By Nick Martin
For The Winnipeg Free Press

KIDS have forgotten how to play, one phys ed expert claims.
“One thing kids don’t know how to do is organizing pick-up-and-play. It’s one of the world’s lost skills,” says Donna Crowe, retiring this month after 14 years as physical education consultant for Winnipeg School Division.

Teachers need to help children rediscover the joys of unstructured physical activities and exercise, Crowe said.

Phys ed teachers have known for years that too many kids are inactive and overweight, said Crowe, who spent her entire career as a phys ed teacher in the division.

When she was a student at Sisler High School in the 60s, kids’ homes had one TV which parents controlled, and no video games. “Most kids just went outside and played.”

Now, adults organize everything. Crowe recalls being asked to organize a pick-up basketball game one day at Kelvin High School.
She laughs at the memory: “Watch this, this is a skill, I’m smart, I went to university,” she cracked to the students. Then she proceeded to holler out a call for basketball players, went one-two, one-two, one-two among the kids to pick teams, and tossed out a ball.

Crowe is a big fan of the compulsory grades 11 and 12 phys ed credits coming in 2008: “Kids take more ownership for their own fitness. They have to go out and find something. Hopefully, they’ll find something they enjoy doing,” she said.

Crowe also urged that elementary schools should have far bigger gyms that the community can use evenings and weekends.

“Every time an elementary gym is built, it should be built to high school standards,” Crowe said, adding that, “It shouldn’t all be education dollars” used for school gyms serving the entire community.

Students rallied during the provincial election campaign to demand a gym to replace the tiny multi-purpose room they have at Queenston School, but Crowe said giving Queenston an elementary school gym isn’t enough.

“A place like Queenston School would be a wonderful place to have a big huge gym. We need to make these elementary gyms bigger, because they’re the ones available, and they’re not suitable for most (adult) activities.”

Phys ed has changed enormously during her career, said Crowe, who ran track, and played basketball and field hockey at the University of Manitoba. When high schools had two gyms, the boys got the senior gym, “The little tiny gym was the girls’ gym.

“Totally different from now. Most gym classes then were like mini-practices, and it was very sport-based, very structured. The whole fitness piece was calisthenics.

“Those days, it was skills and knowledge, and attitude was, you’ll do it because I tell you to,” she laughed. “Fitness in those days was, do 10 laps, stop and do jumping jacks.”

Now, she said, fitness ranges among “Aerobics, pilates, yoga — in university, we hadn’t even invented stretching yet.”

Crowe remembers exactly when she wanted to teach gym.

“I was nine, at Robertson School. My brother came home and said, we have a teacher who only does PT (physical training). I didn’t know if there were girl PT teachers,” but she knew what she wanted to be.

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