Sport at Shore
‘…forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what is ahead, I press on toward the goal…’
Philippians 3:13-14
Dear Students, Parents and Carers
It is beyond dispute that Sport at Shore is a major programme which is a substantial aspect of our Co-Curricular offerings. As a GPS school, Shore stands in the tradition of the English Greater Public Schools. These schools saw ‘Games’, as they termed them, as essential to develop a number of attributes they prized in boys. These included: courage, teamwork, resilience, humility in victory and graciousness in defeat. The legendary Headmaster of Rugby School, Thomas Arnold, imprinted this vision on the school he led, and beyond, not only in English schools but in those throughout the British Empire of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, famously said (or is thought to have said) that Waterloo was actually won on the playing fields of Eton. By that he presumably meant that the courage and determination shown by his Officer caste at Waterloo was instilled by ‘Games’ at schools like Eton, Rugby and Harrow.
The GPS schools of England were products of the rigid English class system, which they reinforced. They were the refuges of the upper class. Australia is far more egalitarian, and Shore values humility, not entitlement.
This is our tradition. Naturally, we need to view it through a 21st century filter. We are not imperial in our outlook, and we are certainly not (one hopes) preparing our students to go to war. Nonetheless, the role of Sport in producing young men of character remains valuable. Through it, our boys learn the value of contributing to something beyond themselves. They learn and relish teamwork, which is an important antidote to the hyper-individualism of our society. They learn to persevere when the going is tough. They learn that, even though the portents are not encouraging, sometimes they can still prevail through persistence, effort and self-belief. They learn that there is dignity in losing well, having done their absolute best.
I often urge students to apply the same determination and commitment to their studies as they do to the sporting field. Some regard this as a strange connection, but most understand the notion. Indeed, we want boys to learn lessons for life from their co-curricular involvement. The sporting field is one of the crucibles we apply in Building Good Men. Moreover, research shows that students who are physically fit and have outlets which can function as forms of stress release are not only likely to be well-rounded individuals but actually do better academically, on average, than those who are unfit and lack avenues for stress relief. Accordingly, there is a synergy between Sport and our other programmes. Our sporting options feed into our wellbeing programmes as we wish all our students to flourish. We are, as often, adopting and applying the maxim of the New Testament (of the Bible) writer Paul: ‘…forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what is ahead, I press on toward the goal…’ (Philippians 3:13-14). Paul’s emphasis is not, as it were, on playing the last game, but being single minded on the present and the future is a helpful message on the sporting field and elsewhere. His initial application is spiritual, i.e. faith in Jesus, which indeed is a large part of the School message. The advice of pressing on is helpful in life in general.
Different schools have a bespoke approach to their sporting culture. Shore does not support the notion of winning at all costs. We have a higher calling in terms of fair play and commitment to abide by the code and rules of each sport. Most certainly we want to win, as unless that is our goal there is little point in taking the field. In short, we want to apply the same ethos to Sport as we do to other aspects of School life. We want to be competitive. We want boys to enjoy their sport. Too often across my long career, I have seen coaches and parents from other schools screaming abuse at their boys. Such boys may win the game, but rarely enjoy the experience and are inclined to drop out of sport at the first opportunity. Shore hopes to build a passion for what may be gained in all co-curricular activities, sporting and otherwise, which are so meaningful and pleasurable that our boys will continue such activities beyond their school years.
These comments may appropriately be seen as a defence of the importance of Sport, at the very time that the media are showcasing schools which are withdrawing altogether from sport. Clearly, that is not our intention. We need to review how many training sessions in high-level Sport at Shore our boys can manage, given the other demands of time, including academic time. This, of course, is also an issue for our teaching staff in terms of their own investment in teaching and training sessions within the context of extensive demands on lesson preparation, classroom teaching, marking, pastoral work with students and the growing demands of administrative work, driven by government compliance regimes.
In essence, I argue for a symbiotic approach between all our programmes: Academic, Sport, Co-Curricular, Pastoral, Christian Education and Outdoor Education in the holistic formation of young men of substance and character.
Dr John Collier
Headmaster
