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

@Glitterbiscuits

Put me of exercise for years.

If I had done some sort of aerobics or yoga I'd have loved it.

But netball in the freezing cold?
And country dancing? What the fuck was that all about in the 1980s?

Ahh, you got country dancing too, did you?

For us it was always the last week of term just before Xmas. Supposedly as a fun thing to do

Normally, we had PE separated from the boys, but this was the one time we had to do PE with them. It was hell.

I hated PE. Same as others, it was the communal showers, not being one of the sporty ones as I couldn't run well. However, I was ace at defence in hockey, so made the team for that (I didn't have to do much running, could tackle well, and could hit the ball away even better). Was about all I could do, although I could do discus and shotput in summer.

And yes, the teachers monitored periods. I had particularly heavy ones, and they were irregular, so the teachers thought I was putting it on. Mum came to the school and stopped that nonsense, though.

The PE lessons were an exercise in how to put children, especially girls off any exercise for life.

I'm 52 now, and am finally getting a grip on exercising for health. I walk a lot and have lost a stone in the last few months just from walking everywhere, as I was furloughed and now working from home.

As I'm well overweight, I'm self conscious about my body, so I haven;t signed up to any classes, etc, yet. I've started a really gentle yoga programme from YouTube, but I would like to give Pilates a try if anyone has any recommendations for an easy YouTube beginner channel I can follow?

Next Spring, after I have lost more weight, and the weather is better, I'm planning to try to C25K and see how I go.

@nosswith

LuckyMum96 I read in the book 'Eat Sweat Play' by Anna Kessel about how changing the kit led to greater participation.

My DD's experience was much, much better, although she's still not sporty but walks a lot.

She was able to wear a decent kit, no compulsory showers, and as she was in the lowest set for PE, they did get to do fun stuff, and in Year 11, the PE teachers would often let them off to do homework, etc. That was 5 years ago.

DS hated PE because he hates team sports, antisocial sod that he is . He walks miles, too, and has said he might take up martial arts. Basically we 3 like activities that we can do alone (although I do think I could have carried on the hockey, I only recently discovered we have a local hockey league I could have joined).

TurquoiseDragon I wouldn't rule out returning to hockey. If the clubs I've been involved with are anything to go by, everyone is welcome regardless of age and fitness. England Hockey tend to have a push to get people Back to Hockey at the beginning of the season, though this year has been a bit odd of course, and some bigger clubs even do walking hockey so if you can't or don't want to run you can still join in. We've got members from age 6 to well into their 60s at our club so if you fancy having a go, do contact your local club.

My FIL is a retired PE teacher. He loved sports and played rugby at county level. He never understood why his students loathed PE. He had no empathy whatsoever and just assumed his students were lazy and that they would love sport if only they would give it a go.

We used to have endless arguments because I hated PE and it was a torture that put me off sport or any activity for life. I would argue that PE shouldn't be compulsory and you need only participate if you wanted to. He said that wouldn't work as there wouldn't be enough participants for any team sport - it's all about the games and how well his school team performs - it's all about his reputation.

No one is forced into a school choir or a school play - not enough singers - no choir - not enough actors - no play.

I hated it. Now I sea swim. It's liberating with (mainly) women of all shapes and sizes wearing all sorts of interesting combinations to be comfy in the water. Swimsuit, socks and a bobble hat anyone? And no one cares. The main thing is taking part.

And I paddleboard and I feel strong and free and I don't fall off ( well hardly ever)

Hated it. Also I had a really weird Year 4 teacher at primary school who insisted that all the boys do PE topless (even in winter! Indoors but still...) and she would get furious if any one of them forgot and left a t shirt on .

Hated it. I'm not competitive...hence I don't understand the mindset of sport. I cannot understand why it matters who wins? I mean who cares?!

I'd rather have done hours of maths or read a book

@MrsAvocet

TurquoiseDragon I wouldn't rule out returning to hockey. If the clubs I've been involved with are anything to go by, everyone is welcome regardless of age and fitness. England Hockey tend to have a push to get people Back to Hockey at the beginning of the season, though this year has been a bit odd of course, and some bigger clubs even do walking hockey so if you can't or don't want to run you can still join in. We've got members from age 6 to well into their 60s at our club so if you fancy having a go, do contact your local club.

Thanks very much, that's an idea for next year. I'm going to get some weight off first, so that I feel better, which is already beginning to happen.

I still recall the only bit of praise from the PE teacher, that I was always LH or LB because I was only one of a couple of girls who could play the positions properly. I used to be able to hit the ball about the distance of a pitch and a half, had seriously good upper body strength in those days.

Still didn't make up for the comments when I couldn't do any running, coming bottom of the class in the 100m.

I loved sport at school but wasn’t always a fan of PE. I was good at it and so wasn’t challenged by it, and childhood me fundamentally disagreed with having to be held back to give those not so good at it a go. I was sat out from a lesson once for hitting the ball too hard. In other subjects if you were good you’d be given extra and it was encouraged to achieve high levels but it was OK to hold you back in PE to level the playing field. Obviously as an adult I can understand why, but as a kid it was immensely frustrating. Was better at secondary school because of sets and groups a bit more by ability.

No it did not, I loathed team sports, I loathe teams of any kind and my career is one I can do alone without any other team members around.
I hated the pick me dance which resulted in me always being picked for the team side last because everyone knew I couldn't give a shit.
The only sport I ever enjoyed was the years I did kick boxing before I injured my back and couldn't do it anymore probably got rid of my latent aggression about team sports.

Torture.

As someone with no co-ordination or balance & an extreme lack of body confidence it was hell on earth.

I'm quite sporty and was slim, quick and keen at school but I hated it with a passion.

Ritual torture and humiliation - I was always the slowest kid in the class, regardless of whether or not I tried.

There's no way you'd catch me going for a run or playing a ball game now.

It was torture.

I had an awful PE teacher who had firm favourites and ignored the rest. She would call me fat and humiliate me. I was desperate to do team sports but she’d make me sit on the bench and watch. Some sessions I wouldn’t take part at all. My parents didn’t really encourage exercise but we had unlimited access to rubbish food. At parents evening the teacher would say I was fat and needed to lose weight, they’d come home and tell me off for being fat saying it was embarrassing. Once I left school I didn’t do any exercise until I was 30. Even the idea terrified me and made me anxious.

A decade on and sport and exercise is a huge part of my life and I love it. I run and have lost count of the races I’ve done from 5km to marathon. I do yoga several times a week. I work out with a PT once a week and windsurf / sail / SUP multiple times a week when conditions allow. I also swim 2-3 times a week including a triathlete training session.

My children love PE and sport. Their teachers are encouraging and we do a lot as a family too.

I hope school has changed. My experience was so bad it nearly put me off for life.

I genuinely believe that school PE should be voluntary. I enjoyed it and so did my dcs, but so many hate it. It must be soul destroying for both the reluctant pupils and the teachers who have to try and teach.

@Janevaljane

I genuinely believe that school PE should be voluntary. I enjoyed it and so did my dcs, but so many hate it. It must be soul destroying for both the reluctant pupils and the teachers who have to try and teach.

Re the latter point, I think the main problem is that teachers don't try to "teach" it - they just assume that everyone knows the rules of team sports. Things would be better if they did actually try to "teach" it, perhaps in the lessons that are rained off rather than lazily tell the pupils to do some homework.

Re the first point, no, there needs to be some physical activity, but there should be more choice, i.e. more "lone" activities rather than the obsession with team sports. More gym work, treadmills, exercise bikes, etc. That was the original idea of "PE" being done as well as "Games", i.e. the gym equipment, but even though we had a fully fitted gym, all I remember is all the equipment packed away around the edges and team sports such as volleyball in the centre of the gym being done every PE lesson as well as Hockey in the games lessons.

Public humiliation for me.

One particular highlight was whenever it was really bad weather we would play table tennis indoors. There were not enough tables for everyone to take part so each table had 1 'spectator'. The idea was that the winner of each game moved up a table, the loser moved down and spectators swapped in. Wherever you finished at the end of the lesson was where you started next time. Having absolutely no hand eye co-ordination I never left the bottom table. All the 'spectators' moved to come and watch me as apparently it was so funny (I was new to the school so didn't even have a group of close friends to back me up). Rather than stopping this, the teacher shouted at me to try harder and called me useless. Players on the top tables often stopped mid-game to come and watch me.

There was similar humiliation (with the teacher encouraging it) for being picked last for teams and coming in last on runs. Even as a middle-aged woman I feel uncomfortable exercising in front of others and cannot bring myself to try any kind of team/racket sport.

I actually think PE in schools should be a good thing, especially for people like me who are not from a 'sporty' family and are not naturally good at sports. It should be a time to try new things, work out what exercise you like, learn skills from an expert (even something as simple as how to throw and catch if needed) and become an adult who enjoys exercise. Just as schools try to do with reading etc for the children who struggle.

I genuinely believe that school PE should be voluntary. I enjoyed it and so did my dcs, but so many hate it. It must be soul destroying for both the reluctant pupils and the teachers who have to try and teach.

I disagree- I think it's most important for those who are reluctant. These are probably the children who are not doing exercise outside school either and would benefit most from appropriate lessons. It's only soul destroying for the pupils because those who struggle are expected to be in the same class, doing the same activity and expected to keep up with the very able students (often in the context of a team sport when everyone feels the struggling student holds back the others). This is not done in any other subject. As for it being soul destroying for the teacher- why? Why don't you think a sports teacher would get something out of helping a struggling pupil progress? I don't think it needs to be voluntary, just taught differently and by teachers who want to help all pupils not just the school team.

@Janevaljane

I genuinely believe that school PE should be voluntary. I enjoyed it and so did my dcs, but so many hate it. It must be soul destroying for both the reluctant pupils and the teachers who have to try and teach.

I don’t agree as I think it would be failing children not to help them be active.

Torture and humiliation
Hated it and hate sports now
Still think about the bullies of PE teachers I had

LOVED IT!!! during my final 2 years I used to act up in class (normally to quietest kid in the class) just to get sent out so I could go down to the PE department! 😂 took it for GCSE so they never had a problem with it. Used to help out with the younger years doing demonstrations etc. I was a trampolining coach in training and our teachers sucked so they were usually pretty happy to see me! 😆

As someone who hated pe, I actually think it should be compulsory. However, I think it would be great if there was a focus on non competitive exercise. So a personal enjoyment of exercise can be found without it being a competition. We all have our own limits...I will never be an athlete, I'm not built that way. Lots of people aren't. Not everyone can be the fastest or the best, doesn't mean they should be left feeling like shit and that they shouldn't exercise at all.

Hated it. I was a bit overweight (but only slightly and only for a while) and not great at team sports apart from football and rounders which I loved but we rarely got to play. It was usually netball or unihoc, both of which I was shit at and was always picked last. I also missed a lot of swimming lessons due to very heavy irregular periods so left school unable to swim a single length. Mercifully we never did cross country. I did judo and horse riding outside of school so was at least fairly active doing things I did enjoy.

I have always loved the gym and group exercise classes (so much so that I now teach them). But nothing like this was incorporated into PE. I've have loved a bit of aerobics (something with a routine to learn) or yoga or circuits in my teens. It's a shame it's so focused on competitive team sports.

My daughter is only KS1 and they seem to mostly play team-based games involving plenty of hilarity and running around. She loves it.

I don’t agree as I think it would be failing children not to help them be active

At primary, yes. But the kids that hate PE at secondary level should not have to do it. They are old enough to take personal responsibility for their fitness. Having a class where even 5% don't want to do it just spoils it for everyone else. Ideally have clubs after school they could do instead. If they choose to do nothing that's down to them.

As for it being soul destroying for the teacher- why? Why don't you think a sports teacher would get something out of helping a struggling pupil progress?

Have you read the comments on here?