Nopesport Urban League 2010

[DM]

NeilC appears to confirm what Mrs H suspected, it's a child protection issue.

Regarding the role of selectors facing "pushy" parents questions when selections are announced, selectors should stick to the current methods which unless I've missed something are performance in a nonimated list of races and all known form. And stick to a policy of the selectors decision is final. And grow a thick skin and learn to ignore the pushy parents pleadings.

How often are selections based on all known form anyway? Do adults not selected for teams wave the rankings lists in selectors faces? I don't think they do as they respect the selectors decisions, if there is a minority who take offence then let that thick skin come into play.

Of the parents I know, I don't see any who are pushing their children to do more than they want to. As Mrs H says, if they are motivated they will work towards reaching their personal goals. It can be more a case of holding them back a bit than pushing.

[andypat]

This baffles me! We send 14 year olds to compete for Britain at the Olympics. Whats the issue with ranking under 16s?

As for selection for squads - if its a clear and transparent process ( and made clear whether ranking lists are used for this) then I still cant see a problem. MAybe it isnt a clear and transparent process. My gripe years ago when I didnt make the regional squad (and my mate did) was more that someone didnt sit me down at the time and tell me to get a bit fitter. When i got in the squad the year later it was probably a bit late for me as I'd not enough time to get better before going off to Uni and drinking too much!

[Fourth]

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[awk]

Then things have changed AWK.

Very likely, as has the context, given how long ago I was involved in the process. TBH, I was really only trying to point out that individual perceptions of what parents do and don't do is too narrow to form an informed opinion. It may well be that circumstances have sufficiently changed that counting for ranking is fine. Along with others here, I certainly don't buy the child protection arguments, but on the other hand don't know enough about the ins and outs of the issues on this front to properly comment. As has been pointed out, it's only the juniors who are running TD5 courses, not the case when the decision was originally made. Equally, the new scheme will include more events, so less chasing of races is likely.

Not win-win at all for those juniors who would like to appear in the rankings, and those adults who would like the rankings to be as meaningful as possible.

Totally meaningful - you're simply ranked against other adults. The first half of the statement is a non sequitur. Of course it could be a win situation if somebody doesn't get something they want. (Whether it is here is, of course, open to debate!).