Call for caution with school sports

If one expression sums up how the institutions of our society have coped with the Covid-19 pandemic, it must be: Caught between a rock and a hard place.

That is exactly the situation education authorities find themselves in today as they meet to discuss whether to allow some school sports to continue, or to ban all participation until the Covid-19 third wave dies down.

While it is generally accepted that the risk of contracting Covid-19 is lower among younger people and is also reduced markedly outdoors, the fact remains that many school sports bring children into close contact with each other.

The possibility that Covid-19 can be spread in such conditions is certainly something to be worried about – especially in the light of the fact that eight schools in Gauteng having to temporarily close because a significant number of pupils had contracted Covid-19 infections, which the education department attributed to sports events.

But, as the Council of Education Ministers gathers today to consider whether to halt all school sports for the foreseeable future, the other side of the coin raises significant concerns, too.

For a start, scores, if not hundreds, of school sports coaches face being penniless as they lose their source of income. Then, according to experts like sports scientist Sean van Staden, the impacts on the children themselves of being deprived of sporting opportunities could be severe.

Without exercise, many could gain weight and some could drift into obesity, which is already an increasing problem for South African youngsters. That weight gain could, in turn, contribute to feelings of self-loathing and depression.

However, young people who become infected through school sports could take Covid-19 into their homes, where vulnerable parents and relatives could become more numbers in the deaths column.

So, we think it is better to err on the side of caution.