Sports Day

Sports days, sometimes referred to as field days, are events staged by many schools and offices in which people take part in competitive sporting activities, often with the aim of winning trophies or prizes. Though they are often held at the beginning of summer, they are also staged in the autumn or spring seasons, especially in countries where the summer is very harsh. Schools stage many sports days in which children participate in the sporting events. It is usually held in elementary schools, or grades Kindergarten-8th Grade.

In schools which use a house system a feature of the school is the competition between the houses; this is especially brought out during sporting events such as an inter-house sports day.

Games that are played on school sports days can be wide and varied. They can include straightforward sprints and longer races for all age groups as well as egg and spoon races. Three legged races are run as well as sack races, wheelbarrow races, and parent and child races.

Additional games are traditionally run in Ireland, and the UK, such as horseshoes.

There have been a number of controversies surrounding school sports days in recent years, many of which have been publicised by the media.

Some schools have abolished or heavily altered sports days on the grounds that they are too competitive and may damage pupils' self esteem, with some commentators calling for the event to be banned due to the public humiliation caused to those children who are not gifted athletically. This view has been condemned as "political correctness" by many commentators, notably by journalist Melanie Phillips in her 1996 book All Must Have Prizes., a book heavily criticised by reviewers for its prejudiced, fact-less and distorted analyses.

In June 2005, Country Life magazine published a report claiming that school sports days have become excessively competitive due to overbearing and "over-zealous" parents, who place too much pressure on their children to succeed. The report also revealed that many schools have banned "mothers and fathers" races due to fighting and cheating.

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Wikipedia