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 SolutionsAdults 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. ConclusionToday’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. |