Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,

Welcome back to week four and what a special week this week promises to be with St Mary’s making it’s first appearance on ‘Stars on Stage” since 2003. I have had a sneak preview of our school performance and it is stunning.

I wish to thank here all of the people who have been involved in making it happen, especially Miss Victoria Cooper for the hours of work and effort above and beyond that she has put in, also for the energy and enthusiasm that she has brought to our item. It is easy to see that all of the participants are having fun and that is what makes it such a success.

I would also like to congratulate the pupils from our school who have achieved representative honours for this year. The demands on young people to achieve in sport has increased exponentially over the last decade. In the ‘old days’ I played for the Otago Primary Rugby team and we had one game a season, I think that I would have played a total of about eight or nine games in a year. Consider how many games children play now days, and they often play a number of sports.

I am a great advocate for sport but I think we need to ensure a balance or we will finish up with pupils of late primary school or early secondary age ‘burning out’ from too much competitive sport. How much is too much? That is the 30 billion dollar question? But I think one aspect of the answer is in the first part of my writing, enjoyment. If the child is enjoying the sport it isn’t too much, if they are asking not to attend a game or a practice then maybe it is.

Have a great week,

Mike Brosnahan