Why are the olympics offered as sports options at American schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Watching handball made me wonder why we never did that in PE class. We did a lot of the other sports and that one needs so much less equipment than field hockey, for instance.

This needs to be taught in US schools.

European schools teach it.

Our school district used to have handball as an intramural sport for upper elementary (4-6 grades) then covid happened and it took a couple of years before we even got basketball and volleyball back.

[Anonymous]

I dont think the education system should cater to olympic potential. Most high acheiving athletes compete outside of school, and that works for everyone.

I think there is the opportunity to do ALL of these sports anywhere in America.

Also, America usually wins the medal count so what are you going on about?

Being an olympian is not about having greater access to sports its about being driven to compete on bigger stages. Adding handball to middle school is not going to create olympians.

I actually did go to high school with a former track medal winner. She was a great runner but no one labeled her an olympian. That didnt come about until she went to college.

There are dedicated clubs in the dc area for fencing, ping pong, swimming, gymnastics, volleyball, crew, horseback riding, just to name a few.

[Anonymous]

Didn’t some of the Fairfax County high schools have Olympic rifle teams?

Whatever happened to those? Any medals??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Olympics are a reward for people who waste their lives in these marginal sports. Pushing more kids into them would detract from their lives.

This. The Olympics rewards rich people who make their kid specialize in a rich people sport and give up their childhood at age 7.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Olympics are a reward for people who waste their lives in these marginal sports. Pushing more kids into them would detract from their lives.

This. The Olympics rewards rich people who make their kid specialize in a rich people sport and give up their childhood at age 7.

So why are so many Olympic champions in judo, taekwondo, shot put, discus, ping ping, badminton, etc so not rich.

I get what you are saying for fencing or crew which are traditionally “country club” sports…but most olympians aren’t rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gosh you've got a victim mentality OP. A St. Lucian woman won a gold medal for running beating out a lot of well-funded opponents, including Americans.

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/03/g-s1-15238/julien-alfred-shacarri-st-lucia-paris-100m
“Growing up, I used to be on the field struggling, with no shoes, running barefoot, running in my school uniform, running all over the place," she said. "We barely have the right facilities. The stadium is not fixed. I hope this gold medal will help St. Lucia build a new stadium, to help the sport grow.”

Meh - she's honed her craft in the US at a US college, like many of the elite T&F around the world.

[Anonymous]

Wait until OP gets a load of the Winter Olympics 😆

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dont think the education system should cater to olympic potential. Most high acheiving athletes compete outside of school, and that works for everyone.

I think there is the opportunity to do ALL of these sports anywhere in America.

Also, America usually wins the medal count so what are you going on about?

Being an olympian is not about having greater access to sports its about being driven to compete on bigger stages. Adding handball to middle school is not going to create olympians.

I actually did go to high school with a former track medal winner. She was a great runner but no one labeled her an olympian. That didnt come about until she went to college.

There are dedicated clubs in the dc area for fencing, ping pong, swimming, gymnastics, volleyball, crew, horseback riding, just to name a few.

Yes, there IS the opportunity to do ALL of these sports anywhere in America — as long as your parents or someone else can pay for your training, transportation, and other costs associated with “access”. Ice skating and dressage pose particular challenges, but so do gymnastics, fencing, swimming and diving. Many areas don’t have public pools, and not all public pools offer instruction.
PP, don’t assume that your own experiences when it comes to access are anything close to being universal.

[Anonymous]

IMO The Olympics are way to euro centric. Why don't the European teams compete as the "Eurozone" or something. Or conversely why can't we send a delegation for each state.

The problem is that for Americans there are very few Olympians. Our swim club had someone that passed the time trials, but didn't get a spot for example.

I personally would prefer to see the Olympics receive less attention. Why don't cities have sport swim teams that compete with each other? For example.

In the world thought there are only a few money sports, soccer, NFL, basketball, cricket maybe tennis or ice hockey.

Which basically means yeah everything else is a country club sport. No, I don't want to sponsor country club kids to go to the Olympics.

[Anonymous]

I'm more worried about education and the lack of civics. Kids don't know math, history English etc Let's worry about academics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IMO The Olympics are way to euro centric. Why don't the European teams compete as the "Eurozone" or something. Or conversely why can't we send a delegation for each state.

The problem is that for Americans there are very few Olympians. Our swim club had someone that passed the time trials, but didn't get a spot for example.

I personally would prefer to see the Olympics receive less attention. Why don't cities have sport swim teams that compete with each other? For example.

In the world thought there are only a few money sports, soccer, NFL, basketball, cricket maybe tennis or ice hockey.

Which basically means yeah everything else is a country club sport. No, I don't want to sponsor country club kids to go to the Olympics.

How are they euro-centric?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Watching handball made me wonder why we never did that in PE class. We did a lot of the other sports and that one needs so much less equipment than field hockey, for instance.

Handball doesn't have enough violence to be popular in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IMO The Olympics are way to euro centric. Why don't the European teams compete as the "Eurozone" or something. Or conversely why can't we send a delegation for each state.

The problem is that for Americans there are very few Olympians. Our swim club had someone that passed the time trials, but didn't get a spot for example.

I personally would prefer to see the Olympics receive less attention. Why don't cities have sport swim teams that compete with each other? For example.

In the world thought there are only a few money sports, soccer, NFL, basketball, cricket maybe tennis or ice hockey.

Which basically means yeah everything else is a country club sport. No, I don't want to sponsor country club kids to go to the Olympics.

How are they euro-centric?

It's difficult to explain in so many words but consider the history of the Olympics when it was started who started it and what the early games consist of. Oh let's watch the Swiss volley ball team. Europe is a collection of small countries and gets to send more competitors than they actually deserve. I stated it above. There are many Americans that qualify but don't get to go.

The Greek basketball, Serbian basketball.... etc. Why can't we send Golden State the Mavericks and the Celtics? That would be interesting. We could sweep the metals.

[Anonymous]

China has a national program that screens toddlers for talent and then deveelops it till their olympic debut. I think the US isnt that pressed.

[Anonymous]

Ever heard of track and field?
Field Hockey?
Volleyball?
Man do some research.