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Editorial
Radio station phone-ins will today be airing the views of thousands of English fans who will blame anyone from the Italian coach Fabio Capello, to the overpaid football stars, the media for over hyping the chances of England, but forgetting one thing, maybe the English are just crap at sport. The hours spent on the sofa watching brain-numbing soaps, or drinking beer in pubs, or hoofing down junk food, will have an effect on the ability of any nation to produce athletes in any field. How many parents bother taking their children to the nearest tennis court, athletics track, football pitch to coach or participate in sport together? How many hours a week does your child play supervised sport with a qualified coach?
The other factor that has not been spoken about is the prevailing "losing culture" that exists in England, we hate people who want to win or have ambitions at winning. There is a knee-jerk reaction to celebrities or wannabe champions expressing intentions to win, somehow this is a "no-no".
As Mayor Johnson today highlighted in his Daily Telegraph article, we have allowed "an educational establishment that developed an aversion to competitive games" and have failed to see children follow the strict regimes in place on the continent that will allow them to become top class athletes. Most primary schools do not have trained physical education instructor's, but classroom teachers who supervise "sports". Those who follow tennis understand that the window of opportunity for a child to become a world class athlete is so small, that according to leading coaches like Nick Bollitieri in tennis, if your child at the age of ten has not been involved in tennis and being coached effectively the road to a career as a professional is highly unlikely.
Moreover the English have again failed to progress in a serious way in the World Cup, this should now mean that we look at ourselves, accept who we are, a mediocre over-hyped nation, that never produces results when we have to. Sport must "go-back-to-basics", and governing bodies with the government, need to engender a spirit of healthy competitiveness, and athleticism with effective coaching methods to help produce sporting excellence, as we did in the past.
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