PE at school

Loathed PE hated the huge navy knickers and the showers.
Avoided it any way I could.
Always last to be chosen for team games, probably with good reason, but it was humiliating.
I liked rounders; that was about it.
I am Glad my GC like games and have always encouraged them and regret not giving it more of a go myself.

I was small and fast when much younger and used to like running. I also was part of the Scottish Country Dancing team at school and loved that. I hated everything else. Hockey was brutal. Cross country was boring. The school I taught at offered such a wonderful range of activities for pupils. They had elite footballers and rugby players, both boys and girls. A beautiful swimming pool which staff could access before school started. And were also the recognised school for elite Basketball players too. But it was more about health and wellbeing and recognising that any activity is better than none. I'm not sure it would have suited the teenage me, mind you.

I was always one of the last girls picked for a team. Just me, the specky one, and the fat girl left till last. Didn't bother me. There was usually an unholy scrum to get me in a team for any quizzes though.

I'm back to huge navy knickers again. Lovely and comfy. Never understood the pocket in school ones though.

I hated it ! Didn't think it was at all ladylike doing the same things that the boys did. I really don't know what put that in my mind all those years ago, all of at least 70yrs gone !

Scottish dancing and ballet were my " things".

Yet, on sports day I won at throwing the javelin---16feet if I remember rightly.

Yep, hated PE at school. Fortunately, my incompetence, combined with inertia, gave me my favourite role on Sports Day - raking the sand under the high jump...

The problem with physical education is the fun activities such as exploring, riding, swimming, and rowing cost more money than gymnastics or team games with balls.

'Street dance' sounds a good idea.

I loathed all school games and gymnastics with a passion, and managed to avoid most of it. I (and others) became adept at lying and deceit. So much for character training!

I did and loved ballet, so I got plenty of exercise. I was delighted when I heard Margot Fonteyn talking about her schooldays and saying how she had hated and loathed games.

We had no PE kit, we just changed into black sandshoes, took off our skirts and ties and did PE in school blouse and navy knickers. There were no showers so we must have been pretty smelly afterwards.

One of our PE teachers was definitely a sadist who would pick on girls who weren't good at PE and torment them relentlessly. She must have put so many girls off sport and exercise for life.

The only type of exercise I really enjoyed was swimming but our school didn't do swimming so I would go to the local swimming baths after school.

I never heard of anyone (apart from boxers) going to a gym outside of school. When did that start?

At first I tried my best with PE and games until I realised I was no good and never picked for a team. It put me off for life. I quite liked dance, but although I am very musical, I cannot co-ordinate movement with music. I simply do not know how to any sort of physical activity in a competitive way.

I detested it, loathed it with a vengeance! I was always the last to be picked too. I was never very body confident and communal changing rooms were complete anathema to me. I used to find any excuse I could to get out of doing PE. It didn't help that our PE teachers used to pick the coldest day of the year to send us outside to do things like hockey or cross-country. I've still got a scar on my knee from where I fell on a freezing baize hockey pitch. The only remotely sporty thing I enjoyed was horse riding - needless to say that played no part in school life whatsoever.

Fascinating discussion and lots of references to cold showers, and frosty playing fields in winter etc. Does the dislike of PE in this country have a lot to do with the weather? Do any grans have GC downunder say where PE is done differently?

Caleo makes a good point that the more attractive activities involve far more costs, and also I would add far more trained staff. I visited Millfield School on a couple of occasions and crikey, indoor riding arena, Olympic sized swimming pool, tennis courts, astro turfs, even 2 massive competitive trampolines etc. That's what £30,000 a year per child buys .

Street dance just requires a boombox and a cheerful approach!

My husband was Australian and, fine weather or not, I can assure you he loathed school games every bit as much as I did!

One of DS's friends went off to Millfield!
My DS went to the local comprehensive where he swam, played rugby, tennis, football and did the hated cross-country (but it was through lovely countryside but unappreciated at the time ?‍♂️)

Witzend

Must say I wasn’t keen in the teen years. I dare say it wasn’t an accurate perception, but all the very sporty girls seemed to be revoltingly hearty, red faced types, with floppy heaving bosoms and smelling badly of BO. And I hated the communal showers with a teacher watching our every move - no wonder we had them down as closet lesbians, with sadistic tendencies.

And I’d gladly have done without hockey on freezing cold days when we had to wear just silly little skirts and our legs would go purply-blue with cold.
Didn’t object so much to summer PE, rounders and swimming were OK. Tennis not so much because I was never much cop at it.

Many happy memories of freezing legs and avoiding communal showers wherever possible.

I was relatively good at PE and thoroughly enjoyed playing hockey and netball for the school. Rounders in the summer was just fun.

I felt really sorry for the girls who were not good at these sports. It would have been far preferable to have a choice that didn’t depend on how good you were.

I love the idea of dance, yoga, etc. but many schools in the public sector can’t afford the staff. I do know that some schools have substituted traditional ‘games’ for other forms of exercise. It really isn’t important to just play competitive games and any exercise is more important. There should be enough resources to provide both in a more equal country.

Navy gym knickers and rolled up sleeves. I can't remember doing anything very interesting when we had PE indoors in the gym. We sometimes went out and played hockey which I enjoyed - wasn't bad, but there were at least 11 girls better, so I was stuck in the second XI. Tennis wasn't on the curriculum, but other schools had tennis teams, so a few girls who played regularly were sent off to play our rivals. When I was roped in as a reserve, we did very badly!

Calistemon
Same here with my school friend who went to the Rome Olympics.

Dreadful wasn't it. So embarrassing for those of us no good at it. Also hockey - standing out on a cold field with stupid shorts on and wondering which way our team was playing as I had no interest whatsoever what any of the rules were. Nobody wanted me or my friends on their team. We didn't care as eventually we just stopped going and nobody seemed to miss us.

Grandma70s

My husband was Australian and, fine weather or not, I can assure you he loathed school games every bit as much as I did!

It must be a universal dislike then!

I wasn't keen on team games, but I did enjoy playing tennis and trampolining at school and later, badminton with friends. The communal changing rooms and showers that you had to run through (surely ineffective as far as cleansing goes), didn't particularly bother me either. I knew of one girl whose mother complained as her daughter hated them.
PE in infant school seemed to consist mainly of skipping round in circles to music, wearing vest and knickers. PE kit didn't exist in those days.

I think one problem might be the attitude of PE teachers, who seem to assume that because they love sport and exercise, everyone else should too.

Maths teachers generally understand that not everyone loves maths and they must find ways of engaging children in maths lessons by taking away fear of failure and explaining things clearly. PE teachers in general don't seem to do that.

I was very poor at ball games as a child, though enjoyed tennis, despite not being much good. When I was 18, I discovered at a routine eye test that I didn't have 3D vision, due to squint when younger. This may have explained my difficulty with ball games.
I was quite good at swimming, but after joining a club, I realised after a short while they were only interested in potential winners in competitions!
Subsequently I joined lifesaving society, where the emphasis is on individual achievement, with awards when you reach a standard. Much better than competitive sport for me.
There definitely needs to be a rethink about PE/sport in school to cater for different abilities and interests