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

We had to do summer athletics ! Discus and javelin throwing , shot put, relay races, sprints and long jump and even blooming hurdles!
It was torture : my discus and shot put used to land at my feet! 😃

@ancientgran

They think everyone who hates it is an unfit whinger who just needs to be encouraged and will never get it that their approach is the ultimate in discouraging. I talked to a PE teacher about how humiliating it can be for the kids who aren't good at it. He said it was wonderful to see kids being encouraged, all their class mates at the end of crosscountry clapping and cheering for the kids struggling in at the end. I asked him if he'd ever asked those kids if the clapping and cheering was encouraging or humiliating. He didn't answer me but it was clear from his face that he had never asked them and it had never crossed his mind that it could be humiliating. I hope it might have given him something to think about.

Thank you for saying this. My DS was a real trier at prep school, but being a chip off the old block, was always last in everything sports-wise. *Except egg and spoon - he was AWESOME at that! Pity there's no Olympics in it His school followed this policy of gathering to cheer in stragglers. I thought we were the only people with faces like this . You can't understand how embarrassing it is unless it's you being stared at as you finish last by a country mile. Some of the kids doing it were quite self congratulatory too, which was nauseous, quite frankly. His secondary school are fantastic. Lots of fun stuff like basketball, table tennis or fitness training at your own pace. He loves it. Still competitive traditional sports, but only if you're in the team and there's enough lads not in the team for that not to matter either.👍

@the80sweregreat

We had to do summer athletics ! Discus and javelin throwing , shot put, relay races, sprints and long jump and even blooming hurdles! It was torture : my discus and shot put used to land at my feet! 😃

I once threw the discus at the teacher :o

Yes I must say I hate the sympathy clap.

Wonder what the reaction would be to a clas clap for the slowest maths person or literacy/reader?

Yes, the clap. And being told I'd done very well at something in PE when every bit of objective evidence is to the opposite.
I am not your inspiration porn.

Strangely, I like to wake with morning stretches, a quick flex in the mirror and a new high score of 5 good form pull ups before breakfast.

Pink , My discus throwing was bad.
Javlin was a bit better, but not much.
The teachers kept their distance from me!

pinkbalconyrailing

I once threw the discus at the teacher 😁

I once nearly got the bitch of a PE teacher with a javelin. Genuinely accidental as I couldn't aim to save my life. Only lesson I ever finished smiling.
Same teacher - during a rounders lesson I got hit in the eye hard with a ball, buckled to my knees in pain. Another girl shouted across that I'd been hit & when told it was a tennis ball not a cricket ball, teacher wouldn't come over & just said "oh she'll be fine" & turned her back on our group. Didn't even see if I was ok after the lesson. Luckily last lesson of the day, but had to walk home with my bike as couldn't see clearly enough to cycle safely.

Hated it - sadly I (rather too strongly) resented sports being an entire field where I had no ability whatsoever when I was used to being good academically. I also hated competition and didn't enjoy team games at all. Had we been offered yoga or other gentle, non-competitive stuff I might have enjoyed it more. I did quite like hockey though for some reason.

No but neither did science maths french geography either.

@Janevaljane don't be ridiculous, I wasn't suggesting that schools should hire personal trainers for each kid instead of PE teachers. Only that a bit of guidance and encouragement goes a long way, and if I'd had that at school, I might not have spent the next 10 years hating exercise.

I think my PE teachers did try but the curriculum is broken and PE is not really suited for a 'classical' large group teaching - hence the team games.
I learnt nothing about form or how to prevent injury in terms of normal movement or athletic movement. Nor was any allowance or information made for puberty and development - you only have to look at a cohort of year 7s to see some that look almost like adults and some who are still smallish children.

Not to mention how bodies change with ageing and pregnancy and how to maintain exercise for that. Or suitable exercise for obese people wanting to get healthier.

It's sport and I HATE sport.
Exercise, however, is different and over the years I've come to tolerate it.

LOL at the idea that forcing teenagers to take part in PE will make them more active or love sports. PE makes some kids hate sports and even less active.

PE teachers do not teach children how to play a sport or what the rules are, its just here's a ball play [insert sport]. The sporty kids dominate and any rules aren't enforced. Its a good excuse for bullies to tackle harder or throw the ball straight at certain peoples faces.

'Unsporty' kids spend most of their time running away from the ball. Or if its a field sport just standing on the side lines freezing.

Nothing has changed in decades.

@JohnMcCainsDeathStare

Anyone also have NO IDEA where the swotty =/= athletic stereotype come from? Looks around my colleagues and see cyclists, fell runners, rock climbers and at least 3 people on the University 1st rugby team.

Equally baffled. All the best athletes I knew in school were also the top of most other classes.

And then there were the rest of us who bumbled along, getting mocked for being dim in all our classes, and who never had a 'chance to shine' in school.

Unless by 'shine' it was being the stubborn kid who'd walk off taking a ball to the face or jumping in the closed off mud pit after the ball or who argue with teachers, those I could do. I would walk the warmup/mile and argue with the teacher with weird remarks like "my mother says she only runs if they're someone with a gun" (pre-Columbine) and "my scars hurt" (This resulted in the teacher and I comparing scars for 10 minutes while everyone else finished. We both had significant leg scarring. Victory was mine).

I went to school in the US where PE does sometimes have the 'throw them all in and see what happens', but more often involves things like learning how to do circuit training and movement patterns, having it combined with general health class, and doing enough learning that we could have a written exam at the of term that could be externally graded (last one I don't think this is typical, only one school I went to did this, they did it for all subjects including PE and choir).

I didn't hate it, but I have disabilities which were not really adapted to in any class. Yes, there have been efforts to be more inclusive, but a lot of them have been shite - even now there is writing on how just having a physical disability can end up with someone being 'lowest set' for it or doing ridiculous things like using a motorized wheelchair on a track which does nothing for fitness, but burns batteries. I think especially with the issues of athletic or other injuries and how many people go long gaps with little training, learning reconditioning methods would have a lot of merit.

I don't think it should be entirely scrapped - the 'they are old enough to take personal responsibility' could apply to any part of education really. There is only so much time in the curriculum and I do think time to learn about and practice body movement and caring for ourselves has value, just as much value as learning literature as a core.

ZombieFan

PE teachers do not teach children how to play a sport or what the rules are, its just here's a ball play [insert sport]. The sporty kids dominate and any rules aren't enforced

That reminds me of a joke a teacher friend told me:

PE teacher:
I'm a PE teacher. I teach running. Run!
I also teach swimming. Swim!

Asked to take over a geography class for a session.

Jog!

You're right. We had tennis courts at my comprehensive. Bats and balls were handed out and the two teachers stood on the grass chatting for the rest of the lesson.

It was a hell of a lot better than any team sports however, when a blind eye was turned to bullying by classmates in your team if you were stumped out at rounders or something.

Torture.

We only got to do “girls” sports when I loved basketball and was really good at it.

It was a popularity contest who the teacher picked to play what and there was too much focus on team sports.

I would have liked to do aerobics or something like that, tried yoga, done more trampolining wtc

I quite enjoyed it. Played netball a couple of times as an adult

Interesting that although PE has left most posters with awful memories, noone has agreed with me so far that making it voluntary at secondary is a good idea.

Also, PE teachers are the only brand of teacher that is allowed to be heavily criticised on Mumsnet

I remember doing trampolining at ours - not sure if that was the norm but that was so fun.
Teachers coached pretty well.
And if it was wet we got to play bench ball!

Janevaljane

Interesting that although PE has left most posters with awful memories, noone has agreed with me so far that making it voluntary at secondary is a good idea.

I think people often read posts, think "Hmm...yes, that's a good idea" but aren't necessarily moved to reply.
I remember seeing the idea mooted, thought "Hmm... yes etc" but then just carried on reading or went to do something different from reading MN.

I don't think PE should be voluntary necessarily, but I think activity choices would be fantastic, in that a student could choose between say athletics or tennis/badminton, hockey or non competitive own pace circuit training.
The basis of sport in schools should be to form a foundation for healthy living. It does the opposite if it entrenches a deep seated hatred of PE, based on awful forced experiences (might be projecting somewhat!)

activity choices would be fantastic, in that a student could choose between say athletics or tennis/badminton, hockey or non competitive own pace circuit training

Private secondary schools often offer a wider choice of sports. Everyone is expected to do something.

Why is it that PE teachers second subject is always Geography?

Why cant they teach Maths, English, Music, Science or Arts?

Is it just that PE teachers only like grass and the great outdoors?