AIBU to expect team sports to be explained in schools

@ToffeePennie yes the run with the bat or drop the bat was always bloody different depending on which teacher you had or school you were playing against in the schools tournament 😂

I had no idea. I still have no idea of the rules of netball, basketball, hockey, football, cricket or rounders and I was expected to play all of them.
Never had any rules explained to us during Games (what we called PE) when I was at school in the 90s/early 2000s. I remember when we moved I went to a new primary school, first day I had games, we played rounders. I threw the bat down (as was the rule at my previous school) and I got bollocked for “being a danger”. Next school I went to I got shouted at for taking the bat with me!! MAKE UP YOUR MINDS!!

Our school did that 30 years ago. We had PE and Games

PE was a real mixture of things, step aerobics, swimming, trampolining, dance, yoga, circuits but no team/ball/racket sports

Games was Hockey/Netball in the winter, Rounders, Tennis and Athletics in the summer.

Went to a grammar school... The teachers spent a lot of time explaining the rules 😏 I just wanted to go out and whack some balls!

They probably don't! I spent at least 3 years "playing" netball without having a clue about what any of the actual rules were or who I was supposed to pass to and when, or what any of the different roles were, basically no instruction than "SWIVEL" being bellowed when you got the ball (because the previous instruction was "DONT MOVE WHEN YOU HAVE THE BALL" so I just stood there like we were playing musical statues!"

If they only just started they are probably not playing matches as such just practicing passing, positions, defence. The rules will come in when they form teams.

We were taught hockey in first year. But not netball or volleyball, we just had to figure them out while being yelled at for doing it wrong. A far number played netball at primary, so they taught us. None of us had a clue with volleyball though!

No chance at GK in my school at 5ft 2, this automatically went to the tallest. I have quite fond memories of netball, even though I was terrible.

Tennis I never really got and I am almost certain that to this day (in my 45th year) that I have never actually got the ball over the net.

I'm short so no one ever wanted me near the goal 😂

@Needmorelego that was probably also the appeal of Centre.

To be honest, I spent a lot of time forging my dads signature to get out of PE as I was just shockingly bad. For reasons I will never understand, I really loved the bleep test though - maybe because it was easy to understand, run - beat the beep.

The official Netball rulebook is 80 pages long, with 21 categories of rule and around 10 distinct rules in each category (some longer, some shorter). I doubt anyone reads it unless they train as an umpire or get into elite netball. Unless the teacher is an umpire, they've probably not read all the rules.

So I don't think it's unreasonable that kids learn a cut down set of the rules, then additional rules are added on/enforced as they develop their skills in the game. Also, if you watch elite netball, there are far more fouls and rule infractions called than in other sports such as football. For example, in the 26 July Australia/England game, 96 penalties were awarded across the whole game. If a kids game was umpired to that strictness, it would be absolutely no fun for anyone (https://crs-cg2026-static-assets.glasgow2026.com/CG2026/static/_PDF/CG2026/NBL/2026-07-26/NBLWTEAM7-------------GPA-000400--__C73_11.0.pdf).

The centre was the lead role! Goal keeper was argued over by those who didn't want to run and could just wave their hands in front of the net!

My 7yo played netball for the first time this week at school. They do half a term of netball, football, basketball, gym, athletics and ?cricket. It's presumably just an assumption on the teacher's part.

@Teffe our primary didn't do netball or basketball. It was absolutely appalling at sports to be honest. They just seemed to do benchball cos it was easy

@Teffe my daughters primary did basketball rather than netball.

I vaguely remember if you played Centre you chucked the ball at the beginning and could essentially spend the rest of the time doing nothing.😂

Nobody ever taught us at my primary (we only did rounders or football) and then at secondary it was assumed we knew. So I never learnt, which didn't bother me, because I detest sports and didn't want to be there in the first place.

XH said this about football: he was never told the rules or given any guidance/training in PE lessons because it was assumed he already knew. He was blown away when DD started playing “soccer” at elementary school in the US and the coaches - other Dads, not PE teachers - were actually teaching skills, practising plays, explaining the rules etc. Not surprisingly, XH had hated PE and got out of it by doing GCSE Music which clashed.

I’m just confused as to how your Dc has come through primary school and never played netball. Are team games not a thing in English primary schools ?

My dc went to a private prep so they did 4 hours of pe and games a week and I grew up abroad (where I played netball at my state primary) so I have no idea what’s normal. If it’s nornal to have never played team sport at primary then absolutely the leason should start with the rules!

I never understood how to actually play netball or hockey. Hated them anyway but just maybe I would have enjoyed it more if it had made sense.

Thats what I would do as well @LeedsLoiner

I think there's a real issue with school PE where entire generations of people have had real trauma and lasting issues from how they were treated during those PE lessons (particularly those of us who had to do it in the late 90s, with communal showers, rampant bullying etc). As a result of those experiences, a lot of people were turned off sport/exercise/activity for life. That's a genuine health crisis.

I HATED PE at school. The teachers only cared about the people who competed outside of school - they literally didn't give any information whatsoever about how to stay fit and healthy. It was only when I left school, went to uni, decided to join a gym and started going to aerobics/pilates/step that I realised that exercise could be genuinely fun and enjoyable. And most importantly, accessible to anyone because you didn't NEED to have a talent for a particular sport.

Competitive sport will always matter, and that shouldn't be neglected. But health and activity should always be prioritised.

If I was education minister I'd separate "PE" and "Sports".
PE would be about keeping yourself physically fit through exercise, how to work each part of the body with various exercises and exercises that you can do without gym equipment, basically developing an active and healthy lifestyle and hopefully maintaining it after school.
Sports would be the organised team games like hockey, netball, football, etc. and would be a mostly after school activity - preferably linked to a local sports club who could assist with coaching.

I played on the netball team at school, all I really knew was that if I played Centre I could go anywhere but the goal/basket area.