I’m curious. What was the investment like in terms of sporting education and coaching in your younger years?
The investment was shockingly bad in school when I was there. They wouldn’t run clubs regularly nor competitions/leagues. Even the internal competitions like the intra-form/class was stopped because the teachers weren’t interested in it anymore
It really made me sad back then, not being able to play enough football to compete. Cricket was out of the question; too expensive. Football was my first choice. Never ever even tried tennis or boxing
I hated how sports was only really available to the wealthy where I live. It really annoyed me a lot. Sometimes I’d be so upset I was basically crying because my parents couldn’t afford to send me to an academy of any sport. Bless them, it was never their fault
This never changed even with the olympics in the UK despite the promises that it would change. Sport has always been a locked to the elite fantasy for me and many others here too. Sucks.
I remember watching sport anime thinking it must be accessible in East Asian countries. I have no idea if it is though. But I used to dream of being in a school where it was fully embedded into the curricular activities
Man, that’s exactly what it feels like over here too. You know, I read somewhere American sports used to be heavily invested in, but then it became less and less about health and more and more about competition or entertainment - it dwindled as a result.
It’s so sad for upcoming generations; in the UK obesity is becoming alarming. Not medication induced obesity, but obesity due to inactivity
J W H T Douglas (1882–1930), English Test cricketer and captain and Olympic boxer (gold medal 1908), football for England (amateur) (ODNBimage)
Norman Hallows (1886–1968), Olympic athlete, bronze 1500m winner 1908, former Olympic record holder 1500m
Ivo Fairbairn-Crawford (1896–1998), Olympic athlete, 800m & 1500m (disqualified finalist) 1908, engineer, pilot, Executive Foreign Armament Department for Vickers Armstrong, International Half-Mile Champion 1906–07, One Mile International Champion 1909, Skiing for GB, International roller-skater champion at Olympia, London 1914–19
Herbert Perry (1899–1964), Olympic shooter, gold medal 1924 (team running deer double shots)
Peter Decker (b. 1941), Olympic skier for USA, Winter 1960
David Jones (b. 1941), Olympic 4 × 100 m bronze medal 1960, Commonwealth gold medal, and silver medal (200m) 1962
Robert Cattrall (b. 1959), Olympic hockey player for Great Britain (captain), 1984 (bronze medal)
Matt Coward-Holley (b. 1995), Olympic trap shooting Tokyo 2021, (bronze medal).
Martyn Lucking (born 1938 in Leigh-on-Sea) is a British former shot putter representing England at the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and European Championships.
