Teaching Skill-Related Fitness Concepts in All Spaces

There are two components of physical fitness that must co-exists within physical education—health-related and skill-related. My students enjoy activities that challenge any of the six skill-related fitness components: Balance, Agility, Speed, Power, Coordination, and Reaction Time.

During an extended period of construction in our district, I taught without a gym or cafeteria and provided physical education from a traditional classroom space for a year. Things got interesting when we were inside for the winter, and I had to get extra creative. This is when I had fun with skill-related fitness challenges that could be performed in small spaces.

Teaching components of physical fitness is an important part of physical education and just plain fun. Developing skill-related fitness increases student success in the activities they enjoy, or may come to enjoy later in life. When a student feels successful in an activity, he/she will most likely continue to participate in it. This can then increase his/her overall health-related fitness level and continue to enhance his/her ability to participate in activities.

At the middle school level, the SHAPE America Grade Level Outcomes state students should be able to identify the components of physical fitness (S3.M7.6) and distinguish between health-related and skill-related fitness (S3.M7.7); thus, I design and incorporate a variety of skill-related and health-related fitness-based lessons where students reflect upon both areas of fitness and apply them to their lives. In my end of lesson debrief, I ask students to choose one activity they currently enjoy (or would like to learn) outside of school and identify the skill-related and health-related components it addresses. Allowing students to listen to their peers’ activity interests and tying in the learning targets is very effective.

Here are some ideas for teaching skill-related fitness and lesson breakdowns. These can be adapted for use inside or outside of the traditional physical education setting or can be used as part of warm-ups, in circuits or stations or as a full lesson.

Option 1: Four corner stations.

• Set up stations in each corner of your space and use station task cards or a PowerPoint slide of the four stations (See above photo).
• Mix in two or three skills at a time with or without previously learned content. I like to mix in cardiorespiratory endurance exercises to further enhance student fitness levels.
• Here is a breakdown for introducing skill-related fitness in a 4-corner circuit over two lessons:

Option 2: Introduce components of physical fitness as a single focus topically.

• • It can be as part of a larger lesson, circuit, or as the lesson itself depending upon your program needs and learning targets.
  • You should loop back to skill-related fitness often as it is a natural fit in most aspects of the overall physical education curriculum.
  • The following table provides ideas to help guide your skill-related fitness activities.

All equipment mentioned above can be found at the Gopher Website!

Continue the conversation! What are some of your favorite skill-related fitness activities, especially those that can be done in circuits or a small space? Tweet me @JessicaShawley with #physed #PEblog @GopherSport to share your ideas!