REGARDING a recent report by the Woman’s Sports and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) into the lack of enthusiasm being shown by schoolgirls towards school sports (Echo, May 2).
The girls told researchers that “it is unfeminine to sweat”. As a result the WSFF advocates the inclusion of zumba and roller blading on the curriculum.
This is all well for the girls but ignores the requirements of boys. If the lessons are unisex then these two proposed sporting activities are a joke.
Boys are built for strength, power and stamina sports. Their right to play football, rugby, bulldog and basketball must be protected.
I would suggest if the girls are allowed to do zumba, then boxing and martial arts should be re-introduced for boys.
Boxing would be an ideal way of channeling young men’s physical prowess and natural aggression in a controlled environment, teaching them boundaries and rules.
This would stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives.
Sadly, it was banned around 1962 but the time is now right for its return. Looking back to my teenage days in the early 1980s in Dralington I am sure that interschool boxing tournaments between the likes of Eastbourne, Haughton, Branksome and Longfield would have been the highlight of the boys’ year.
Mark Anderson, Middleton St George.
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