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Columnist: Get rid of team sports in gym class

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Dick Whitman, May 10, 2013.

  1. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Do kids take math tests in front of all the other kids? Do they pick teams in grammar class? She makes a very good, probably correct point: Team sports, as practiced in American gym classes, are socially and psychologically corrosive. If the same were true of math and English class, then we'd have to rethink math and English class. And, in fact, we frequently do.
     
  2. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Along the same line of thinking kids should not be forced to stand up in
    front of class and make presentations or read out loud.

    For gym class an hour of Burpee's would be a good alternative to
    team sports. Works the core.
     
  3. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Kids are asked to do math problems in front of class on black board ( or smart
    board for elite towns)
     
  4. Rhody31

    Rhody31 Well-Known Member

    I loved team sports in gym class.
    I was a three-sport athlete and made it a point not to be a dick in gym class. My first pick would always be one of my buddies, then I'd go out of my way to pick underclassmen who were shy or weren't good. By the end of the year, we all had fun. They tried their hardest, some sucked, some didn't, but as long as they were trying we had fun. A couple of the girls I picked over the winter told me they went out for volleyball in the spring because of playing in gym class.
    It comes down to the kids. If you get douchebag athletes and kids who suck who won't try, it's gonna be a bad time for everyone. THere has to be balance. The sucky kids have to put forth an effort and the athletes have to accept that gym class isn't a varsity game.
     
  5. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    True. And, of course, a lot of people - particularly in graduate-level courses - swear by the Socratic method.

    I would dispute the notion, however, that people advocate to get rid of team sports in gym class, but not any analogue on the academic side. When I was in fifth grade, I recall our science teacher seating us every week, from first seat to last, based on our performance thus far in the class. It was a big to-do each week.

    Do you really think that would fly today?
     
  6. Mr. Sluggo

    Mr. Sluggo Active Member

    Public humiliation is how we learn to "compete". Wow.
     
  7. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    A lot of schools have been moving away from a gym class based on team sports in part because of childhood obesity rates. The reason being, in team sports a lot of kids end up just standing around. Instead, the class focuses on exercise and health, and implants the idea of lifelong activity. This is actually from four years ago:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/nyregion/long-island/11gymli.html?_r=0

    My kids' elementary school has team sports, though the teams are grouped by the teachers, not by the kids. The idea is to introduce them to various activities. They also have exercise classes.

    My daughters' junior high gym class is completely about exercise and wellness. Her school has a workout room with all the equipment you'd see in your local exercise center. The kids also wear heart monitors, and are instructed to keep their heart rate at a certain level. There also might be some team sports involved, but it's much more limited compared to working out.

    My son isn't taking PE in high school (Illinois, I believe, is the only states that requires four years of PE to graduate), but that's because he's in ROTC, where there are multiple days a week of physical training, as well as after-school opportunities. So I won't know until next year, when my daughter is in high school, what a "regular" gym class is like. But as you go along, I do know you have the opportunity to specialize, such as weight training, aerobics and outdoor training (including a rock wall for climbing).

    I think how all of this rolls out is appropriate. I think it is valuable to introduce team sports at an elementary age, because the kids will try activities they might have never considered. As long as the gym teacher isn't treating it like Lord of the Flies, it should be OK. But as things move along, the focus should be much more on exercise and wellness, and trying to make that as enjoyable as possible. Not that you don't let kids know that working out is always easy, but if your goal is to get kids moving, making it as miserable as possible doesn't help.
     
  8. Brian

    Brian Well-Known Member

    I agree that gym classes should morph into being fitness and workout classes. Not because I'm worried about people being embarrassed, but because playing kickball doesn't exactly provide a cardio workout.
     
  9. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Burpees is the way to go
     
  10. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    You may not like it but it's true. And not just in sports.
     
  11. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    As a parent, there are few things are more important for my sons than team sports. I want them to learn to respect their teachers and coaches. I want them to learn how important it is to help a team win or share in a loss. I want them to learn that there is glory in throwing a block that helps someone else score a touchdown and that there is glory in being on the second team that helps the first team get better in practice.
     
  12. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    Burpees ... also known as the four-count pushup when I was in the Army.
     
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