Sports in education

Sherwin M. Ramos

The interest of students in sports has risen dramatically over the years, especially with the advent of local, regional and national athletic and sports competitions where young athletes take to the fore in tilts like the Central Luzon Regional Athletic Association contests and other regional meets, Palarong Pambansa and like last year, the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

Thus, sports has become an integral part of the curriculum in correlation with the learning process, in which a recent longitudinal survey of children from the primary and secondary levels proved that increased physical activity through physical education or PE positively affected academic performance of students.

Thus, the Department of Education has been carrying out physical education and sports in public and private pre-school institutions, grade school and high school.

Sports education instruction in elementary students includes movement experiences and body mechanics, fitness and rhythmic activities, increased cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, and sports and games. Pre-school, kindergarten and elementary students are required to take at least 200 minutes of physical activity each 10 days.

In high school curriculum, physical education will include activities that increase cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength and flexibility, and sports and games. High school students are obliged to perform 400 minutes of physical activity each 10 days or 150 hours weekly, with the equivalent of 30 minutes of physical activity daily.

Aside from the traditional sporting events like basketball, volleyball, swimming and athletics, sports education includes playing traditional Filipino games like sipa and arnis.

Sports in education will develop physical and motor fitness, fundamental motor skills and patterns, skills in aquatics and dance, individual and group games.

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The author is Teacher III at Sta. Cruz Elementary School, Magalang South

District