March-Pasts in schools

Why do schools have a march-past as part of their sports-day? It's certainly not a sport. Not certain what athletic abilities are being tested in this. If anything, it's only torture to those forced to take part.

Maybe this is a case of sour grapes. Maybe some kids do enjoy being part of this. Though personally never saw any fun in spending hours in the sun trying to synchronize steps and staring into vacant space. Was fortunate to never make it to the final squad. Always got thrown out after the 1st couple of practice sessions, for being out of step, and sometimes messing up others' routine as well. To this day, I do not know whether to lift my left foot, or stomp it down, or do something else, when 'left' is called out. The only time I participated was as house captain. Walking on my own up-front it didn't matter that I wasn't in sync with the rest.

Equally baffling is the awarding of a prize for best march-past squad. And usually the judges don't have a clue of the nuances involved. They just go, "Team x gets 1st because I didn't see them make any mistakes." Sort of sticks out from the rest of the events of the day, where performances are clearly measured in terms of time or distance.

Time to do away with this mock-war drill.