The Australian Sporting Commission complains that kids are opting out of sport because games are becoming " too serious ". They want the entire sporting spectrum reorganized to " make it fun " for those lacking performance skills. They are calling for " equality ", regardless of skill levels.
This seems to be an " everyone deserves to win a prize " attitude - and it runs contrary to the way life works.
From the time we are born, we start a " sorting out " process that constantly evaluates our life progress and qualifies us for where fate will take us. The school system grades us towards our career choices. Some develop skills that take them into an academic world and others are more suited to the practical scene where the skill of their hands delivers a living.
At the close of the school gate, some go on to university and others learn a trade, but personal evaluation does not stop there. The truly gifted will rise to the top of their profession - and they will be the "few". The " many " will be further down the scale and that level will be dictated by their " ability ".
This same " grading " applies to sport. In every group there is a person who stands out above the herd and is destined to achieve fame and fortune at that sport's pinnacle. They are the people adored by sports writers and become the select few who make it into the nation's cricket team or wear the national colours overseas in all the sporting codes.
We would do sport a serious disservice if we restructured the team structures to give each team a mix of skilled and unskilled players, and in doing so - removed the opportunity for future champions to rise to prominence. Most sports already contain a " grading " system, whereby teams compete at various skill levels to ensure they are equally competitive. There are opportunities for the lowly skilled to enjoy such sport - if it interests them !
Perhaps the Australian Sports Commission is misreading the situation. Lesser numbers of young people are indulging in organized sport than half a century ago - but that period of time was very different from the world of today.
The advent of the computer, the internet, electronic games - and the skills and challenges they provide compete with time spent on the sporting field. Purists lament the lack of exercise this involves but it is just part of the " sorting out " that is now a constant in our lives.
Taking rewards for skill out of sport will probably make games less attractive to those with natural attributes - without a compensating gravitation to sport by computer " Nerds ".
That old adage that " You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink " comes to mind.
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