? Are they not to benefit the reader? Are they not to educate us and help us to learn? Writing articles is like playing sport but is not a sport.
We are not trying to win anything. We do not try to be better than others; we just seek to do better next time, full stop. We strive to grow, to learn, to develop, to improve each week, for the readers’ sake. We can always live in hope!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, applies exactly the same for school sport. The only real competition is for children to learn to do better, not be better than others. School sport is not for the entertainment of parents. It is not to show which school is the best.
It quite simply is to benefit the child, to help them week in, week out, to develop as a human being. This is not some silly, pointless game for holiday times; this is for life – and that is not us being bananas. See you next week – yes?