He fails to realise that winning a trophy is important to a child because it gives him a sense of pride and achievement. Schools should provide, rather than remove, more opportunities for students to win trophies.

The PE head also implied that sports is only about participation. The fact is, sports is also about competitiveness. We cannot concentrate on one and ignore the other. Through competitive sports, students learn key life skills such as discipline, focus, teamwork and team spirit, compromise, hard work, endurance, humility in victory and grace in defeat.

They also get a better understanding of their body and its limitations, which in turn, helps them tackle their studies sensibly.

By eliminating or reducing the number of competitive sports, schools are removing one of the most effective ways to learn key life skills.

If schools truly believe in achieving mass participation in sports, they should organise many inter-class sports competitions in as many athletic events and games - such as badminton, soccer, netball, table-tennis, basketball, volleyball, track and field - especially in the upper primary and secondary schools.

Such a plan will involve more than 80 per cent of the students in at least one competitive inter-class sport. Those who are not involved can volunteer in organising the competitions and learn important life skills as well.

PE sessions can be used for training the students, thereby making PE more meaningful. Many inter-class contests will also create more chances for students to learn leadership skills as more team captains, vice-captains and the like will be needed.

It will create teamwork and boost team spirit in a class. The better students can help their weaker classmates. The school's coaches can hold sports clinics and students can put into practice what they have learnt at PE. The finals of each sport can be organised into a grand finale, which will mark the school's Sports Day.

Naturally, such a plan requires intensive investment in resources. But it is doable, effective and meaningful for the students.

Organising a single mass participation event annually suggests that a school is not serious about sports and is merely going through the motions of holding a sports activity day.

Tony Tan