The country's five biggest sporting codes are vowing to be less competitive and more fun as they try to tackle a growing number of teens dropping out.
The country's biggest sporting bodies vow to establish a less competitive and more fun environment for kids was met with scepticism today, with fears around how a lack of competitive exposure would shape children's development.
New Zealand Cricket, NZ Football, Hockey NZ, Netball NZ and New Zealand Rugby announced the signing of a statement of intent today to make major changes to the way kids play sport.
The proposed measures of changing the competitive mindset so it is more inclusive and not solely focused on winning was quickly addressed by critics including double Olympic gold medallist rower Eric Murray, who said competitiveness was a part of life, and sport should reflect that.
However, leading child development expert and Neuroscience educator Nathan Wallis has heaped praise on the campaign, slamming the idea that competitive sport was crucial to a child's learning.
"They're children, not adults. You don't learn how to be an adult successfully by being thrown into the deep end of the pool, that's the whole point of childhood," Wallis told the Herald.
"They will have loads of opportunities to learn to lose in life, life's full of opportunities, we shouldn't have to create opportunities to teach them how to lose."
The leaders of the sporting bodies believed the attempt to make sport less competitive for children wasn't about minimising the importance of competition or winning, but making sure every kid had a quality experience in sport.
Wallis, who hosted the fascinating documentary 'All in the Mind,' agreed that balance was key to creating a prosperous sporting environment for children, pointing out how an over-emphasis on winning can inflict detrimental effects on a growing mind.
"It's all about balance in sport, play is so valuable for children, not just sport alone," Wallis said. "We shouldn't have a 14-year-old kid weightlifting to try and maximise his muscle strength to win the competition when it's going to screw up his whole development and future.
"People make it that you've either got to focus on competition and only focus on the winner or you have to give everyone a certificate and not have a winner but there's actually a healthy balance in between. You can foster brilliance and foster winning and also have an environment that is good for everybody else in the team that values the skills you get from playing sports.
"We want our kids to have a balanced curriculum. Having play emphasised alongside structured sport is a really good move."
With the initiative already in motion, each code is set to start supporting parents and coaches to think about what kids wanted - such as fun and playing with friends - rather than what adults wanted.
The sporting organisations have also committed to making sure all kids irrespective of level had a quality experience and are supported to play multiple sports while raising awareness of over-training and over-loading.
