PE - did it promote a life long love of sport or was it ritual torture?

[LuckyMum96]

Just that really, for me it was mixed - too much PE was focussed on the school teams though and not enough on general exercise and activity

Gym knickers & netball skirts in deepest darkest winter whilst the boys got to wear jogging bottoms. The boredom and cold standing around in positions that didn't get much action in netball and hockey because you weren't much cop. Only sport at that time I enjoyed/was any good at was swimming and only got to do that once. Wanted to play rugby as did that a bit outside of school but that was a 'boys' sport so we couldn't.
Yes to communal showers and with one particular PE teacher being made to que up naked for them.
This was the 90's.
Love running and swimming now.

@Janevaljane

Kids are shouted at, humiliated, forced to compete whether they want to or not, forced outside in the cold, wet and mud of a British winter then forced to shower naked in front of their peers

I have four sporty children and was sporty myself. None of us ever had to shower naked in front of our peers. And we all enjoy a bit of mud. I had dragonish pe teachers, theirs are young and supportive.

I think the naked showers were of their era and, thank goodness, probably stopped some time in the 90s.

I have to say that even to this day, I would never consider playing a team sport. Wouldn’t even cross my mind.

*Now we are in Covid times, the secondary schools round here make kids wear sports kit for the days they are doing PE to avoid having to use changing rooms.

If I were a teen now this would be a game changer for me and I hope encourages more people to like PE as an unexpected positive of this whole shitty pandemic.*
That and one-way systems are possibly the only good things about Covid although my grandsons seem to like PE (their mother didn't and I wrote many notes for her).

Just remembered when i goalkeeper in winter in hockey.
Absolutely freezing and everything going on at the other end so i jogged a few steps on the spot to try and feel a bit warmer.
Teacher stopped the match , bellowed in my face for "messing about" and she gave me a detention

A mixture.

I like being active as an adult - but on my terms (and when the weather is nice!)

I loved it, and it started me off on a lifetime of sport.

I know their are some who hated it, but what about the kids who hated maths / science etc but PE was their thing? All subjects are competitive with someone top of the class, and we all have our thing.

The decline of competitive sport in school has taken away some kids only chance to shine, and whether or not you loved or hated sport that's a sad thing.

Torture. I skived as much as I could. Communal changing rooms, PE skirts, last to be picked etc.

I only started exercising after severe depression in my early 20's. I didn't have to change with people and could choose what I wanted to do.

Hated PE. Can’t think of anything positive I gained from it. I always thought I wasn’t sporty but outside of school I walked, hiked, swam and played badminton/squash. I remember the physical pain of trying to do up shirt buttons with frozen fingers after being outside in a barely decent pe kit - as an adult I’ve never worn an a-line mini skirt and tiny t-shirt as my workout clothes?! Didn’t gain any cardio fitness, or strength or flexibility.

I know their are some who hated it, but what about the kids who hated maths / science etc but PE was their thing? All subjects are competitive with someone top of the class, and we all have our thing.
I was bad at maths but it wasn't the same and the teachers helped me get better at it rather than just assuming I was rubbish and leaving it at that. I am absolutely prepared to believe things have improved but I can only talk about what it was like in my time at school.

Ritual humiliation. I could have been quite good - long legged and rangy slim but I was made to feel stupid if I couldn't climb a rope or jump a bloody wooden horse. I was a shy child and watched on as the hair flicking net ballers were heaped with praise.
We also had a male PE teacher who regularly had relationships (that was the term then) with girls. This was the 80s
I'm now a pretty handy tennis player and fit as a flea. I look on with glee as I see some of those net ballers showing their age and spread.

mumfordofsons the problem is that PE allows some children to shine and others to be humiliated publicly. Maths and Science etc - if you shine at it, your shine does not humiliate your peers in the same way. It isn't comparable. There should be the option to do competitive sport but it shouldn't be forced on those who are unwilling or unable to join in. All subjects can be taught in different ways, and usually the academic subjects are streamed or different methods taught to different pupils to accommodate their learning style, but just yelled at and having the piss taken out of them if they don't have the natural ability.

I played football, rounders and street cricket with my mates at home. I swam a mile twice a week. Enjoyed hockey and netball at school, but my goodness the PE teacher knocked any enjoyment I had for sport out of me. Stopped most of it once I finally agreed with her I was absolutely useless.

I was a fat girl that hated running and she loved cross country and she hated me. She was built like power lifter and was extremely fit so I don't think she liked how I treated my body.
She didn't seem to think I was desperately unhappy in it either but hey ho.She certainly didn't help the situation.

I hated getting changed in the communal changing rooms and the shared shower that she used to stand at and watch you run through naked was humiliation of the highest order.

Often wonder if my life would have been different if she had encouraged me in the team sports instead.

I'm not saying the way schools deal with PE is right - they should absolutely be encouraging and helping those who struggle and dealing with the kids sensitively, but by simply removing competition from schools, kids are missing out.

Ritual torture

Neither. I'm not a sport lover but "torture" is way too dramatic. It was just a class like any other, useful as it kept me fit.

Started well in primary school when it was more about general movement (dance, playing on gymnastic equipment etc.). Then torture at a school where making the team determined popularity. Then back to ok when could pick from a range of options like climbing, aerobics, golf etc. Sports day races were just embarrassing for me. From all this I thought I hated exercise and couldn't run. When I completed my first 20 min run in Couch25k I cried. I never believed I could run that far (nor the distances I have run since!). I wish I'd been taught sports, running etc. at school in a gentler, more gradual way to reinforce the simple enjoyment of moving and not just that you had to be in the first hockey team or were useless...

Truly awful.

We were never taught techniques or even basic rules. My family didn’t exercise so I never knew what to do. My abilities were so much lower that I would lose almost immediately, resulting in snickers or snide comments.

There was the team picking humiliation but also I was regularly ignored by my team mates and never passed the ball. I remember feeling on the verge of tears, as if I were invisible.

My school didn’t separate boys/girls or consider abilities/limitations. Dodgeball was the worst, especially in high school where I would be hit immediately and very painful by boys much stronger than me. Nor did we have a set uniform, meaning pressure to have cool clothes. We seldom did anything that could be practiced alone.

Some gym teachers were needlessly cruel. One made me wear boys clothes from the lost and found when I forgot mine. They stank of piss. We had to regularly do cross country in weather so cold my teeth hurt but were not allowed jogging bottoms or jumpers.

I was completely turned off of sports and still do nothing. It feels like someone designed the classes to ensure as few people as possible would exercise later in life.

This was in the 90s-00s.

I'm not a sport lover but "torture" is way too dramatic
Making children line up to be picked or rejected over and over. Letting some children play while others hovered at the back just killing time and being at best ignored or at worst criticised for their lack of skill. Giving the bullies hockey sticks with which to purposely hit the weak and balls to throw in their faces. Making shy bullied children reveal their bodies to be ridiculed. It was never about “sport”. It was about power. And it was torture.

Loathed pe was just another way for the bullies to target me in front of the teacher and get away with it.
I was always ill for pe.

Enjoyed netball, tennis etc. Hated Cross Country running and the endurance tests.

Although just remembered a time in outdoor swimming pool when my lips went blue and I wasn't allowed out

Torture and humiliation. I remember telling my mum most pe days that I had an awful cold/asthma playing up etc but I could manage to heroically struggle through the school day if I could have a note excusing me from PE.

what about the kids who hated maths / science etc but PE was their thing?
They were divided into groups according to ability and given support to improve. Not lined up for picking and made to feel shit by being passed over because they’re thick. Not made to sit at the back and watch the smart kids doing sums that they weren’t even allowed to attempt. The academic kids weren’t given rulers with which to hit the less academic and protractors to throw in their faces. They weren’t allowed to routinely criticise their classmates lack of ability in maths.

I dare say if my PE class had been streamed and the less able had been grouped together with their own teacher and given simple exercises with homework practice to improve their fitness, I would not only have become more fit but would have dreaded PE a lot less too.

Cold - swimming
Rest was okay ish I was average at it