St Gallen school sports day cancelled due to over-competitive parents
The Local - [email protected] •
8 Sep, 2017
Updated Fri 8 Sep 2017 10:03 CEST
An annual running race for primary school children at a St Gallen school has been cancelled this year after the authorities felt parents were too competitive about their children’s performance.
The race in the Rotmonten district of St Gallen has been a tradition for more than 20 years, the St Galler Tagsblatt reported on Wednesday.
But in recent years the race has become increasingly popular with parents, who push their children to be the fastest ‘Rotmöntler’ and question the decisions of the school judges.
Some parents have complained at what they saw as inaccurate timings, pushing organizers to use a chronometer, slow motion video and photo-finish technology, something the school felt was too complicated, said the paper.
St Gallen schools minister Markus Buschor told the paper that parents took the race too seriously and wanted their child to win at any cost – at the expense of fair-play and sportsmanship.
Such behaviour was inappropriate for a primary school sports day, he said.
However he added other factors were also involved in the decision to cancel this year’s event.
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The race in the Rotmonten district of St Gallen has been a tradition for more than 20 years, the St Galler Tagsblatt reported on Wednesday.
But in recent years the race has become increasingly popular with parents, who push their children to be the fastest ‘Rotmöntler’ and question the decisions of the school judges.
Some parents have complained at what they saw as inaccurate timings, pushing organizers to use a chronometer, slow motion video and photo-finish technology, something the school felt was too complicated, said the paper.
St Gallen schools minister Markus Buschor told the paper that parents took the race too seriously and wanted their child to win at any cost – at the expense of fair-play and sportsmanship.
Such behaviour was inappropriate for a primary school sports day, he said.
However he added other factors were also involved in the decision to cancel this year’s event.
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