Are readers of this blog still connected with their alma mater, the school you attended before going on to tertiary education? Certainly I’ve paid my subscription to the Old Philipians’ Association these last 50 years, and I follow, with mild interest, their Facebook group. Recently a conversation on the Facebook group caught my eye. It concerned cross-country running. During the winter us boys used to be sent off on a designated course around the streets of west Birmingham, or perhaps on several laps of the school’s playing field. No coaching, no advice, just do it. Meanwhile the masters in charge would sit and chat, drink tea.
This was OK by me. I enjoyed any sports we were made to do, though I never excelled at any. But it’s only now I realise how much outdoor sports in general, cross-country in particular, was hated by so many. They would try to avoid running with every excuse under the sun. Unable to avoid it they’d drag their feet, share a fag, risking the approbation of the sports masters.
The result? The vast majority left school with no intention of continuing to run, either in competition or to keep fit. What was the mindset of those trained sports teachers who used running as some type of punishment? Surely their role was to teach sport, not to inflict it. Those of us who continued with sport in later years did so in the form of team sports – soccer, rugby, cricket with your mates.
This wasn’t just my school. It was all boys’ schools. And after a miserable couple of hours in the mud and rain it was compulsory communal showers, excruciatingly embarrassing for many boys, especially with the odd creepy master peering in to make sure no one was dodging.
And the girls’ schools? I don’t know. They were the mysterious St Paul’s girls up the road in their neat grey uniforms, noses in the air, chaperoned by scowling nuns. But I do know from anecdotal evidence that many girls equally hated sports as delivered by their schools. We see so many women, now in middle age, taking up running for the first time and amazing themselves by enjoying the experience.
I’d love to speak to those old sports teachers about their approach back in those days (1960s) and I’d also like to know how that approach compares to today. Surely our schools are teaching children sport, starting with first principles and developing skills on a programmed basis. Aren’t they?
Back On The Rock 
Sadly, physical education doesn’t seem to be a priority any longer…at least here in the US. Could explain the childhood obesity rates. I love that photo, Roy!
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Hi Jill, I guess that schools/teachers are guided by curriculum demands. Certainly over here, those demands leave little room for PE and I guess it’s the same there. These days however there is no shortage of clubs catering for youngsters and there is every opportunity for them.
I think fast food/bad diet has had a greater affect on obesity rates. That’s been the case all over the world.
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Yes, fast food and bad diet is a huge factor. Unfortunately, many less fortunate families don’t have the money to cover the cost of sporting activities outside of the public school system.
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Hmm. When I was going to school in the US in the dark ages, boys and girls went to school together. I’d say that we had a pretty balanced intro to lots of sports. Obviously gym was more popular with the athletic kids than the non-athletic (me), but it wasn’t thought of as a punish. One of my brothers ran on the cross-country team. He’s run ever since. The attitude of the gym teacher can make all the difference.
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Hello Jane. Yes, our secondary education (UK) was universally single-sex when I was young. It was a matter of wonder when St Philip’s and St Paul’s ever got together to any degree, notably to put on a school play 🙂 No wonder we grew up odd sometimes.
Our grammar schools were ‘sink or swim’ as regards sports. The only skills we learnt were self-taught. You were favoured if, in the case of our school, you were competent at soccer but otherwise you were just expected to get changed and take part.
Certainly your experience seems to have been better. Perhaps the British approach is now more enlightened and positive. I recall my school belatedly offering ‘community service’ as an alternative to sport, recognising that not every child was the same. This option was massively over-subscribed.
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Too funny. I would have gone on a waiting list for community service to get out of playing field hockey, softball, volleyball, and dodge ball. I was too skinny and nearsighted to be anything but a target. Ah, those were the days, my friend!
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Unfortunately, it seems many subjects like PE and the arts, have been side-lined in the current British curriculum. Hopefully, that will change as it is important to keep fit and be creative. Having said that, I hated school sports (in the 70s and 80s for me) and would have done anything to get out of doing them! It has put me off sports for life.
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Yes it’s almost as if the schools have handed over their PE role to external clubs, for those who wish to avail of those opportunities. I don’t see it changing. At least in ye olde days you had teachers who would take school sports teams in their own time e.g. Saturday morning matches. Their input might have been little more than guardians but I doubt that teachers do that in this day and age of curriculum adherence and management.
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I went to a comprehensive but I well remember the dread that accompanied cross country. We would usually just walk around the course but there were others who were more creative about spending the time! Athletics was embarrassing if, like me, you weren’t very good at it – I think if sport in general had been taught in a different way, many of us who don’t do it now might have continued with it.
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Hello Andrea. I agree with you entirely. There was never any understanding or empathy, such as treating children as individuals. The concept of gradually introducing the basics of a sport didn’t seem to exist. It’s no wonder many felt out of their depth and miserable. Again I wonder what was taught at those teacher training colleges – it certainly wasn’t how to engage or enthuse children. The skilled or competent got better, the others got left behind. Shameful, though I hope there were exceptions.
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You ask such a good question, Roy. Like many others, I didn’t think that I was athletic and I disliked the “forced sports” we were made to participate in during gym class. First, (and at least you boys didn’t have this) – we girls had to wear a skirted (above our knees), belted PINK uniform during the gym hour. It was horrendously ugly and after a couple of gym classes, stank to high heaven. We could just take it home weekly to wash it. Secondly, our gym teacher was really into gymnastics, so we had to do the balance beam and the “horse” and the parallel bars. Some girls excelled. Some claimed illness and ran to the nurse’s station. Some (ahem) fell while jumping the “horse” and smashed her finger so badly she needed surgery. Yeah, so because of high school sports I thought I was uncoordinated and impossible. It wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I discovered a love of running and dancing and yoga. So, yes, I blame my school sports for my lack of confidence, but on the other hand, I DO think it’s important to get the kids out of their “devices” and make them move. Don’t know what the answer is. Well, yes I do. Just have the kids WALK for an hour outdoors during recess and gym. That would work miracles.
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Thanks for sharing those experiences Pam. I hope educators have since learnt that forcing sport on an unwilling child is likely to do more harm than good. Perhaps it’s best left to external clubs who deliver their sports in a properly coached manner.
Sure, let the schools encourage simple movement but specific sports only if properly trained staff, sympathetic to the child’s wishes and abilities are in charge.
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I wish they could the teach running so people could learn the joy of it. I’ve never been a good long distance runner–old men and dogs can pass me:)–but I always wished I could feel the joy . . .
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In recent years the penny has begun to drop Kristine. Running is for everyone, it’s our natural state. We’ve un-evolved so much though it needs to be re-taught in a cautious and gradual manner.
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I know! I feel like we are beginning to mirror the movie Wall-E. Which was a great movie but horrified me when I saw it because I felt like it was a potential future for our world.
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I absolutely hated team sports at my Catholic school. The girls were separated from the boys and the girls were brutal at hockey. At college, I was asked to run cross country but I just liked it as a solitary activity. Still do…can’t even bear my husband on exercise walks!
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That’s another very relevant point Kerry. The tough, sporty children revel in their superiority over the weaker ones. I don’t recall any real effort to teach or encourage the weaker ones to reach their potential – it was sink or swim. No wonder so many turned their backs on sport and exercise as soon as they could.
And yes, running solo (or indeed walking) is great for meditating and mental regrouping. Others enjoy the social side and the chat. I’m happy with either.
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It was certainly sink or swim and those gym mistresses were so SCARY…worse than the nuns!
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I can imagine. Scary seems to have been an essential qualification for teaching PE – knowledge and empathy was optional.
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