Les Roopanarine, sports journalist and author



A bright future beckons for British sport, judging by the findings of a survey commissioned by the Marylebone Cricket Club and the Chance to Shine charity. The study suggests that 64% of the nation's schoolchildren couldn't give a monkey's whether they win or lose. Good for them. Unburdened by fear of failure, they will be free to enjoy the simple pleasures of kicking, throwing or batting a ball, running at full pelt, or simply jumping as high or as far as they can. That in turn will afford them space to grow and learn without any weight of expectation; to make friends and acquire fresh skills, hone technique, and hopefully lay down lasting roots with their favourite pursuits.

No one is denying that you need to start early to be successful. Yet there are more professional athletes like Rafael Nadal – whose enjoyment of different sports was such that he had to choose between tennis and football at the age of 12 – than Andre Agassi, who, pressured by his father throughout his childhood, prospered as a tennis player despite coming to hate the game.

Commentators who believe that the indifference of British kids towards winning or losing means we're in danger of producing a generation of lily-livered capitulators are wide of the mark. Enjoyment and achievement are not mutually exclusive. Besides, didn't Rudyard Kipling promise us the earth if we could meet with triumph and disaster and treat them just the same?

Dr Steve Bull, performance psychologist and author

Kipling was right –absolutely. However, by its very definition, the term "sport" involves (indeed requires) competition. That's what sport is – physical activity in which people compete against each other. If you remove the competitive element you lose the essence. The problem we have here is that many young people, for a whole host of different reasons, have not been allowed to learn and develop within an environment in which sport is encouraged. As a result they don't have any grasp of the mindset needed to find competition exciting and rewarding. If, as Ofsted reported last year, a third of primary schools are failing to provide effective PE for pupils, it is hardly surprising that these children will turn away from competitive sports as they progress through secondary school.

I began my career as a PE teacher in the early 1980s when competitive sport was still thriving within state schools. I taught in a comprehensive which sometimes fielded three rugby teams in the under-12 age group. I can still recall the excitement that those pupils experienced on a Saturday morning – in particular, those turning out for the third XV. Many of these children were not particularly athletic, some were overweight, and most stood no chance of ever playing for the first XV. However, they were having fun. They were playing to win and loving the competition. We need to help our youngsters connect with the essential joy of running around with your mates trying to win "together".

LR There's no doubting the importance of teamwork. But I also think there's a big difference between running around with your mates for fun, and doing so in the pursuit of victory. It seems ironic that, while elite sportspeople are often encouraged by psychologists to forget about winning and losing and instead focus on process, we believe our children should do the opposite. If two-thirds of schoolchildren say they would be "relieved or not bothered" if games were no longer competitive, it would behove us to listen. Because younger kids don't think like adults; where we might regard winning and losing as the end of the world, to them dwelling on medals or misfortunes comes a distant second to enjoyment.

Perhaps we need to reclaim the original definition of sport – rooted in the Anglo-Norman word "disport" – as a diversion or amusement. Certainly the fun-first imperative seems to be gaining a foothold in some quarters. Reforms currently being mooted in youth football will seek to introduce competition more gradually for children under the age of 11, diminishing the influence of the traditional league format.

SB An interesting response but sport psychologists generally do not encourage athletes to "forget" about winning – it's more that the most effective way of achieving success is to focus on the "process" during the actual performance. In 30 years of being a sport psychologist I have yet to come across an elite performer who doesn't care about winning.

It's a cliche, I know, but life is not fair. Competitive sport is a great way of preparing young people for the "real world" in which things will not always go their way. Learning how to deal with adversity, bounce back from disappointment and accept that luck isn't always on your side are important lessons for children to absorb before they step out in to the world of work. In these challenging times, organisations want people who can thrive, rather than merely survive, when the pressure is on. So, it is not simply about producing our next crop of Olympic hopefuls (although that is a relevant theme as well), or even about increasing participation in organised sport. It is about providing an educational environment in which young people learn how to respond effectively to the ups and downs of life, and appreciate that other people want that job, or that university place, as well as them.

LR I play tennis to a modest level, and my coaches always impressed on me the importance of staying "in the now": not dwelling on good or bad shots, or prematurely anticipating victory or defeat. That "in the moment" mindset can be seen in any playground any day of the week – kids tearing around, chasing a ball or each other, utterly absorbed in what they are doing. I don't doubt that elite performers want to win, but there's a strikingly childlike quality about the mindscape they create to get themselves over the line.

I take your point about sport as a life lesson. But life is not only about adversity and disappointment; it can also be fun. I feel a child's experience of sport should reflect that.

I have a nine-month-old son, and I would love him to excel at sport. But I also want him to explore the wonder of what he can achieve in his own right before he starts measuring himself against other kids. I find it interesting that Richard Williams, the father of tennis players Venus and Serena, sought to protect his daughters by withdrawing them from competitive play at a young age. Apparently they turned out OK.

SB It would be fascinating to understand exactly what he was concerned about when withdrawing Venus and Serena. They certainly have turned out OK, but I would be amazed if they didn't care about competing when they were 12. At a very young age there is no doubt that we need to be extremely careful about how we construct the competitive environment. However, I think that many of those who will jump on this research data to support their anti-competitive beliefs about school sport will be harbouring a view based on an outdated image of the old-fashioned PE teacher played so brilliantly by Brian Glover in the film Kes. This is not how it is these days. However, children need to learn early in life about competition, fair play and teamship. Let's create environments where they play to win, abide by the rules and enjoy the process. We should then make sure we reward effort, not outcome.