What Do You Mean There are No Team Sports in Your Home Education plan?
It is well documented that remaining physically active is essential for staying healthy. But it’s not all team sports and running laps.
My daughter hated sports at school. Her pet hate was anything that involved running and team sports. The only exception occasionally was hockey.
There were several reasons for her hate of sports. Firstly, like me, she was always the last one picked for the team. Secondly, it involved being in a noisy, busy sports hall where the sound bounced off every surface or being outside with many other sensory issues.
My daughter also has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, hypermobility. One of the problems is that her joints tend to subflex very easily. Meaning regular trips to school to pick her up because she has ‘turned her ankle’ again. It meant no contact sports and teachers keeping a close eye on her during physical activity, not marching her up to the top of a Tor to play rounders (but that is a different story.)
I’m not doing it
As with many things, forcing a child to do an activity that brings physical pain and sensory discomfort results in refusal. The refusal does not stop at the activity. It bleeds into every aspect of the place and people insisting on the activity. So the refusal to play netball becomes refusal even to enter the sports hall, and eventually the school itself.
We are constantly being told that we are in the middle of a childhood obesity epidemic. Given this, it is more important than ever that schools find new ways to engage reluctant children in physical education. Instead, one look at the National Curriculum shows just how prescriptive PE is in schools.
It is recommended that school-aged children undertake at least 90 minutes of physical education every week. While the guidance states that it is up to the school how this is achieved, children are expected to meet specific targets primarily related to the skills garnered in team sports.
use a range of tactics and strategies to overcome opponents in direct competition through team and individual games
develop their technique and improve their performance in other competitive sports
