International I Hate Sports Club

Why some children dislike physical education

by Scott Hayden
Created on: February 19, 2010




Gym class can be a frightening place for students who are either frail, unassertive, or both. Other reasons why these particular kids may not like the activities in gym class could be because they were not taught in the right way, or they didn't have the chance to practice playing the games. Sports can be complicated and no two courts or playing fields are the same size or shape. Not all students will be comfortable in this environment in which the competition can be fierce.

Gym class is not meant to be taught by doing military style workouts, but some instructors run their classes this way. Doing endless situps, pushups and lap running, which the gym teachers themselves do not participate in, will not be fun for disinterested students who would rather just talk to their friends. If it was structured like a class with worthwhile activities and not a punishing sixty minutes of exercise, a greater number of students would get involved.

Gym teachers do not deserve all of the blame. Kids can get hurt and gym class can be seen as synonymous with pain. They could be hit by a ricocheting object and even fit students will fall once in a while. Portlier kids who are not physically fit can be injured by tripping or falling. Broken bones, pulled muscles and dislocated joints may cause a student to think twice before entering a gym again. Injuries can come from sources that are not physical, too. Kids who take gym classes far too seriously can be fanatical when trying to win a game and will yell at anyone who makes a mistake. Kids who do not get picked for teams will wonder why they are there in the first place.

Not everyone is created equal. If that were the case then every human being would have loved physical education classes and would be competing in professional sports. Every school has its groups of bookworms. Kids who are shy and introverted will not have the confidence to excel physically. They may see the gym class as a place of ridicule and segregation. Others will be hesitant to show their bodies, which is understandable given how cruel kids can be in locker rooms when the gym teacher isn't around. As a result, they are not interested in going to university with athletic scholarships. Rather, they would prefer to get there using their brains.

Unfortunately, a gym class can be a breeding ground for bullies and it's not only the students who will exhibit this behavior. Teachers can be bullies as well and this is extremely serious. They can reward the strong students and terrorize the weak ones. For the jocks of a school, the gym class might be seen as a battlefield where they can show their superior strength and agility. It's their territory and are not afraid to show everyone else it belongs to them. Non aggressive kids who don't like gym class or the ones who are especially timid would feel uncomfortable and their performance would suffer.

Scott Hayden wrote:Unfortunately, a gym class can be a breeding ground for bullies and it's not only the students who will exhibit this behavior. Teachers can be bullies as well and this is extremely serious. They can reward the strong students and terrorize the weak ones.

I saw a lot of behavior from sports players that were not only bypassed by normal discipline procedures, but in some cases, encouraged by faculty as they occurred. I personally witnessed the football team grab a "geek" in the shower after gym, do a "dogpile" on him and force him to the team's jocks over his mouth and face while being taunted with various homophobic slurs. The coach was not only a witness, he was orchestrating it. The only reason he finally stopped it was because he realized having 8 heavy guys on your chest and jocks stuffed in your face was probably preventing the kid from breathing.

Unless some discipline happened behind the scenes, I never saw any punishment against the students involved.