Last updated 11:42, Wednesday, 27 August 2008

COUPLE of years ago I spent some time at a comprehensive school with a group of 12 to 13-year-olds to promote the wearing of cycling helmets.

Golden generation: Cyclist Chris Hoy and swimmer Rebecca Adlington won gold in Beijing and were welcomed back to the country by Gordon Brown, but has a generation of athletes missed out?

They were being encouraged to cycle around obstacles for fun.

One boy really stood out; he had heaps of character and talent. My natural instinct was to encourage him. I was therefore astonished to find that he was being discouraged to shine. In fact he was positively held back. I couldn’t understand why, so I asked his teacher. I was told that children were not to be competitive.

His talent was being ignored and yet the children who struggled were given so much praise. What sort of message is that?

Of course, any child who needs extra help should be encouraged but any child with natural talent should be encouraged too.

To now hear that the PM has spoken out against the decades of politically correct educational theory, which for so long prevented students from being pitted against each other, is a triumph of common sense.

He is calling for a return to discipline which comes from competitive school sports as part of the preparations for the London Olympics in 2012. Competitive sports were driven to the verge of extinction in state schools by the theory that children who lost could be psychologically harmed.

Now we hear that extra funding will encourage competitive sports back into schools.

In sport you get better by challenging yourself against other people and comparing and contrasting your performance. Surely competition is essential. We have encouraged a generation to be afraid to stand out.

Sport isn’t about privileges, it is about hard work and determination and the will to succeed. I will shout about fitness from the roof tops.

I am incensed to think that a whole generation may have lost out. I am also furious to hear people jumping on the bandwagon of our fantastic success in Beijing in the hope of reflective glory. Those athletes have been quietly in the background for years. It may surprise some to know that Bradley Wiggins regularly races in Cumbria and what is more got a Competition Record in 2006 for a 10 mile time trial with a 17 min 57 seconds averaging 33 mph.

I am lucky to now have the support of local media to promote cycling but there was a time it was difficult to be heard. We need to fully back individual sports. We are saturated by football. The true athletes don’t do it for money. They do it for passion. There is nothing wrong with competition but there is everything wrong with complacency.

CAROL WESTMORLAND

Cumrew