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Were you one of the kids who was good at sports? I remember school PE as being horrible for mental health. Anyone awkward, uncoordinated, unpopular, unhappy wit

Were you one of the kids who was good at sports? I remember school PE as being horrible for mental health. Anyone awkward, uncoordinated, unpopular, unhappy with their body, or just totally uninterested in competitive sports spent those lessons being ignored at best, shouted at at worst. Funny how in primary school we all happily ran about and played together at lunchtime, but enforced sports days and team sports made it very clear who was “good” and who was “bad”, and that those of us who were bad should just stay out of the way and not inconvenience our teammates. COMPETITIVE sports are obviously going to make those at the bottom miserable and foster resentment towards them: that’s kind of the point. e: oh, and let’s not forget the horrifying combinations of changing rooms, showers and puberty... and for those of us with glasses there was a whole extra dimension of being forced to swim or dodge flying balls in the rain while literally semi-blind...!

huffmsa 6y ago
PE is a bad example case. Infrequent, with random team assignments, playing random new sports and activities each class is obviously and definitely skewed towards those who are predisposed to coordination and teamwork traits. What the parent, and I in another comment are talking about is team sports with the same team, playing the same sport on a regular basis. Not many people are good at "red scooter dodge chicken" after 5 minutes of it. But playing the same thing day in, day out for a while (practice) makes you better at it. You start noticing you're improving, your teammates may not out you in the starting rotation, but they're going to start bonding with you because of proximity and the shared feeling of progress. You don't need to have the same competitive zeal as the top performers, but you need to want to be part of the group. I never saw anyone get ostracized in a team unless they continually refused to be part of it.
- silveroriole 6y ago
  So, what are you going to do with the kids who don’t want to be a part of it and will simply never enjoy the experience of whiffing a ball every time? (Yes, it really is possible not to improve - see the other commenter who is on the spectrum, or anyone with dyspraxia, etc). Will you just say they deserve what they get? We’re presumably still talking about a situation where they’re forced to take part.
- pjc50 6y ago
  > never saw anyone get ostracized in a team unless they continually refused to be part of it. This is the "I never see sexual harassment so it doesn't happen" argument applied to childhood bullying. All education suffers from trying to motivate kids to do something voluntarily when really it isn't, but only in team sports is this enforced against the body. (How well do schools handle gender mixed sport these days, or is there a strict partition still?)
Barrin92 6y ago
>Were you one of the kids who was good at sports? Yes but I also had a good teacher who was good at setting up teams and so on in ways that avoid the typical pitfalls of not picking the awkward kid etc. With the teacher I had there wasn't any of the bad dynamics many people here seem to associate with PE. Which I think speaks to the quality aspect. Those issues are not inherent to sports but simply the result of teachers failing to do their jobs right. In a general sense though I think the slightly challenging aspect of competitive sports and the physicality around it is a good thing for development if it's done right. The unathletic kid needs to learn to deal with it just like the stuttering kid needs to learn to speak in front of audiences and the shy kid needs to learn to do a presentation or a play. These things prepare people to not avoid and get through things they're not good at and the social dynamics around it in a safe way ideally.

huffmsa 6y ago

PE is a bad example case. Infrequent, with random team assignments, playing random new sports and activities each class is obviously and definitely skewed towards those who are predisposed to coordination and teamwork traits. What the parent, and I in another comment are talking about is team sports with the same team, playing the same sport on a regular basis. Not many people are good at "red scooter dodge chicken" after 5 minutes of it. But playing the same thing day in, day out for a while (practice) makes you better at it. You start noticing you're improving, your teammates may not out you in the starting rotation, but they're going to start bonding with you because of proximity and the shared feeling of progress. You don't need to have the same competitive zeal as the top performers, but you need to want to be part of the group. I never saw anyone get ostracized in a team unless they continually refused to be part of it.

silveroriole 6y ago
So, what are you going to do with the kids who don’t want to be a part of it and will simply never enjoy the experience of whiffing a ball every time? (Yes, it really is possible not to improve - see the other commenter who is on the spectrum, or anyone with dyspraxia, etc). Will you just say they deserve what they get? We’re presumably still talking about a situation where they’re forced to take part.
pjc50 6y ago
> never saw anyone get ostracized in a team unless they continually refused to be part of it. This is the "I never see sexual harassment so it doesn't happen" argument applied to childhood bullying. All education suffers from trying to motivate kids to do something voluntarily when really it isn't, but only in team sports is this enforced against the body. (How well do schools handle gender mixed sport these days, or is there a strict partition still?)

Barrin92 6y ago

>Were you one of the kids who was good at sports? Yes but I also had a good teacher who was good at setting up teams and so on in ways that avoid the typical pitfalls of not picking the awkward kid etc. With the teacher I had there wasn't any of the bad dynamics many people here seem to associate with PE. Which I think speaks to the quality aspect. Those issues are not inherent to sports but simply the result of teachers failing to do their jobs right. In a general sense though I think the slightly challenging aspect of competitive sports and the physicality around it is a good thing for development if it's done right. The unathletic kid needs to learn to deal with it just like the stuttering kid needs to learn to speak in front of audiences and the shy kid needs to learn to do a presentation or a play. These things prepare people to not avoid and get through things they're not good at and the social dynamics around it in a safe way ideally.