Craic On

Festival Sunday at Muff Festival is annually a family fun day with various activities including sports in the festival field. It is a day for the entire family to come out and have some fun.

The sports can sometimes get competitive but it’s important for it to remain a fun experience. For young children racing I’ve always believed it’s important to encourage them that it’s ‘the taking part that counts’. Pressuring children to ‘win’ is not what sport is about. The taking part and enjoying it should always be foremost.

So when I heard about our very own fitness guru Mia clearing the medals table yesterday I was shocked! Mia is admired by young and old in the community and is looked up to by all. Mia entered the adult sprint race yesterday afternoon. She readily admits that she was in it to win! But apparently ‘winning’ wasn’t enough. As she approached the finish line, she decided to take a run and jump and headed for the medals table, sending ALL the medals to the ground. Had she just stopped at the line, she would of course have got her gold medal! But no, she had to have the lot!!!!

So if you happen to meet Mia out and about today (she may be a little worse for wear too!), just stop her and offer her some words of wisdom: ‘it’s the taking part that counts!’