Spectator sport is in ascendancy.

If it is not football, it is cricket. If it is not golf, it is tennis. And overarching all is the glowing rainbow of the Olympics.

Even someone virulently anti-sports must be finding it pretty hard to avoid at the moment.

This is all very on-message for some elements of the educational world, who see competitive team sports as a wonderful metaphor for life.

Failing schools have been turned round by super heads introducing lots of sport and education ministers are forever urging more team games.

The claims made for team sports are many and various, ranging from developing leadership skills and encouraging a sense of belonging and loyalty to an opportunity for children who don’t excel in other areas of school life to build their confidence and shine.

Engaging in it, as opposed to just watching it, is healthy, wholesome fun, a longed-for break from book work.

Against all the perceived advantages, are the negative possibilities for those who never get chosen for a team and whose adolescence is blighted by a sense of failure as a result.

The amount of aerobic exercise for the not-very-keen team player can be minimal. A cursory glance at any football match suggests team sports encourage tribalism in its least attractive form.

If, however, the focus is shifted from team games to physical activity in general, the educational advantages are far less ambiguous.

More or less every piece of research that has ever been done shows broad educational advantages for increasing physical activity for children.

Exam results improve, self confidence soars and youth is healthier.

Where everyone can engage and achieve, there is an unarguable advantage.

Girls in co-educational schools are particularly likely to opt out of team sports from about 12 onwards.

In a society that encourages teenage girls to see their bodies as sexual objects for the pleasure of others, it is particularly important that education encourages them to see their bodies as a source of strength for themselves.

Individual physical activity seems to encourage this when the attraction of competitive team sport has palled for some.

We need a bit of balance. Yes, save the green spaces around schools or create them, so children can be outside running about.

Encourage children to join teams in and out of school.

But winning and losing isn’t the only or the best way to increase participation in physical activity.

The Olympics may be a good spectacle but it doesn’t necessarily lead to a long term increase in the benefits of physical activity for all.

* Sarah Evans, Principal, King Edward VI High School for Girls