Gym Class - Did you participate?

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I had no choice to participate in gym. The fact that I was alot smaller than everyone else didn't help either.

I never dressed for gym though, I didn't like the thought of wearing shorts in public...

When I was little, I used to have to participate in group sports (which I sucked at). I often got picked last. I remember the one time I was praised in PE class was for my breathing during sit-ups. It make me really happy since it was the only time I'd done something well.

After middle school, I started doing independent PE. I was involved in horseback riding at the time so I didn't have to go to PE anymore.

I wasn't so bad at sports, but I couldn't do group sports to save my life. Nowadays I'm not very physically active at all.

I had to participate through Grade 10 (first year of senior high school).
I stopped attending Phys. Ed. the first chance I got, however.

I participated, but not well, played football 3rd string, but got a varsity letter, track shotput badly. I enjoyed the ritualized social interaction, easier and less free-form than the rest of high school. Being on the sports teams made me less of a target for the bullies too.

I avoided it as much as possible.

In middle school it was bad just because of our uniform - gym shorts (VERY short) and t-shirts, everything of our budding pre-teen/teen bodies was on show for the world to see, plus this was the uniform in the middle of winter...I live in the North of England, it got very cold and more so as our school was next to a huge field so the wind would really pick-up. Standing in goal was not fun. I would always try to stick out of the way, for most of high-school I had knee problems and even later on my mother let me get away with continuing to skip lessons or I'd just fake her signature and write myself a note excusing me from gym, so managed to skip most lessons, when actually participating I'd do my best to avoid actually participating, like staying in goal or defence during sports like hockey.

Dance in particular was very painful for me.
In high school gym the teachers used to let the popular girls take the class - aka the girls who used to bully me a lot, usually about the rumour that I was a lesbian where they would force me to get changed in the corner by the door where the boys could see me, in the dirty toilets, or in the shower cubicles while throwing things at me and being verbally abusive. I refused point-blank to dance, I knew I could dance better than them but if I so much as moved I'd be humiliated even more...that is more than standing there having them make the whole class turn to face me and the girls leading the class verbally abusing me. High school girls are treasures

BUT one of my best memories of high school was when the gym teacher forced me to play up-front in hockey.
It was against a team of popular girls, including someone from the England under 16's running team and from the England under 16's hockey team...my team pounded them! It was the first time that I realised I'm actually quite good at things once I try. Fortunately the popular girls in the other team were so full of themselves they never thought to ware shin-pad's either, so it was great fun bashing their shins from time to time when the gym teacher wasn't looking and just pretending it was accidental

I begrudgingly participated and was never very good at it.

Except for badminton. I rocked the court then... not sure why. I do know watching the birdie fly up in the air was very satisfying.

I participated until high school... when I was thrown out of gym class. My gym teacher was really fat and could not fit through the gate to the track he was telling us to run on. I got annoyed by that and went off about how insane it was that our physical education teacher was too fat to fit through a fence and that ended officially my years of school gym.

I just remembered that from carrying a heavy messenger bag, my shoulder was in a lot of pain. It was hard to raise my arm or move it past a 90 degree angle. Teachers didn't care though, they said at least get dressed.

I always did gym as I always did as I was told at school. But, I hated the team sports, not because I wasn't any good (I was and still am athletic). I just hated the way the other girls just didn't want me in their team, as I wasn't cool. The worst thing of all was Scottish country dancing, which we had to do every December at high school. The boys were allowed to pick their partners and I was always second last, just ahead of the lovely albino girl, who was even less desirable than me. Then the girls had to pick their partners and I always picked the same boy, whether he wanted to be picked or not - I never even fancied him. I loved gymnastics, aerobics, cross country running and badminton, as I had a chance to show off, without inconveniencing the others.

From grades 1 to 12 I generally hated gym class and athletics, and refused to participate whenever I could do so without much affect on my grade, which was remarkably often. I particularly hated and tried to avoid anything involving team sports or anything that was substantially strenuous. There were a select few things I enjoyed, including archery.

I felt strongly and passionately enough to put into action my mission statement which mandated that I initiate an exit strategy towards the goal of removing those human resources exclusive to my person from the presence of the educationally required social center in which the physically oriented groupthink responsible for reducing my personal efficiency parameters presided.

P.E. wasn't optional. You had to take it, and you had to pass it.

I hated it with a passion. I have no coordination and very little physical strength. The only good thing was that the teachers gave me credit for trying. Team sports always showed how physically inept I was. Some individual sports were fun, but we didn't do them very much.

When I was in elementary school P.E. class was very structured and was bearable. I did participate.

When I was in middle school I didn't understand what the instructor meant when he said to "dress out". He didn't let me participate because I didn't change my clothes(but I didn't know what that dressing out meant to change my clothes).

I finally did learn that "dressing out" meant to change my clothes. I didn't think that "dressing out" should be called that.

I did try to participate after that, but the other kids picked me last always. I got a D- every grading period in the class.

When I was a freshman in high school I understood what dressing out was, so even on the first day I did. I tried to participate and the instructor gave an 'A' to everyone who tried to participate.

I don't think P.E. should ever be a mandatory class because in no way does it involve education. It's just about playing games and moving around and if you aren't good at that or at least somewhat socially popular you get ostracized.

I participated for K-2, then 5 and 6, and then 9 - 12. I wasn't an athlete and wasn't all jazzed up and loud about how thrilled I was to be there; but, I didn't lag off in the years that I put in effort nor did I ever come in last in anything. I remember one year that we were playing roller hockey and I was the first one picked. Being somewhat of an unpopular girl, me as the captain's first choice confused her friends. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "What?! She's good! I want to win!" And win we did. I show no mercy in hockey.

Nowadays I do yoga, I run and I like outdoorsy things like hiking and kayaking. It's hard to play hockey in Florida so the most organized sport that I do is help my daughter with her soccer. She's the athlete.

The years I did not participate were years when I was having trouble in school or was experiencing body issues. I had a full-grown woman's body when I was 12 years old and, quite frankly, you really don't want to run with a pair of C's when you're only twelve, your mother thinks giving you one of her old supportive underwire bras is good enough, and the PE class is co-ed. That was a nightmare.

PE caused meltdowns.

Yes, I did participate. I had no choice in the matter...

Right from my first year of primary school, it was clear that I was clumsy and uncoordinated, and that this led to me being poor at PE. I was, however, still reasonably fit at this age, and so things depending on stamina never presented too much of a problem.

Following this, though, there was a decline in my level of fitness. I became prone to comfort eating, as well as avoiding as much physical exertion as possible due to sensory issues with the heat and sweat, embarrassment with my clumsiness, and simple physical laziness. As a result, I became overweight, and when we began taking proper fitness tests in my sixth year of primary school, I'd rank among the worst in the class.

In secondary school, the fitness tests became more thorough and frequent, and the tasks we had to do to prove our fitness became ever more humiliating. After only a term of this, I took to leaving my bag at home on the days we had PE, or even skipping school altogether. Good news was around the corner, however: halfway through my first year of secondary school, I suffered a breakdown (not entirely related to PE ), and the school saw it fit that I should only attend lessons in those subjects which were essential (English, Maths, etc.), and subjects which I felt to be beneficial to the path I saw myself taking with regards to further education and career. Consequently, PE, along with a few other subjects, was dropped, and I had free periods instead.

Rather annoying, I suppose, that I ended up in such a poor state that I had to withdraw from the mainstream education system completely within a few months, and that my privilege of free periods instead of PE, which I'd longed for throughout the years, was therefore no longer necessary.