Whether we were Sporty Susies or, erm… Last-To-Be-Picked Lucys, all of us have a strong memory or two of PE at school. Here some of the Simple Things’ team share theirs
“I'm weirdly nostalgic about musty smelling netball bibs even though they would only let me play wing defence and still shout 'pivot, pivot, chest pass'! in my head whenever I think about netball.” Fiona, Subscriptions Manager
“We used to play rounders in the summer at school - I think by that point of the academic year, the PE teachers had given up persuading us into the more traditional/taxing sports. I remember it being good fun, and one particularly hot afternoon, running to catch someone out, arm outstretched, and the ball landing right into my hand like a mini miracle. Probably the high point of my sporting prowess.”
Jo, Commissioning Editor
“Every year my school held ‘The Dale’, a punishing cross-country run across local fields and woodland. And every year I miraculously came down with an ear infection at the just the right time to hand in a handwritten note from my mum asking for me to be excused (thanks Mum!). However, in my final year, they sprung it on us out of the blue so I had no option but to pull my socks up (quite literally) and get on with it. Having never run it before, I had no idea of the route, so in a panic, I fixed on a girl in my class to follow. I remember several points where I thought my lungs would burst, but I knew I couldn’t lose sight of my classmate, especially as there weren’t many other girls around to latch onto. It was only when I crawled across the finish line that I realised this girl was pretty athletic and in my one and only time running The Dale, I had come in the top five of my year.”
Abbie, Sub Editor
“When I was at secondary school I was fairly happy to do PE as most of the sports I didn’t mind. but as you near the end of secondary, you hit that phase where you want to get out of it and just chat with your mates. I remember a form tutor raising the amount of PE absences with the class once and a girl asked why they have to do PE. Her reply was brilliant. She said that when you're older you'll have to pay to participate in a class, join a gym or do a team sport. This is the one time it’s free and you get to do it with your mates. So make the most of it. Youth really is wasted on the young as she was completely right. What i'd do to be able to play football or cricket with mates twice a week for free now (ignoring the physical pain it would cause)!”
Rob, Sales Director
“I hated almost every sport we had to do (apart from rounders and badminton) until we got to year 10, I think, and bowling - as in ten-pin bowling - became an option. If you picked it, you went into town on a Monday afternoon, bowled as quickly as possible then you were allowed to leave for the day and me, Lila and Carrie would go to Littlewoods in the town centre and share fish and chips. Not sure that was the athleticism they were looking for. I felt it was fair payback for being made to run around our school field in winter in running knickers.”
Karen, Commissioning Editor
“At my rather old-fashioned convent school, we were ‘lucky’ enough to have an outdoor swimming pool, which was the stuff of nightmares. I vividly remember the games mistress using a pole to break up the thin strips of ice that would form on the top of the pool before we got in. We complained about it to our parents bitterly and generally considered the swimming pool to be a form of child abuse. It makes me laugh now to see all the people on Instagram indulging in cold water therapy and posting about how great they feel after a session. I consider myself an early adopter now! Maybe it was character building after all…”
Iona, Editor at Large
This blog was inspired by our wellbeing feature ‘One For The Team’, from our September issue, in which we look at how revisiting childhood team sports as an adult can benefit both body and mind.
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