I am that person who had a negative experience of PE. School PE was for the few who could make the teams. It wasn’t for me. PE philosopher, Scott Kretchmar, says all kids should be encouraged to ‘find their playground’. I believed there was no playground for people like me. I could not relate to any of the posters of high-profile athletes plastered on the walls of my school. I did not enjoy PE lessons, had no way into school games and events, and that spilled into my informal physical play. I believed I just did not possess the skills - never for a minute did I assume I hadn’t been taught them or that someone could be taught them - it was obviously just something to do with ME.
Fast forward twenty years and I was teaching English in an inner London secondary school. I was teaching young people not only to read but how to reflect on and analyse different texts and genres, as well as help them find narratives and material that they were interested in, to ignite their curiosity so they could find a way in to access anything they wanted to in life.
My partner was also a teacher and a thought leader in the subject of physical education, and soon I realised our goals, despite the very different subject matter, were totally aligned. Seeing just how physical activity had helped him in all sorts of ways to flourish in life, I tried to look differently at an area on which I had long shut the door.
With three young kids, I made a conscious decision as they were growing up to fill their days with lots of different activities within different settings. I was always struck by the lessons it gave them. The sheer joy of moving their bodies and persevering to do something that at first, they couldn’t do, the love of practising to improve a skill, the satisfaction of feeling tired at the end of the day, the social connections they made, the groups they felt a part of. As they grew older, they joined clubs and threw themselves into most school activities on offer. They were the ‘active’ kids that I could not identify with when younger but why? What had been different and how had those experiences set them up with a more positive sense of self?
They were lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to try a range of different activities. Single sports based on gender, e.g. football for boys, hockey for girls were consciously avoided. Score discussions were bypassed at all costs. Instead, we talked with them about their experiences, how the activity made them feel. They began to learn what they enjoyed doing with their bodies, what they were able to do, what they needed to learn and practice to improve their experiences of physical activity. They learnt disappointment and how to manage their feelings when things didn’t go their way – not being selected, other teammates’ reactions, poor performance on days, different teaching/coaching styles. They learnt there were a plethora of different ‘playgrounds’ (something I was oblivious to) and that they could, if they wanted to, try to access any of them within reason (not a possibility that I was even aware of as a young person).
Now as young adults, they can (if they wish) join in a local or university sport that they love or that they have never tried. On a beach they can (if they wish) join in to play a game of volleyball with a complete group of strangers. I look on, excluded by choice - my physical activity confidence having been deeply damaged by early experiences of school PE. Surely, we cannot continue giving our children narrow and negative experiences like this today.
Luckily for me all is not lost…my kids have taught me a valuable lesson. They have taught me that I too can find my playground – that there are in fact playgrounds for me – I can belong – I can have a place - I too can reap the multiple benefits that physical activity can offer.
What I know for certain is – these benefits are irrelevant if young people and adults are not physically active in the first place – so we must start there. We must change the messages once and for all. Let everyone be given the opportunity to experiment, to be active in lots of different ways in many different places to find and flourish in their playgrounds.
I would love to think my story has been assigned to yesteryear and that things have now moved on. But only recently, Simon Scarborough, a respected and excellent practitioner, posted the following:
At miMove we are doing all we can to break this narrative for good. We are rapidly collecting evidence that we are on the right track as we capture heartwarming stories of young people, especially those from underserved communities, fostering a better relationship with physical activity because of our platform.
We would love to work with more practitioners and schools who care deeply about young people’s physical activity experiences. If that's you, please use this link to book an introductory call to find out how miMove can really support your work.