Ballet and school sports

[robin64]

DD had a PE student come and do cheerleading with them at school last term. I heard of girls getting dropped on their heads!! I don't think it is a good idea, not sure there is enough expertise and experience to coach it properly. Luckily my DD is too tall to be thrown in the air but I wouldn't be happy with her doing it again.

 

Kitschqueen - ouch! your poor DD.

[glowlight]

When my dd was at school she chose to do GCSE PE, because it reduced her practical sessions to just one per week. She had a very understanding PE teacher in GCSE, who after I had spoken to her about auditions and risk of injury, let dd pull out of any practical which she felt might be risky for dancing.

[dancerbabe82]

I find this all a bit bizarre... for a start, professional ballet has a much higher injury rate than sports like rugby (80% of professional dancers who participated in a research project by Dance UK, reported an injury in one year, whereas the stats in rugby is more like 30%). The only difference between ballet injuries and injuries sustained in PE is that ballet injuries tend to be chronic, overuse injuries which take much longer to heal, and PE injuries tend to be the more acute, accidental injuries that heal fairly quickly.

 

Any sport that involves running in trainers involves much LESS impact on the joints than ballet jumps, with legs turned out, in shoes which are about as supportive as bare feet. I get that fields might have pot holes etc but if they did, wouldn't every kid that ran on them get twisted ankles? Dance training probably helps kids avoid injuries on uneven surfaces because of the extra stability that the ankle develops, compared to non-dancers.

 

Something else to remember, is that children are children! You can't protect them from everything. an old pupil of mine who is currently at vocational school has just had 5 weeks off school because she broke her elbow doing cartwheels while playing outside at the weekend!

[Anna C]

No, I see what you're saying, but firstly I am following a dance physio's advice (and what would be the point of paying to see her if I'm going to ignore her advice?), secondly, a lot of the girls who pound around our rabbit-holey school field DO get twisted ankles, and dd's ankles are SO hypermobile that I don't want her to risk a sprain. I must have sprained the same ankle at least twice or three times a year as a teenager and each sprain made the ankle weaker.

 

Ballet classes, exams, holiday courses etc cost a heck of a lot of money! Our school seems to suffer more than its fair share of PE related accidents, and the thought of children working their socks off for a Vocational exam, for example, then getting walloped with a hockey stick, spraining an ankle doing high jump, or injuring an achilles hurdling is not appealing.

 

Of course you can't protect them against everything, but at the same time, why take unnecessary risks if they can be avoided?

[Tulip]

I understand and agree with a lot of what has been said and why. I just feel a little sad that because my daughter has never done PE at school she has missed out on opportunities such as rounders, net ball, cross country running etc. She tells me that she doesn't like that sort of thing anyway, I said how do you know, the last time you played things like that was when you were at primary school. I was very sporty and competitive at sport, I was lucky enough to learn how to throw a javelin, discus, cross counrty running etc. She has never had the chance to learn any of these skills and never will. I am saying all this, however she has no interest in any of the above and if she thought for one minute that injuries occuring from PE would harm her beloved ballet WELL.

[balletla]

I think the point is that anything that could potentially add to the risk of injury should be minimised. Once an ankle/leg is broken, there will always be a weakness there that could cause problems for ballet in the future. Why would you risk it doing sport that is often poorly managed in schools. My DD had a ballet injury that kept her off PE genuinely for about 3 months and then we managed to spin that out so that she didn't do PE for about 2 years! The PE staff were hopeless at understanding that she had to warm up properly etc.

[Moneypenny]

I agree Ribbons ... as I said earlier in this thread, if ballet is the passion and the ambition, don't take extra risks on the sports field if you have a choice! And to Spanner's point, all things ballet training, summer schools etc cost more than a small fortune, so to miss out on exams, summer schools and costly training through a sports injury would be devastating both for dd and potentially a waste of lots of money!

[emsloves2dance]

hmm very interesting topic, my DD is a current year 7 she never complained about P.E in Primary school however since starting secondary she hates it with a passion which is something i find very strange as she loves cycling, running, swimming etc but does not want to do P.E at school although have told her she has no choice (at the present time) but will monitor this over time

[Sniffymum]

Hi Rowan - think you and I must have twins.

 

My dd is 11 - only just over 1.4M and 4 1/2 stone but even though she is now at secondary school she can beat all the other 100+ girls in the bleep test and cross country. Guess its the disproportionately long legs combined with the stamina that does it. She too is pretty hopeless with a ball (unless its an exercise ball of course).

[meadowblythe]

A different perspective - two of the students in our sixth form were being moderated for PE today. One was doing Irish Dancing (currently in the World Top 10, and has been for some time ..) and the other was debating modern then ballet, or ballet then modern. She has been a York Scholar and JA/MA. Admittedly neither is aspiring to a career in dance but the Irish dancer in particular is one of the best respected athletes in our school.

 

Meadowblythe

[Balletpointe]

My dd loved P.E,. her year head was also head of P.E. in unhocky no one was allowed to tackle her in case they hit her ankles so she always had a clear run. Most schools are supportive but are unaware of how much are children do outside school. As a parent I was unwilling to let her do ice-skating now 19 dance is her career and she is a flyer in an adult cheer-leading group for fun.