I recall physical education mostly as a cluster of unpleasant smell, sounds and textures. Foot sweat, grit and the clatter of spiked shoes. As far as I was concerned it was a psychological battle between me and a series of body obsessed weightists who wished to inspire me to accept that I was a fat waste of space and I need to stop disfiguring the place with my presence.

Looking back this wasn’t far from the truth. I vividly remember being the focus of a discussion on different body shapes after calling out a teacher on implying that I was the wrong shape for my gender. He was not shaken by my forwardness. I must admit that I get pleasant feel thinking of that chiseled but dim individual sliding despairingly into middle age.

I won the battle if your wondering. But largely because what they saw as punishment I saw as a way out of being at the receiving end of the disappointment of my less reluctant team mates. They’d leave me in a walk-in cupboard for a couple of hours. I’d come out with a smile on my face after a good sit down and a couple of chapters of whatever book I was reading brewing in my imagination.

In the last couple of years I found myself re-approaching exercise with a new energy. And although I must admit that at first I picked up the weights to boost my confidence as a single man with little experience approaching women. I now find myself enthralled with the benefits to my mental health and find myself wondering what in earth went wrong.

I am not so different to the boy who would rather sit out and fail than grant some bigot the pleasure of watching me pant my way through whatever ball-kicking/hitting pastime they felt was so important that it should  demand hours of my time. If anything I am more resolute in my dislike for people who seek this bizarre form of self validation.

Weightisim like all prejudice is a way of belittling people not motivating them and although in the latter years of secondary school PE theory a little time was set aside to address the more holistic benefits. It was not till I studied the practice of some of the more dramatic advocates of the civil rights movement that I granted the notion any credence.

Setting aside the quite frankly bizarre paramilitary aspect. Here were people facing great adversity using physical training to strengthen the body and mind. In the face of my own challenges I found that their setting aside of the contrived notions of body shape in service of something all-together more rewarding was a great inspiration. Suddenly exercise was not a toxic distraction from my goals and an acceptance of my failure to rise above. But a way of energising myself which could be tailored to helping me achieve my goals.

It would be laughable to suggest that the social isolation that the less able find in western PE classes would be soothed by converting entirely to an eastern approach to physical education with drills an routines. But surely our vast state-funded physical education system should be focused on the key skills an individual needs to stay healthy and fit, with sporting skills taking a back seat. With that said should the job of PE teacher be not more akin to that of a personal trainer then that of a coach.

I don’t remember having Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle being explained to me in physics even though I’m sure any physicist will admit it plays a key role in the understanding of the world we see around us, amongst other things. However I do remember having the rules of rugby explained to me several times. And although I use my understanding of either rarely I know which one I’m more likely be able to study in the pub.

Brain Glover as the quintessential obnoxious PE teacher in Ken Loach’s 1969 film ‘Kes’.

Brain glover as the quintessential obnoxious PE teacher in Ken Loach’s 1969 film “Kes”