Moments of Meaning in Sport

I

t is extraordinary how sticky the memories of sporting moments can be.  Middle aged adults who can't remember what happened the week before, or the names of people that they met yesterday, can recall with the utmost clarity the details of sporting encounters of thirty years previously.  Particular occasions stay long in the memory.  Details of games, who played in them, the weather, the score, individual goals, tackles, injuries - even the social sojourn of the return journey.

These cherished recollections are not just of the defining moments of sport - of Cup Finals and records broken.  Many are of wholly unremarkable house matches, school matches and club friendlies.  Long forgotten by everyone other than the participants.  There is nothing ability dependent about sporting memories.  They are available to anyone who has ever taken part in athletic contests, however modest or long ago.  They are the powerful stuff of reunions, often stimulated by photographs of teams and match programmes from long ago.  These mementoes are the survivors of many house moves and clearances, and disposed of only under the most intense of pressure.

Why is the memory of school sport so enduring?   More than many areas of endeavour, sport can create moments of magic.  Instances of unexpected achievement that stimulate pride.  That pride often has two dimensions: the first is the achievement itself, and the second is the social situation in which it happens.  The sense of belonging that comes from being in a team, of contributing to, or sharing, a bigger triumph.  Regardless of the relative level of this.  Something about these achievements stimulates self esteem and makes them remarkably resistant to the forgetfulness that is commonplace in everyday activity.  They confirm the special capacity of sport to impact positively on young lives.

When do these occasions occur?  They are linked usually with some form of selection, occasion or achievement.  Sharing a triumph seems to make its memory more powerful, and if that triumph comes in difficult circumstances, or against the odds, the recollection seems more enduring.  They are of competitions, however modest, and they are of unusual achievement, where the participants exceeded their own expectations.

What are the implications for schools?  They have the capacity to shape these memories, both by providing appropriate experiences, and by celebrating the occasion of them.  Creating the games, contests and competitions in which children can enjoy both the feeling of individual triumph, and of contributing to a bigger, team goal.

But providing the experience alone may not be enough.  Schools can lay emphasis on the achievement, reward the effort of striving to improve on a personal level, and recognise that moments of magic and achievement occur at all levels.  The triumphs of the lower ability performers are worthy of celebration alongside the performance teams:  all these memories will be equally valued by the participants. Ask anyone who has completed a five hour marathon whether they felt that their achievement was undermined by the flying Kenyans who were twice as fast.  Victories are individual, and the culture of a school can celebrate them as such.

Schools can also provide mementoes of the occasions.  The medals, certificates, photographs and programmes are the tangible stimulants of happy memories.  Many adults cherish the fading tokens of meaningful occasions, and look at them with a quiet feeling of pride and accomplishment.    Photos on school walls contribute to the culture of recognising achievement, and it says a lot about the values of an organisation how many of these pictures there are, how often they are updated and what they depict.  Providing children with pictures of their performances, and the teams they have participated in is the most powerful stimulant of sticky sporting memories.

Schools can emphasise the occasion, and the memory.  These are sometimes remembered long after the score has been forgotten.  If the occasion is associated with good feeling, it will endure.  If it is accompanied by sour response to defeat, acrimony and blame, it will be dismissed from the memory as soon as possible.

The way teachers position their pupils' experience in sport, and which triumphs they recognise, will determine how many of those occasions they will proudly recall thirty years later.