I’m 35 now, but back when I was in the junior high years of school, I hated physical education (PE) class. I dreaded it, but maybe not as much as the last kid picked for team sports. Not sure what I’m talking about?
The coaches teaching my classes usually thought it a good idea to let a team leader pick team members for baseball, kickball, dodgeball or whatever game of torture the day presented. The leaders were popular people who played basketball on the school’s team. So, the two leaders would take turns picking a team member until there were one or two people left. You could always see them calculating: Who would be worse, the really skinny girl or the boy with thick glasses?
I was the really skinny girl, and everyone assumed I wasn’t good at any sport. (I was usually picked second to last.) In basketball, I merely existed. No one passed the ball to me. Yet, one day during a basketball game a boy who I was told had a crush on me, decided to pass me the ball. Well, no one was guarding me, and I made the shot. Everyone stood there in a moment of amazement.
My point in this story is that PE class can leave scars. Researcher Billy Strean, a professor at the University of Alberta, thinks that humiliation in PE class can turn students off fitness for life. His research was published in Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise.
Strean believes that the coach’s personal characteristics are important to determining how students will feel about physical fitness later in life. He cautions that coaches shouldn’t embarrass students or be unfair during PE class.
In his research, Strean found that study participants had better experiences from minimally organized games like street hockey, rather than more organized activities. He says that minimal rules and no scorekeeping would be useful. And, might I add, no team leaders choosing their team mates!
FYI – After the age of around 13, I never participated in team sports again. Though, I do enjoy walking and yoga.
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Post from: Blisstree