AIBU to expect team sports to be explained in schools

[Shiningmediocrity]

I’m Gen X, so it was pretty standard for PE teachers to not explain the rules of team games. DC has started secondary school and played netball for the first time. I asked how it went and said how strange it was looking back that we were never told the rules of sports we played. She said they weren’t told any either! AIBU to think that this would have changed by now? Lighthearted thread btw.

In my experience, and the Experience of both my DDs, the standard of PE teaching in schools was, and continues to be, shockingly bad. Surely the only subject on school where no allowance is made for ability and humiliation is baked into the teaching.

Can you imagine a less able kid being made to do quadratic equations or spellings or to speak French in front of all of her peers, by a teacher who seemingly has no idea that they are struggling or uncomfortable.

I was briefly on the World's Worst School Hockey Team ©
I think I was Left Wing. I essentially jogged up and down the pitch having no clue what I was meant to be doing.
I think I ended up in the team because you need 11 (?) for a team and 11 of us turned up to show interest.

Yes I remember back in the day not having a clue what was going on! My DD played netball and they must have explained something. I think my son watched so much sport he knew the rules.

Yes! The first time I played cricket I was told I was “Out LBW” and sent on my way. I was an 11-year-old girl with absolutely no clue about the rules of cricket.

I had totally the opposite experience spent hours learning how to land properly, swivel correctly and throw properly in netball so as not to break the rules. Drills in hockey to know how to hold the stick practice long and short corners and how to turn correctly from a player on the opposite team. At least 50% of each PE lesson was drills to ensure we played correctly and understood the rules.

Astro has really changed hockey- I didn’t play after school which was all grass and now I spend my time watching DC while constantly saying “I’m sure you’re not allowed to do that” and finding out the rules re contact/obstruction/ turning your stick etc have completely changed. And theres no offside- mind blown.

wow you were lucky @Needanadultgapyear!

At my kids primary school last year, they never played cricket EVER. Then randomly, they entered a schools cricket tournament. I took a few of the girls in the car there, and we were allowed to stay and watch. I literally saw the teacher take the girls to the otherside of the field and literally show them how to hold a bat correctly. For the first time. Minutes before entering an inter-school tournament. As you can expect, it was an utter shit show

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.😂

@Teffe my daughters primary did basketball rather than netball.

@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

No, she didn’t play netball in primary. They had two PE lessons a week, which I think is standard for England, but I may be wrong.

The secondary school will stream for PE at some point in y7. I don’t know if that’s common or not, but think it’s a good idea and would have liked that when I went to school (I’d have been in a low stream). We were streamed for academic subjects, with mixed ability for practical lessons such as cdt, pe and art. Many schools have moved away from streaming now. I understand some find it demeaning, but not sure why that’s less demeaning than being in a class with an even wider ability. I asked why and received the “it’s beneficial for everyone as pupils who understand can explain to those who don’t” response. I’m not sure how much I buy it and given the school streams for maths too, the approach seems a bit inconsistent. I’d prefer streaming, but with fluidity. I’m rambling, sorry!

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.

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!

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).

@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.

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

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.

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!