Jayne Dowle: Crunch time for school sport as cuts deliver own goal before the Olympics

He thinks that retired army officers should be sent into schools to deal with discipline.

Well, I wish him luck getting that one past the governors.

But isn't he missing a trick? Wouldn't it make more sense to put them in charge of sport and PE? Come next April, there will definitely be a situation vacant. Make that more than 3,000 situations vacant. Every single school sport co-ordinator, almost one in every secondary school, will have gone, swept away as part of the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review.

How can a nation which is less than two years away from hosting the greatest sporting event in the world – the Olympics – stand by and watch as the young athletes of tomorrow are tripped up before they even get past the starting line? So much for the legacy of creating a nation dedicated to sport, as promised by those who worked so hard to secure the Olympic bid.

I'm sure that Lord Coe, so long a loyal supporter of the Conservative Party, is really impressed. And don't even get me started on the fact that we have some of the most obese children in the Western world.

I'm not arguing that charging up and down a hockey field in the rain is the answer, but anything which helps children recognise the simple equation that moving more and eating less is the key to good health has got to help.

And the cuts will affect primary schools, too, where sports specialists help deliver activities and mentor teachers in how to encourage even the youngest children to get active.

It will also sever links between schools and local sports clubs, a vital way of fostering talented youngsters, and lead to the demise of countless out-of-school and holiday schemes which school sport co-ordinators organise. And, incidentally, when the Government talks about encouraging entrepreneurship, doesn't it realise that there is a whole thriving sector of sports coaches running their own businesses which provide activities in schools? What kind of message does it send to them?

A few years ago, I advised my friend's son, no academic genius, but with fantastic football skills and tons of patience with kids, to make the most of his talents and train as a sports coach. I'm beginning to wish I'd told him to become a motor mechanic instead.

The Government says it will be up to schools to juggle their budgets to ensure that sport stays on the curriculum. But there are always going to be more pressing demands on the cash. My children's own headteacher says that she intends to teach some sport herself, but you're not telling me that every primary school teacher will be up for that.

Whatever way you look at it, more than 160m a year has been cut from the school sports budget, effectively ending the School Sport Partnerships which delivered sport in schools.

Education Secretary Michael Gove plans to replace them with Olympics-style school championships, funded by the National Lottery. That's to encourage the focus on competitive sport mooted over the summer, if you remember.

Now, I've got nothing against competitive sport. And this is from someone who was so rubbish as the netball team goalie that we once lost a match 17-0, but winning and losing are important lessons along the way.

Despite my own ineptitude, I think it is vitally important for children and young people to take part in something. And for the record, I did like gymnastics. So even the most reluctant child, with the right kind of encouragement, can find a physical activity they enjoy. Cheerleading, dance, rock-climbing... apparently, Mr Gove was dismayed to find that these all came under the heading of "school sport". But I say, if it gets kids interested, what's the problem?

Well, the problem is that if you take away the infrastructure that gives children the chance to try out sports in school, then you might as well accept that we are never going to create a nation of sporting heroes. Do Mr Gove and his advisers assume that our next world-class sportsmen and women are going to appear, as if by magic, from the changing rooms? If they are lucky enough to have changing rooms, that is.

Do they not understand that for thousands of children, taking part in regular sport in school is the only chance they will ever get to prove their ability? Any parent whose child plays football, or cricket, or tennis, indeed any sport outside school will know of the sacrifices that have to be made to keep them in kit, pay their subs, and find the money to put petrol in the car to ferry them to and from fixtures.

Effectively, we are making participative sport the preserve of the middle-classes. And if we keep on being squeezed with taxes and benefit cuts, we'll end up on the bench, too. This is a serious own goal from the G overnment, and one that will make Great Britain look seriously unfit to host the Olympics in 2012.