What is a 'Great Game'?
Every week, teachers and coaches enquire of their colleagues, "How was your game?" The response they get says a lot about the culture of sport in a school. If the answer is always numbers first, then the primacy of competitive success is clear. However, what if the response is, "We had a great game"?
What does this mean? Firstly it suggests a value system that sees significance in the quality of the experience. At least alongside the score. Further, it implies that some games are better than others. So, what determines this?
Whether it is possible to have a "great game" in which the opposition ends up with more goals is an entirely personal judgement. But if it isn't, the number of such games is inevitably considerably reduced. Whatever the teacher in charge of the team thinks, it is extremely likely that he will pass these values on to his team. Whatever the Director of Sport thinks is likely to influence the colleagues who work with him.
What might be celebrated alongside the result? Firstly, the competitiveness of the occasion. Uncertainty of outcome is a defining feature of sport. Players need a clear pointer as to whether their school values a comfortable victory ahead of a tense, close fought game which may end in defeat. It will influence their attitude to risk, how they interact with the opposition, their approach to the officials and how they respond at the end of the game. This determines whether competition is adaptive or maladaptive. The former is a collaboration between the teams, the rules, the referee and the spirit of the game: the latter a straightforward attempt to manipulate all dimensions to achieve victory. The first develops a love of the game, the second a love of winning.
Creativity is an important feature of a great game. Players who feel at liberty to try things, to strive for moments of magic, not just to win, but to take risks and seek to do things that they will remember as special. Possibly thirty years later. But no one does that if they are afraid to fail. Or afraid to make the coach unhappy. Creativity requires support, especially when it is unsuccessful. And unreserved celebration when it comes off.
Endeavour is central. Both teams need to be committed to producing their best, and to do whatever they need to do to achieve this. Equally, both need to recognise and respect the fact that the other team is doing the same thing. The achievement of one team is undermined if their opponents give anything less than everything they have. Players also need to find joy in giving their best in sport. The endorphin high that comes from hard, physical work. The personal satisfaction that comes from being the best that one can be.
A great game requires a great tone. The players have to enjoy the process, not just the product, and recognise that the opposition have an important role in this enjoyment. Part of this recognition involves accepting good play (and good luck) on their part. Without their good play, there is no satisfaction in victory. It will sometimes be necessary to look at them with respectful admiration and say, "Well done, you played better than us today." The opposite of this is a culture of blame, to perceive the reason for defeat as unfair in some way. Somebody else's fault.
Do children inherently know what is a "great game"? Probably they do, and in the right value system this impression is readily reinforced. However, faced with a culture that encourages them to see short term victory as the only justification for sport, they will quickly adapt to different values.
So, next time someone asks, innocently, "How was your game today?", maybe pause to comment before disclosing the numbers