Bringing back the fun factor: why play needs a bigger role in sport | Cath Bishop

A “Commission on Play” has been launched this month by the social entrepreneur Paul Lindley, partnered with the Centre for Young Lives. Set up to stimulate a national conversation about how to support children to play more, it will explore the impact of technology, access to outdoor space and parental attitudes. But in the brief, other than a glancing reference to the “no ball games” culture, there’s no mention of sport as we understand it. This in itself shows how a child’s experience of play has become disconnected from sport.

Now I don’t think sport should be front and centre; this is a huge topic about the way we live our lives across society. But this commission offers a sharp prod up the backside of the sports world to ask itself about its contribution to the diminishing experiences of play in children’s lives over recent decades.

Good work goes on for sure, but the reality is that too much of youth sport is distanced from what children really need from sport. There can be an insufficient understanding of how sport could contribute to developing creativity, freedom and joy rather than reaching the next “level’ of narrow technical skills. Or there are aims to boost participation figures short-term rather than working out how to foster lifelong allegiance. Hours of activity, free play and obesity have all gone in the wrong direction over the last decade. Sport has a role to play.

The challenge is less about how we get more kids playing cricket, football or learning to row, and more about what children need from sport. When we find that out, we can then adapt our sports accordingly. Young people deserve to play freely without fear of rejection, constant assessment or other adult-devised constraints. Whether in school PE lessons or the local sports club, we’ve been sucked into over-organising and over-controlling sport. Although sport can talk a good game, and Sport England launched a Play Their Way campaign last year, it remains too superficial, focused too much on marketing the concept and too little on real behaviour change in sports environments.

There’s a deep-rooted pervasive narrative: you start off as a novice, it’s fine to have some fun and play for a while, but if you want to “progress”, things get more serious and that means less fun. I remember that from my own journey from loving learning to row to becoming an Olympian: I was explicitly told this was no longer going to be about having fun. That phrase “stop playing around” has sinister undertones, particularly in youth sports environments. If a child is playing around, it’s because they’re bored and have a different idea they want to explore.

I see it still in governing body strategies offering “pathways” with an in-built unquestioned assumption: as you get better, you have less fun, you play less and things get serious. All the while, sports leaders scratch their heads about increasing drop-out rates in clubs particularly among teenage girls, mental health issues are rising at elite level and a majority of youngsters are concluding that sport’s not for them.

I’ve even seen a fear of fun, particularly once you get to performance levels (which can start frighteningly young). Coaches throwing their hands up in protest at being asked to develop complex technical skills and create a fun environment at the same time. Yes, that’s a challenge – and an opportunity. The best coaches manage it because they see the symbiosis. It might not be how the Russians and Chinese develop their athletes, but it definitely provides a competitive advantage not to flood an athlete’s body with stress hormones and tension. It also aids retention, resilience and provides better role models for the youngsters watching.

The big mindset shift for sport is to realise that increased playful experiences of sport don’t threaten performance, quite the opposite over the long-term. And performance is in everyone’s minds in sport, subconsciously if not consciously. Play is a brilliant tool for creating diverse experiences of sport, exploring and experimenting, finding out about yourself, developing flair and freedom, and strong connections with those you play alongside.

As spectators, we love to see a competitor who has fun in the heat of the moment. Some of the greatest of all time, from Daley Thompson to Usain Bolt to Ash Barty (after she took a break from tennis to have fun playing cricket for a while) to Ruby Tui to Ben Stokes playing “Bazball” have been those whose joy at playing shone through.

Pole-vaulter Molly Caudery (bronze medal winner in the European Championships) is a brilliant young talent notable for the joy she exudes when she competes. World-class pole-vaulter (and sports psychology student) Holly Bradshaw sees this as a massive strength and has been mentoring Molly to hold onto her carefree attitude in order to avoid the mental and physical damage and inherent constraints that she experienced from elite sport.

Too often, children are treated as mini-adults or even mini-elite-athletes in sports. Football is a classic example where youth training typically mirrors adult training and revolves around drills, matches and leagues, with directive coaching and kids playing in set positions from early ages. All this despite being a sport where global legends learnt their trade playing freely in Brazilian backyards. A group of coaches and academics have recently set up the Campaign for Children’s Rights in Football to return the child’s voice, views and experiences to the heart of football, in other words, to restore a child’s right to play.

The media has a role too. There can be an uneasiness about whether athletes are taking things seriously enough, confusion as to whether they should be lauded or criticised for any playfulness shown. That somehow it will come back to explain a later mistake, even though this is a world where mistakes are inevitable – even vital. The media also sells sport short by focusing ad nauseum on the latest results and league tables, highlighting too often the joy of winning rather than the joy of playing. These subliminal messages ripple through those watching.

The Commission on Play offers a moment for sports leaders to ask what children need from sport, and what needs to change as a result. Not simply how are we going to do in the Euros and where will we finish in the Paris medal table? This summer offers a bigger opportunity for sport to rediscover its soul and reconnect to our lives more meaningfully and playfully.