What Rooney A Role Model!

The UK government has announced that to follow on from the Olympic success, they will make available £1b for youth sport. This we are told is to make sure the legacy of the games continues. Which I think is great news and not before time, however I was disappointed to hear some commentators talking about more soccer pitches. What planet are they on or indeed anyone who thinks any more money should be spent on football?

Just think of the success Team UK had in proper sports and then balance that with football. A sport in which we have done very badly in just about every World Cup since 1966. A sport where we have failed miserably at Olympic level. A sport where we have failed year after year at the Euro Championships. A sport that has too much money washing around within it, which is racked with cheating, racism and fan violence. Lets be honest which would you rather your kids have as sporting heroes, one of our great track cyclists who are multi medal winners at all levels, world record holders and really nice people to boot, or someone called Rooney, I think the answer to that is easy.

So if there is any more money to be spent on football let football pay for it, some of the top players could build a pitch a week out of their wages and not notice the cash missing.

So the question is, what should this money be spent on and not surprisingly I have got the answer? Perhaps the old idea of kids playing specific sports in schools is old fashioned. After all traditional school sports are field sports, something as a nation we don’t do that good at, although I know why they are popular with schools, because one teacher can be the ref and in doing so supervise 22 kids in one go. The answer is for schools not to push kids down the road of any one particular sport, but instead they should get kids fit. Fit kids are kids that don’t become obese, so there’s a long term medical saving and fit kids can play just about any sport they want to, outside school. After all there is no good in making a kid play football if he wants to be a cyclist, he certainly will not become fit enough to become a cyclist. No a schools role should be to get kids fit, not to force them into easy sports to supervise.

So schools can get rid of their expensive sports grounds and make a little bit of money. They should then have facilities for kids to do something modern, something all of them will be interested in. Schools should have aerobic studios, spinning classrooms and proper gyms. Kids would love to go to a spinning class, have loud music pumping out and for 45 minutes the kids can have a really good work out, which will make them fit.

Then once the schools are capable of turning out fit kids, kids who could turn their hands to almost any sport, the school should formEndFragment lasting bonds with local sporting organisations, for example local athletic clubs, rowing clubs, cycling clubs and the traditional rugby and football clubs. Coaches should be encouraged to come to the schools and look for kids whom maybe one-day will become great rowers or whatever. Coaches can talk to kids about their sports, show videos and even bring a sporting champion to meet to them. Kids will become inspired in all sports, as opposed to being forced to play football. Schools will become feeders to the various sporting clubs and those sporting clubs will have the £1b in cash so that they, the experts can train and develop our next world beating athletes.

School sports will change forever, as parents will be spending their Saturdays, not down the school football pitch watching a load of unfit, fat kids run around trying to copy their heroes, by faking fouls and swearing at the ref. But at proper local football clubs and cycle tracks watching their fit kids perform under expert coaches to a high level.

See, told you I had the answer.EndFragment