Were you any good at PE in school?

super_furry

Liked playing football, was never really bothered with anything else.

Desolation Of Smug

PE was the only thing that made school bearable. I loved it.

iDave

Used to love it as was an excuse to get out of class. In the later years though it was just used as an excuse by the scumbags to show off what hard men they were.

Greenmachine

Was never especially sporty. However I did do well in a couple of PE sports in primary school. We used to play street hockey on the tarmac and handball in the sport hall. I would consistently score go in both any time we played them. In secondary school we still did P.E for the junior cycle, only thing I did really well in was the bleep test, 3 longest endurance out of a class of about 30, myself and then 2 that ran longer than me were all smokers.
We played other sport too like basketball, but wasn't any good at any of them. I was /am especially bad when it comes to flexibility. I have the flexibility of an iron post, touch my toes, try my knees. Alway been stiff like that.

Aongus Von Bismarck

Looking back I found the pe class to be a frustrating experience in that it had people of widely differing physical abilities doing the same exercises. The teaching itself was very dated.

So I was forced to participate in a class that didn't meet the needs of those of us who were athletic and already participated in a wide range of sports within the school - I was a keen hurler and cross-country runner, and represented the school at the highest levels in both. It can't have been much fun for those who didn't have such sporting prowess. It certainly didn't help sell the message that any exercise is better than no exercise.

AndyBoBandy

I went to a GAA school, so the entire year in PE class was spent playing GAA, bar 6 weeks or soccer & 6 weeks of rugby.

wasn't good at GAA
wasn't good at soccer
was fairly decent (for decent, read hefty) at rugby.

Would have liked to have played more rugby, I was big, but fast.

I could have been a contender....

Ososlo

I was the kid with the black eyeliner and a sour puss sitting on the bench or outside smoking every Friday for five years in Secondary school. PE was just sooooo not cool. I managed to forge a note every single week and they either didn't cop or more likely just gave up on me.
Now I run about 60 miles a week

leahyl

I absolutely hated P.E. yet I always just brought in my gear and did it cos I knew it was "compulsory"- never mind that there were others that were far better at P.E. than me who used to bring a "note" from home saying they were sick and couldn't partake. I never did that once, I was so naïve....

Larianne

The Peanut wrote: »

PE in my school was like a big social cliché. One gang of lads went out and kicked/hurled/threw a ball around and the other gang went and sat in the library doing their homework. GAA was the only option - didn't mind, I loved exercising and sports - but no other option was provided for lads who didn't like GAA or sports in general.

That's part of the problem. Schools may focus on one sport and presume all students will like or be good at it. A varied programme would be more appropriate. I played Olympic handball in 6th class and was good at it. At my secondary school, all that was promoted was GAA. I had to do sport outside school. Not every family can afford to pay for their kids to do extra curricular activities.

rainbow kirby

I enjoyed it, apart from badminton because my hand-eye coordination was crap! I was about the only one who was a bit annoyed in 6th year when they replaced our Thursday afternoon PE class with triple maths if you were doing honours...

Duggy747

I hated PE because all we did was play football, nothing else, and it was boring as shít.

I didn't mind playing it but there a room full of gear for other activities that was never used because the teacher wasn't arsed setting any of it up, plus he coached the football team so he got to get practice in with his players while he didn't care if the rest of us played or not.

Shenshen

I can't begin to describe how much I hated, despised and loathed PE. It accounts for some of the very worst memories I have of school.

A number of sucessive PE teachers had succeeded in convincing me that I was utterly useless at any kind of sport or excercise - and stupidly, I kept believing them until rather recently.

Now it turns out that I'm in fact a very good swimmer and not too bad on a bicycle - thank you, PE, for making me dread and hate excercise for nearly all my life.

Going Strong

Our principal was GAA mad and was almost like Principal Skinner in his determination that *this* year was the year that his school would win the championship but they never did while I was there. As a result, anyone on the football or hurling teams were treated like demi-gods and we were ordered to worship them. The daft thing is that other sports were treated like crap because they weren't GAA even though the school had a very good basketball team, a few good athletes and even a couple of swimmers who represented Ireland in European contests yet they never got a mention.

As for PE, I hated it because I was/am crap at any sports so never bothered with it. We came to an agreement with the PE coach that we'd stay out of the way during double PE and so we did our homework while the others ran about the place.

anncoates

Liked the sports side of it: I remember playing football, badminton, basketball etc but found a lot of it boring. Was always OK at it.

Conall Cernach

efb wrote: »

I was useless. Like Frasier or Niles Craine.

Couldn't do the horse and hated the trampoline... and the rope- wtf!!!!

So AHers were ye any good at PE in school?

Horse, trampoline, rope!!? I think the horse was out one day of my 5 years at secondary. We didn't see any other gymnastics equipment, it was indoor soccer or basketball for us. That was after the 3 laps of the playing fields of course. I remember we got one day on the Gaelic pitch but no instruction or anything like that. The school teams were made up of players who had attended a sports day thing a couple of days before term had started for first year. These teams continued throughout my 5 years there. In 5th and 6th year unless you were on one of the football teams then all PE was just spent hanging around the handball alleys having a laugh.

circadian

I was in the same class as a few lads who are now pro/semi pro soccer players so P.E was geared towards them or all the country lads who were good at gaelic football. Turns out I was a decent hurler but that's not a big thing in my neck of the woods.

Didn't get on to the athletics team due to a dispute with the head coach and my brother, coach was an absolute tw@t who would cut off his nose to spite his face.

I posted a 17.34 5k one day and he didn't encourage me at all. The local running clubs were great though.

Then 16/17 arrived with booze, weed and girls. Good times.

Buona Fortuna

Our PE teacher was into cross country. I used to hate it with a passion. In the early years I'd elect for any "unusual" sport that looked cushty e.g. fencing, sailing.

Senior years, a cross county run either meant a free period or a walk up the canal for a smoke.

CINCLANTFLT

Shenshen wrote: »

I can't begin to describe how much I hated, despised and loathed PE. It accounts for some of the very worst memories I have of school.

A number of sucessive PE teachers had succeeded in convincing me that I was utterly useless at any kind of sport or excercise - and stupidly, I kept believing them until rather recently.

Now it turns out that I'm in fact a very good swimmer and not too bad on a bicycle - thank you, PE, for making me dread and hate excercise for nearly all my life.

That was me as well... Every week was soccer... I was sociable and took part every week... I was picked last every week...

Later I took up running and other sports and found I was good at them

heroics

We didn't have PE class in secondary school. If you wanted to play sport you trained after school and rugby was the only option.

I would have loved the chance to do sports in school

In primary it varied from athletics, GAA, Basketball etc

Teyla Emmagan

PE? You mean hockey? Because it was either hockey or stuck on the sidelines as you were too useless to play hockey. The annoying thing was we had a gym full of great equipment, but no one was ever allowed near it. I think our PE teacher had just done the hockey certificate.

circadian

I get the feeling most posters are in agreement that it's a subject with great potential but poor execution.

The amount of posts that are "wasn't great at soccer/gaa/etc" but turn out to be good at something else is disheartening. Being good at a sport and enjoying it is great for the mind.
Not to mention the bullying that sometimes comes along with someone not being so good at something.


How many kids are still suffering from the failure of this particular curriculum?

efb

Pherekydes wrote: »

Well, didn't you go to a fancy school?

We had to run around a field. I wasn't much into combat sports, like GAA or Soccer. :rolleyes: Running was what I was best at, and I wasn't much good at that. I was a scrawny wretch.

No it was a tech- but we had a nice gym

cloud493

Sure cross country was better than football or cricket. You could walk if you wanted, have a chat with people, no idiot team mates screaming at you cos you missed the ball in a pointless game.

KatW4

Hated PE so much in school. I hated getting changed for it because the snobby girls used to call me anorexic for being thin. I wasn't but it made me so self conscious.

As for the lessons, it was basketball, badminton, rounders or the bars/ropes/swings. I was okay at basketball. Our teacher loved her basketball team though and unless you were on it show wasn't too bothered with the rest of us.

By 5th year I had given it up for study class instead, thankfully!

Floppybits

Loved PE. Could never understand why others didnt want to do PE. My school was quite good for PE always did different things including swimming and snorkeling in the local leisure centre.

Teyla Emmagan

PE? You mean hockey? Because it was either hockey or stuck on the sidelines as you were too useless to play hockey. The annoying thing was we had a gym full of great equipment, but no one was ever allowed near it. I think our PE teacher had just done the hockey certificate.

Larianne

Shenshen wrote: »

I can't begin to describe how much I hated, despised and loathed PE. It accounts for some of the very worst memories I have of school.

A number of sucessive PE teachers had succeeded in convincing me that I was utterly useless at any kind of sport or excercise - and stupidly, I kept believing them until rather recently.

Now it turns out that I'm in fact a very good swimmer and not too bad on a bicycle - thank you, PE, for making me dread and hate excercise for nearly all my life.

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

PE? You mean hockey? Because it was either hockey or stuck on the sidelines as you were too useless to play hockey. The annoying thing was we had a gym full of great equipment, but no one was ever allowed near it. I think our PE teacher had just done the hockey certificate.

Jaysis! Just goes to show why we have a childhood obesity problem.

Circuits would be a great class if there is a gym available.

Floppybits wrote: »

Loved PE. Could never understand why others didnt want to do PE. My school was quite good for PE always did different things including swimming and snorkeling in the local leisure centre.

Wow, that sounds amazing. What else did ye do?

mrkiscool2

cloud493 wrote: »

Sure cross country was better than football or cricket. You could walk if you wanted, have a chat with people, no idiot team mates screaming at you cos you missed the ball in a pointless game.

It was probably pointless because you kept missing the ball, hard to score if one of your players keeps giving the ball away...

Vi Peterson

I was terrible. Now I am good at most sports, but at school they ONLY PE we ever had was GAA, which I was no good at. I used to beg my parents to write me a note to get me out of it. Also, the teachers used to appear more friendly to the students good at sports rather than actual school work.

Ruu

Rounders, indoor soccer, basketball, some running around the pitch. I loved handball! I wasn't much good at anything really. We went once a month to swim at a leisure center. Then sweaty and smelly for the rest of the day (covering yourself with Lynx!).