Beyond performance: a father pleads for more inclusive sport

Seeing his 15-year-old daughter particularly stressed by the selection process for the school volleyball team, a father chose to denounce this recruitment system which he considers unhealthy.

The father of Saint-Narcisse-de-Rimouski, Jonathan Proulx, was heartbroken to see his daughter’s joy, while participating in the evaluation camp, turn into great sadness. Anguished by waiting for a response, the teenager was increasingly afraid of not being selected.

A discouraging selection camp

To be part of a competitive sports team, students at the Phares School Service Center complete physical tests, then wait for the email informing them that they have been selected.

If the participants were not selected, they compete again against other athletes the following day to obtain a place on the team of a different level.

The objective of this process is to ensure that young people are placed in a team where they can not only progress, but also enjoy their sporting experience without being overburdened by unrealistic expectations.explains the Phares School Service Center in a written response.

However, according to Jonathan Proulx, this process rather puts great pressure on young people, who should above all seek to have fun while practicing a sporting activity, he explains on Info-réveil on Friday.

There’s a wrong way to do things when kids cry for fear of not being on a sports teamhe denounces.

His wish is that the sports practiced in secondary school be, above all, accessible and fun.

According to him, the obstacles that arise when a teenager wants to play a sport should be removed. This is all the more important for young girls, because by secondary school, a third of them abandon sport and become inactive.

It’s very difficult to get our teenagers, especially our girls, moving, but it’s easy to demotivate them.he believes.

Pierre Lavoie agrees

The heartfelt cry of this father is echoed by the founder of the Grand Défi Pierre Lavoie.

From the first year of secondary school, we begin to evaluate, compare and measure children. It’s the worst time to do it: they lose the desire to move for lifedeplores Pierre Lavoie.

We want to hang a banner in a gymnasium, and for that we have to exclude young people.

He observes this phenomenon of performance in Quebec schools in a generalized manner, and predicts that there will be impacts on the health of these young people who become sedentary.

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The Phares School Service Center says it is open to finding solutions to improve the system so that students grow up in a rewarding environment.

With information from Gabriel Paré-Asatoory