In this talk we will look deeply into the child’s needs in relation to sports, and how we may help to give them a creative expression appropriate to their age.

A controversial subject given the prevailing trends to place children at a younger and younger age in sports. In this talk we will look deeply into the child’s needs and how we may help to give them a creative expression appropriate to their age. We will explore...

• Whether sport is a healthy activity. If so at what age should it begin?
• If some sports are better than others for different age groups.
• The causes of sports fanaticism and its relationship to compulsive and disturbed behaviour.
• The `victor or victim’ syndrome.
• The point of view that highly structured pre-puberty sport is an attack on the wholesome development of the independent will and the imaginative forces of the child.
• Negative effects of sport introduced too young and/or in the wrong way
• The positive effects of sport, particularly after puberty
• The effects of children’s participation in martial arts and ballet.
• A 10 point check list of important criteria when considering a class or a club, and how it is coached.
• An ideal movement programme for school and home that has at its source the nurturing of childhood.