It's that time of term. Pupils in smart new kit, balls straight out of the packaging and over inflated: shiny new gym mats. Ambitious plans for fixture programmes and cup competitions, and the optimism that emerges from a long summer holiday and the fact that no teams have yet lost.
A lot of time, energy and money will be spent before the term ends. But will it be worth it? Will the results justify the hours of effort, the discomfort, the meetings, the bus journeys and the unwelcome emails from the hard to please parents? What will have been achieved by the end of term?
How can that success be measured? Conventional measures of games won and lost, goals scored and conceded are limited, but easily understood. However, there is something fundamentally unsatisfactory in defining success relative only to another school's incompetence. Winning will be important, striving to do so even more so. There will be amazing triumphs, the stiff of which lifelong memories are made, and they will be appropriately celebrated. But the will also be disappointing and frustrating defeats. Competitive success is a zero sum game, so if it is the only definition of a "good term", then there will a lot of schools that don't enjoy one. Alongside victories, the number of games which may be assessed as "competitive" (and therefore offering meaningful challenge), may also be appropriate
What other success possibilities might there be? Certainly, levels of participation would be a straightforward thing to measure. Willing participation. In both team games and alternative activities. If it was a clear objective to maximise participation (or even match previous years' achievements), that would probably influence how the programme was devised and delivered. And provide an answer to the question, "How good is good?"
Linked to participation is the quality and quantity of opportunities available. And the range of activities, which will determine the width of appeal. Science shows that only 50% of people are typically engaged by competition, so the provision of non competitive activities will influence engagement. Measuring the number of opportunities, and the level of pupil take up and retention, would be relatively straightforward
Could enthusiasm and commitment be measured? Given that these are indisputably desirable responses to any programme, some attempt at measuring - however subjective in the first instance - would appear desirable.
What about progress? Technical development ? Determination ? Sportsmanship ? Coaching quality ? Would these be essential - or desirable - components of the elusive "good term"?
And what about health and fitness? Could there be a more imaginative way of encouraging awareness of this than a dreaded early term maximal fitness test, guaranteed to disengage the majority of pupils? A measurement of involvement in health promoting exercise, not just for athletic preparation, but also for its own sake? Number and length of gym visits? Voluntary attendance at fitness classes and conditioning opportunities? Can the strength of a health and fitness culture in a school be measured?
When so much time, energy and resources are about to be committed, it would appear desirable to have clearly established measures of what would be regarded as a "good term". Perhaps the constant reminder of a list on the office wall that has half a dozen prominent endings to the sentence, "We will think that we have had a good term if..."
