Traditional team games have been the foundation stone of physical activity in independent schools since they began. In the modern parlance, they are "in the DNA". Schools would be unimaginable without them.

Their inevitability and omnipresence is not their justification. Under threat from a pacifist lobby, and without always enjoying the unquestioned support from previous generations, games might be under pressure. However, that does not mean that they will, or should, disappear - or be replaced by alternative activities (for which Zumba has become an unfortunate metaphor).

High performance will always be a defining feature of independent schools....

In the Victorian era, schools had one team. That's why it is still sometimes called, "The XV" or similar. It was the early twentieth century before an additional team emerged, usually called Colts, and involving pupils of any age below 16.

The late twentieth century saw an explosion of teams, driven, in part, by parental demand for pupils of all abilities to be involved in school matches. The pendulum swung dramatically, as schools found a badge of honour in the number of teams fielded every weekend. The alphabet game was established, with A,B,C and D teams, and...

Long gone are the days where physical activity provided the main source of entertainment for secondary school pupils. The game has certainly changed over recent years and a new age of advancing technology and social media has well and truly captivated our audience of adolescents. There’s no denying that the majority of pupils today are more likely to submerge in a cyber world, than eagerly exert their energy pursuing a range of physical activities. Pupil cardiorespiratory fitness levels are in decline and, as a result, engaging pupils in physical activity within the school day has become less of an educational...