Being a strength coach in Canada for 20 years I have seen a common theme in the long-term adaptation of a healthy lifestyle in athletes during their competitive years, post competitive years, and in their families. A weekly routine that is made up of training that is measured, practicing to develop skills and games to develop character! All of these together create a lifestyle. We have clearly voted as a society that this is optimal performance as we are paying pro athletes millions of dollars to entertain us. So, the question becomes, why doesn’t PHE look like this? Why is PHE broken into segments? Why do sports classes feel like they are only for athletes? Why is fitness class only for the fitness room? And lastly, what is the future of PHE?
How would it impact students if PHE was one course code and a class experience with a balanced approach? Would it develop all the necessary components of physical literacy to maintain a highly functional mover for life?
Of course! Setting PHE up this way gives students the opportunity to experience what an active healthy lifestyle is. This then creates a 4-year journey of increasing enrollment in the non-compulsory years! You may not use chemistry if you are a salesperson or geography if you end up in software, but you will always be in your body for the rest of your life. There is no end to PHE, it is a lifestyle. As educators, we create this lifestyle habit, by having a process and culture.
The process begins when we expose students to regular reflection. This way students can build knowledge and understanding of how different activities affect their well-being and build the confidence in themselves to explore more. If they have no idea the effect of what they are doing they will never be interested in learning. By leveraging technology you can then invest your time in the culture you wish to create.
The culture begins with you, what are your standards in the class? What energy do you bring each day to the room? How do you communicate with the students and what level of communication do you expect them to have with each other? Lay them out on day 1 and live by them. In the end, if we don’t equip our students with health they will have nothing!
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