It used to be if you were good at sport you could almost sail through school, they said you got the girls, and some did, you had the respect of most of the school even if academically you may not have been the brightest.
Obviously it’s a long time since I was at school and things have definitely changed, some for the good and some for the bad. Bullying was not pleasant, I am sure most of us suffered it at some stage in our school days. It was a fact of life and it helped forge us into the people that we are today. I am not condoning bullying, but saying that it is part of growing up.
I therefore find it embarrassing that British School boy diver, Tom Daley’s parents are moaning about some “childish name- calling” and are looking to find their son another school. Do they really think that that will help? If anything it will exacerbate the situation, as when he turns up at his new school what are the kids going to do as soon as they recognise him? Instead of moaning about it, be a parent and teach your child how to deal with the name-calling. If he is to be the elite athlete everyone says he will be, he is going to have to learn to start toughening up mentally sooner or later. Be there for him as parents and guide him how to cope with the name-calling, as should he succeed it will be nothing should the tabloids start ripping his performance to bits, as could happen down the track.
