at the same time they should have some options when it comes to sports in gym class. maybe even make it a play, but keep moving kind of thing. if the child really doesn’t want to play a sport then they can walk or play some other game. i remember how i was told so much in gym such gems as, “what if your husband wants to play football? if you can’t play, then what will you do?” or being talked down to like a two year old, “Here is the ball. Now I’m pitching it to you.” by freshman year of high school I would start the fifty yard dash, see the other person take off, and just slow all the way down knowing I was a loser anyway. But, the class called systematics (it was free weight and circuit lifting). That class I loved and was good at it. although I hated the running.
all good points, and really - any good gym teacher should know how to keep a balance between the activities to appeal to the different interests of the kids.
The point I was trying to make is that there exists a strange bias among many educators who disapprove of athletics that emphasis on sports means deemphasis on academics (the whole “dumb jock” stereotyps)
And also...that teachers who coach athletics are somehow inferior or have their priorities messed up.
Often the opposite is true...many top students are athletes, and many administrators will say their good athletic coaches are also their best classroom teachers.