of speed in the playground, sometimes involving a direct head-to-head confrontation. At
Petersfield and Westmoor Abbey, some of the playground games (such as the chase-
game, Bulldog, at Petersfield, and Runouts at Westmoor Abbey) had been deliberately
created around a competitive test of speed, for being a fast runner meant that you were
more often a winner, and losers risked subordination and exclusion. The following
exchange comes from two boys at Petersfield:
|
Jameil: |
If you’re a slow coach, you won’t be able to catch with us...’cos |
|
JS: |
They’re the fastest, and is that quite important for the games you |
|
Jameil: |
As we’re the fastest we can get to the other side easily |
|
Matthew: |
And then when we play with Rod, he always gets caught first, but |
Being fast also meant that a boy could excel in a greater range of sports, especially in
football. The relationship between sport and popularity/status is also affirmed in this
extract from Westmoor Abbey.
|
JS: |
How important is it to be good at sport? |
|
Chris: |
Quite important because if you’re good at sport, it means that |
|
Ryan: |
If you’re good at games, and you’re a fast runner, you can get past |
|
Chris: |
You get pretty popular if you’re good at sport |
Bodily strength was also another important resource and was a prerequisite in physical
games that were deliberately designed by the boys to test toughness and stamina. As was
the case with the fastest runners, the boys were also able to name the strongest boy in the
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