At school I was never much good at sport. Nothing. Not cricket, not athletics, cross-country running, PE. I'm glad I did them, nonetheless, though I understand that not everybody feels the same way. But there's an assumption in this piece by Naomi Alderman that if children are forced to do something they don't enjoy, it will backfire, turning them against whatever they're forced to do. The problem with the assumption is that often people don't get to know whether they'll enjoy something without there being external pressure on them to do it. Unless Alderman thinks that all education should be on a 'self-service' basis from the earliest age - a system I wouldn't like to see tried out on any child - there's bound to be a non-voluntary element in it. Besides, there are other areas of compulsory learning in school than competitive games.
This should not be read as an argument for some harsh regime in which children are made to do what they hate, come what may. It isn't. Education works best where learning is propelled by the interest and motivation of the learner. But it isn't all easy and it isn't just what you feel like when you feel like it. That some won't like one or other activity within a programme of education aimed at them is not by itself a conclusive objection to that activity.