Why can't our kids get muddy playing winter sport? |
I am 100 per cent one of those parents who has thanked God when kids' winter sport has been cancelled because it's wet and dreary and we can hide back under the doona.
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BUT, more recently, I am also one of the increasingly frustrated hordes of parents who has despaired as the ACT government has closed its sportsgrounds week after week because it's too wet and cold, preventing kids from training or playing sport. Once is fun; week after week is not.
After plenty of stops and starts, the sportsgrounds did finally reopen on Friday for training and weekend play. Woohoo!
"The ACT government thanks sports peak bodies and users of the sportsgrounds for their patience whilst grounds were closed due to the wet weather," a statement read.
And a lot of patience has been tested.
Some of my best rants: Can't our kids get muddy? What is the problem playing a winter sport in winter conditions? Why are our kids being denied the pure pleasure of playing on a sodden ground, sliding over the tryline and getting proper muddy? Let's just wrap our kids in cotton wool and enjoy being the most risk-averse society possible.
Yet, it's true there has been a lot of rain this winter. And sport and society have moved on from memories of our free-range 1970s or 1980s childhoods playing in the slosh. For better or worse.
Local sports groups have been toeing the line but starting to become vocal about the need for better drainage on the sportsgrounds, considering the fees they pay to the government. There is also some questions around why the need for a blanket closure and why kids can't play when they are likely to do less damage to a muddy field than an adult.
The official line from the ACT government was that "with low winter temperatures and periods of heavy rainfall the muddy, slippery and boggy surfaces pose safety risks to the community and increase the risk of damage to sportsgrounds if used".
First to the rain. The Bureau of Meteorology says 115.8mm of rain fell in June at the Canberra Airport, which was more than double the mean for June (51.2mm). At Tuggeranong, 101.8mm fell in June (almost double the mean of 54.8mm).
Some years in June, we've had barely any rain. Only 2.4mm fell at the airport during the month in 2017. In Tuggeranong in June 2017, 1.4mm fell.
July this year has also been wet. So far, 61.4mm has fallen in Tuggeranong (mean is 38.2 mm) and 54mm at the Canberra Airport (July mean is 32mm).
But it's not as if we haven't had a lot of rain before - in June 2016 Canberra airport recorded 144.2 mm and Tuggeranong copped 184mm. Shouldn't our grounds be built to cope with that?
It's not just public grounds that........