More PE = More Anxiety

During the Olympics, we have heard the likes of Boris Johnson and David Cameron saying that kids should be made to do more PE in schools than they do currently.  Now, let me set the scene: I love sport, I think the success of the British team in the Olympics was fabulous and moreover, I'm rather obsessed with football, the watching and debating of which is one of my main hobbies.  I love watching Wimbledon, I play pool (badly) on a social level and enjoy talking about sport with anyone who wishes to share their opinions. 

But I'm terrible at playing sport.

Now, one could argue that, if I had done more PE in school, I'd have been better at sport than I am.  But I don't think so.  I may have been an immature pre-teen at the start of high school, but by then I knew I was cack at sport and I had no interest in attempting to rectify the situation.

I recall, even as early as year 5 in primary school, my teacher saying in her annual report 'Alan's talents are better served elsewhere than on the PE field or in the gym.'  So despite our youth and our 'still to occur' development, I knew (as did others) that I was shocking at sport.

For me, PE made me anxious.  Having to go out on the rugby field (our school was obsessed with rugby) in the rain, sleet or hail (yes it did hail once... we just carried on hooking all the way through it), freezing my extremities off and getting the rise taken out of me everytime I made a mistake (aka everytime I touched the ball) was a horrendous experience, especially when you throw in a PE teacher who had all the encouragement of an unforgiving meteorite and the intelligence of an inflatable dinghy. 

I remember having two kinds of anxiety: one because I hated the other, better skilled pupils venting their frustration at my lack of ability.  And two, because of how the harsh conditions that affected my body (cold, mainly)... i.e. being overly preoccupied with how I was feeling physically.

If only I knew then that that was the early onset of health anxiety...

I hated it, and moreover, it hated me.  Rugby was the worst, but swimming, gymnastics, hockey, cricket... all the same.  Even basketball was a waste of time, and that's considering I'm 6 foot 4 and as well built as a flagpole.  The more I did PE, the worse I got, because my confident was shot.  And of course, the worst that made my anxiety. 

Is it about exercise or competition?  If the former, then whilst the other sporty guys go and play rugby, I'll go for a 3 mile walk.  I'd have wanted more PE then, I love walking and it would give me a darn sight more exercise than standing there freezing my knackers off not playing rugby.  But no, as always, everything has to be a competition.  'Competition is good for you' they say; OK yes to an extent, but take someone who is garbage at something and who has anxiety, and get them to compete with others who aren't and who don't, and that just causes pain.

More exercise in school is a good idea.  More PE, if that encompasses the competition element of things, is not necessarily.  As I said, despite my youth, I and everyone else knew I was useless at PE, so what a waste of time it would have been for me to do more of it. 

And maybe my schooldays would have been less anxious if I had have done less of it... The benefit of hindsight...

Best wishes
Al