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Being comfortable with our own identities

Fu Minxia diving

 

One of my favourite Olympic stories involves Fu Minxia, a waif-like 13 year old whose diving exploits off the 10m board with the city of Barcelona as the back-drop, earned her victory in 1992. Her tale, told in Simon Barnes’ brilliant A Book of Heroes, is not just about gold medals though; it is about determination, perseverance, composure and, ultimately, the importance of working out your true identity.

Fu Minxia was plucked from her poor, working-class parents at an early age due to her gymnastic talent. The Chinese sporting regime at this time was to train gifted youngsters and push them to their limits. Fu Minxia was found to lack the extreme flexibility to make it as a top-level gymnast so she was diverted into diving instead. Amazingly, when she first began to plunge into the pool as an eight year old, she could not swim – her coaches had to tie a rope around her waist and hoist her out!

With a training regime of ten hours a day, seven days a week, plus school study on top, Fu Minxia’s life was rarely her own and so, despite the enjoyment that came from success, she had no time to be herself or understand who she was. Four years after winning in Barcelona, she competed at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta where she picked up two more gold medals. Then, as a seventeen year old at the peak of her talents, she retired, her popularity forcing the authorities to allow her to go to university to try to lead a normal life.

In her words, ‘I just wanted to be a kid, without any pressures.’ And for the first time in her life, she could eat and do what she liked. After a couple of years, she looked so different to her former self that someone asked if she really had been an Olympic diving champion. Bristling at this, it made her take notice. ‘It made me realise I loved the sport and could do it on my terms,’ she said upon reflection.

Fu Mingxia’s terms were to train again but for half days only and take weekends off. Soon she qualified for the Olympics again, competing for China once more, but also, more importantly, competing for herself. At the Sydney Olympics of 2000, she won her fourth gold medal, again with a near faultless display, after which she retired for good, properly satisfied and, this time, happy.

The point is that in order to be truly happy, we have to be comfortable with our own identities. If we do not know who we are, it is easy to get lost or drawn into things that others want to do. And then we will never be satisfied. So the message ‘be yourself’ rings loud and clear and it is absolutely vital right now in this age of on-line learning and reliance upon screens.

There are many great things about on-line learning but it is more intense than a normal school day. Looking and speaking in front of a screen of staring faces, coupled with your own image projected back is contributing to self-doubt in some children, particularly those of an age when Fu Minxia first won gold. Early adolescence is a challenging time anyway and some children are retreating, out of fear of being judged by their peers. St Andrew’s strives for a culture of acknowledgement as opposed to judgement and we have been reminding the children of that this week. We have spoken about accepting others for who they are and with that will come acceptance of who you are too. Above all, we have said, ‘be yourself and be proud’!

There is plenty of variety in our offering and I would like to draw attention to Mr Shouksmith’s Weekly Challenge which makes a welcome return. Details are on the front page of Padlet (click here for the front page of Padlet) and this week the challenge is to build a house of cards. We look forward to seeing photographic evidence of home-made attempts! Also on the Padlet link you will see ideas for wellbeing activities and physical pursuits – please do look at them. Mrs Piper is also continuing to run her listening service if any child would like to make contact with her. The sporting challenge for each House to complete the distance (970km) from Land’s End to John O’Groats in the fastest time has been fiercely contested this week. Rovers surged into a big lead last weekend but Sea Kings have clawed them back and now stand just 1km behind, both Houses having covered over 690km already! Impressive contributions have come in from Annushka Birch and Harry Imison while, among the staff, Miss Lancefield and Mrs Kemp are leading from the front. On the music front, the ‘weekly playlists’ will be making a welcome return next week so do watch this space. Also, I am delighted to report that the results for the ABRSM and Trinity music exams that were taken at the end of last term are outstanding. Over half were passed with distinction so well done to all.

Thank you once again for your support. Have a good weekend everyone!