Suppose that a part of this regime were devoted to instruction in the organisation and leadership of games and leisure activities for younger children - bearing in mind that 7-11 year olds can - out of school - cause very great mischief (for example with the lift system in high rise blocks) and absorb hundreds of police man-hours in investigation. Suppose, then, that a portion of the time spent on the current, conventional PT programmes were devoted to training 16-18 year olds, say, in how to organise legitimate activities, particularly in back streets, waste ground and where there may be an absence of football pitches, but not excluding the possibility of using public parks.
Some heads of primary schools might be ready to allow a small group of lads from these institutions, under supervision or escort, to visit their schools and discover what activities their children respond to. The idea would be that they would undertake this responsibility on their release. Having accepted and placed hundreds of borstal youths in situations where they have been entrusted with the care of others, the basic notion fills me with no dismay at all. But this kind of undertaking would be non-residential - and some kind of sympathetic supervision would be desirable from the YMCA, after-care officers, the Sports Council, parks and recreation staff, younger police or cadets.
Other considerations apart, this venture (a) might lead to encouraging old games (as portrayed by Breughel centuries ago) and new ones, not requiring expensive equipment or expansive playing fields; and (b) might represent one very small step in more young people actually playing rather than watching others play.
Alec Dickson, 19 Blenheim Road, London W4 1VB (tel 081 944 7437).