Exercise advice from the BBC

How to make school sports enjoyable:

• Talk to the teacher concerned on the quiet, if you can, and explain what’s bothering you. Teachers are there to encourage you into doing more than you think you can. If you really can’t, then say so. Clearly whoever wrote this article has never tried getting hold of a PE teacher. You might as well go for the Holy Grail – it’d be a damned sight easier, and it’s probably more rewarding when you get it.
• If a particular sport or activity is a nightmare, ask if there’s something else you could do instead. Come up with some suggestions so it’s clear you’re being helpful rather than just trying to get out of it. Where are these schools and how can I get in one? I’ve never heard of a school where you have a choice. Here, in years 10 & 11, you do get some choice (you get to pick 1st and 2nd choices from a list), but even then, you’re assigned something and that’s it. Saying ‘I don’t want to’ won’t get anyone anywhere.
• If you’re worried about what you look like, talk to your teacher. Ask if it’s possible to wear tracksuit bottoms or baggy clothing if you’re worried about your weight, for example. Have they failed to notice that most schools in this country have uniforms and that applies to PE as well? You don’t get a choice.
• If periods are a problem, talk to the teacher (or a female teacher if your PE teacher is male). Exercise often helps with period pain once you start, but if they’re particularly bad, ask to sit out. Ask to sit out my arse. You need a note, sometimes more than one note, and often they’ll ring your parents anyway to check that they really did write the note.

With sports in schools the way they are now, no government is going to get people interested in sports who don’t have an interest already. Being forced out into the freezing cold in shorts and t-shirts to play games is not enjoyable for many people and marshalling everyone into it serves no purpose at all.