Sport in School: More Important Than Ever

With the rising levels of obesity throughout the world at the moment, the pressure is on a lot of governments across the globe to put some kind of policy into place which means that young people would get a better education about how to take care of themselves. Currently, a child only has to do one hour of exercise per week at school, which is nowhere near enough. The energy that they use during that hour is probably not even as much as is in one chocolate bar, which means that children are putting on more and more weight.

One of the issues is that children seem to hate sport at school. Carrying an extra kit around with them is a pain, the kids who aren’t good at sport get bullied, and they don’t like getting hot and sweaty because of the fact that there is more pressure on them to look good than ever before while they’re growing up. If schools think that sport is the only way that children can get exercise then they are very much mistake. Exercise should be built more into their normal lessons as well as the one lesson per week that they have to do a specific sport in.

What I mean by built in, is that lessons should no longer be just about sitting at a desk and looking at the teacher at the front. There should be more movement in lessons, such as where children have to stand up and move around the room depending on which answer they are giving to a question, or something where they have to go around the school measuring things if they’re in maths, or looking at trees and grass if they’re in science. They should not be told the reasons that they are being more active, because this makes them more likely to rebel. There should be more organised walks to aid with history and geography lessons, and this needs to be supported by head teachers so that there is more chance that it will get implemented in schools.

Another issue is the content that is actually in a PE lesson. All of the traditional sports like netball and football are covered, but this is about skill, and if a child does not have that skill then they don’t like PE lessons. If more fun things were put into place, like circuit training or obstacle courses, then there is much more chance that they child would want to engage in the lesson that they’re in and have a good time. There should be more options with regards to sport choice so that you don’t end up with children hating the class that they’re in, and therefore “forgetting” to bring their kit for each of the lessons.

If we make a start now, by the time the next generation comes around, there is a chance that we could have completely transformed the lives and lifestyles of our children.