Letter: Non-competitive sports encourage pupil participation

Sir: School sport is an important and, in many state schools, neglected part of the curriculum. Physical fitness in childhood is an investment towards physical fitness in the future, and there is evidence from Canada that availability of non-academic, mainly sporting activity for teenagers reduces the rate of delinquency.

However neither John Major, who wants to make competitive sport compulsory, nor James Fenton ('Professional foul by compulsory Sproat', 11 April), who seems to view any compulsory approach to school sport as fascist, have got it right. Surely it should be compulsory for schools to make a certain number of competitive sports available to students: many teenagers prefer to take their exercise this way. But it should also be compulsory for schools to make available other physical activities such as aerobics and swimming that can be enjoyed without an element of competition.

Then, within compulsory lessons, students could decide how they wished to take exercise. As the Greeks knew, there is no reason why caring for the body should be seen as less important than caring for the mind. All this does have resource implications, but it is one of those areas in which voluntary activity by parent and non-parent coaches could legitimately reduce the cost.

Yours sincerely,

PHILIP GRAHAM

London, NW5

11 April

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