Benching1 Children in Elementary School Sports – Who Wins?

 

By Ted Lea

Level II Certified Coach and a Parent of Two Children

 

The Problem

Does it make any sense that a child who makes a team in school sport would sit on the bench for a whole game, or in some cases for many games throughout the year, just because they are not one of the stronger players?   Does this benefit the children who are sitting on the bench and not playing?  Does it benefit those children who play all the time?  Are we not trying to teach children values such as participation, fitness, happiness, long term healthy lifestyles (including keeping children involved and off the streets), self-esteem, respect for others, and that all members of a team (whether at work, school or sports) are important?  Should this be happening at all in school sports?  It seems all too common in the sports scene of Victoria, and other communities.  When benching children for whole games happens at the senior high school level, it has to be questioned; when it happens at the elementary school it must be considered totally unacceptable, and stopped by all concerned parents.  Why is winning a trophy or a particular game more important than certain individual children on the team?

Some people argue that benching kids is real life, and that they may as well learn these lessons early on.  However, any work teams that I have seen in action, do not eliminate people, they involve all the people working on the team and value input and work produced by each person, even though some people may have greater skills than others.  No one is ‘benched’.

Why is winning in school sports more important than the children we are trying to raise into healthy, contributing adults?  What values are being taught by benching some children, while playing others for the win?  We certainly are not teaching that all children are valued. We are really stating that to be valued in society you have to be among the best.  Benching certainly does not contribute to developing self-esteem or promoting a healthy lifestyle for those who are benched.  And it can develop an ‘elitist’ attitude in the more skilled players:  “I am more important than you”.

When children are being benched there is a clear dichotomy between what values are being taught in the classroom compared with what is being taught in school sports.   In the classroom children are not told that they have to watch while the academically stronger students learn, and that they will learn lots by watching them in action. In the classroom they are taught by doing things, trying things, making mistakes and accomplishing activities.  Most people learn best by actually doing an activity. Are not school sports just an extension of the classroom where similar teaching methods should be used?  I am in agreement that having tiers in sports, based on skill levels is valuable, as children then play at their own level, with opposition of similar ability.  Having an ‘A’ team is parallel to an enrichment or a challenge program in the classroom where those with stronger scholastic skills can be challenged at their level of learning.  Within this group of stronger students, no one is benched. This should never be done to the detriment of those with lesser skills either in school sports or in the classroom.  All students should be given similar opportunities to excel at their own level.

It is a shocking fact that over 70 percent of children quit team sports before they reach the age of 13.  What makes children quit? The main reasons children drop out of sports are not getting to play (being benched), critical and negative coaching, and an overemphasis on winning that creates stress and reduces fun.  Being benched is not fun!  When winning is kept in perspective, the focus is more accurately placed on striving to win and the pursuit of victory.  Successful coaches recognize that teaching children how to master new skills and strive for excellence even if they risk an error will produce children who can compete against others and feel good about themselves.

Potential Solutions

Adults must be aware of this and be sure the children and their enjoyment of a sport activity are the prime focus of sports. Sports should be fun, warm, exciting and something to look back on with fond memories. Those positive images can be permanent. Winning may not be as important to children as it is to adults.

One study showed that 90% of children would prefer to play on a losing team than to be benchwarmers on a winning team.  Over 95% stated that they would rather have fun than worry about winning.  There was one poll done of over 12,000 children.  They were given 12 reasons to choose for why they play sports.  Both boys and girls picked fun as #1; boys picked winning as 8th, while girls picked winning as 12th.  Another study found that only 25 percent of the children, who are stars at elementary school, are still the stars when they reach the late years of junior high school.  The early blooming children may lose their self esteem if they have been successful early and all other athletes pass them by, while the late bloomers may have quit sports because they were forced to sit on the bench and never develop their star potential.  Coaches beware!

School sports should provide the opportunity for children to: acquire an appreciation for an active lifestyle; develop a positive self-image by mastering sport skills; learn to work as part of a team; develop social skills with other children and adults; learn about managing success and disappointment; and learn to respect others.

Many outside leagues and sport associations, which are not bound by the values that are supposedly being taught in school, have rules that require children to play in a significant portion of each game, whether league games or playoff games.  I have seen children who have been benched or discouraged by school sports because they are not participating, walk away from school sports.  Fortunately, they are fully accepted by certain community sports that are far more inclusive, and they continue to participate.  However, something is disturbingly wrong if it is not actually our school system that promotes full participation, at whatever level of skill these children possess.   Why do certain schools feel their sports are only for the elite, while in the classroom, a whole set of different values may exist.

There are at least a couple of examples of elementary schools in Greater Victoria that have decided to allow all children that make a team to play significant parts of most games.  Frank Hobbs Elementary school has the philosophy that each child who is selected to a team will play an fair amount of time, when balanced over the whole season.  This allows a coach to determine when they may wish to play their stronger skilled players more in a particular game.  However, the intent is to try to play every child some portion of each game.  Another school (Marigold) plays every child equally for all league games, and then for playoffs ask the players what emphasis they want for the team, do they agree to continue playing all players fairly or play stronger skilled players more.  Both solutions for ‘A’ level teams make sure each player will feel like a valued member of the team, and at the same time, stronger players will not feel as if they are more important than the others.  If only all other schools, both elementary and secondary, could follow these examples.

Conclusion

Today’s children should primarily be having fun in any sport they play, with winning and losing a by-product.  Whatever the role of adults, it should always be encouraging, supportive and positive.  It is important to give as many children as possible an opportunity to participate, so that they grow up having a healthy lifestyle, and may play sports into their later years. The most important thing that adults can provide children in sports is the desire to want to continue – the long term benefits of sports involvement are far more important than winning a particular game, or championship. When winning is kept in perspective, sport programs produce young people who enjoy sports, who strive for excellence, who dare to risk error in order to learn, and who grow with both praise and constructive criticism.  When winning is kept in perspective, there is room for fun in the pursuit of victory - or, more accurately, the pursuit of victory is fun.  With proper leadership, sport programs produce young people who accept responsibilities, who accept others, and most of all who accept themselves. In the final analysis, it’s not how many games you win, but how many young people you help to become winners in life.

It is time for parents to speak out to make sure that school sports are an extension of the school system and not something with completely different values.  It is time for parents to change the present emphasis in sports, so that all children in the future will benefit.  Contact your local school, start a group to lobby the principal, the teachers, the Greater Victoria Elementary School Sports Association (GVESSA) and its high school equivalents, and if need be, the school board and Superintendent or Minister of Education.

1.  Benching for this article means not playing because a player is not as skilled as other players on a team; benching for disciplinary reasons is not considered.