I celebrated the recent achievement of two British sportsmen: Lewis Hamilton and Teo Geoghegan Hart. Whilst Lewis Hamilton needed few introductions, Teo Geoghegan Hart was possibly a new name in the sporting pantheon. Over half term Teo stormed to victory in the Giro d’Italia thus securing his first major cycling victory.
I contrasted Teo’s achievement with the career of the disgraced rider Lance Armstrong. I told the boys of Lance Armstrong’s remarkable story having fought back from life-threatening cancer to winning the Tour de France seven times in a row. I told the boys of how earlier in my teaching career I had used this story in one of my assemblies highlighting how determination can triumph over adversity. I would like to think that the boys were genuinely shocked when I then revealed the second half of the Lance Armstrong story when all his wrongdoings were exposed.
As a weekend middle-aged cyclist, I have recently taken to Strava to record all my rides into the Worcestershire and Shropshire countryside. There is no way of cheating Strava as every part of your ride is recorded and compared against previous times. Given that all other sporting outlets are denied through lockdown (or in my case age), I find myself constantly pushing to try and beat previous runs. After more and more attempts at certain sections, marginal gains become the target of my efforts.
As with everything the boys do, we are constantly looking for small measures of improvement. It was a great reassurance to see the boys returning after half term so that we can continue face-to-face teaching in the classroom. Whilst many aspects of life have changed, the core activity of teaching and learning remains largely as before. It is clear from seeing a number of pieces of the boys' work in recent weeks that many are making more than just marginal gains. Let us hope that the announcements by Government this week have their desired effect and that we can continue to make the most of learning opportunities.