Summer vacation is just beginning for teachers here in North America. As usual, I’ll post only a couple of blogs over the summer – because most of you won’t read them anyway! So, we’ll publish once at the end of July and then again at the end of August.
And with summer vacation comes the opportunity to try new activities for inclusion in next year’s physical education curriculum.
Here’s a beauty. For those days when your students are really getting on your nerves (the entire month of June, for example), how about Welsh shin kicking. You simply divide your students into pairs, have them lock arms as they face each other, then kick each other’s shins until someone gives up or falls down. It’s a truly cathartic activity for frustrated PE teachers .
Shin kicking has a long and storied past, beginning in the Welsh mines in the 1600’s. And it has been quite the spectacle through the ages. One account from 1843 describes a competition that lasted 45 minutes in which two men competed “in a state of nudity with the exception of each having on a pair of strong boots.”
While the sport died down in the late 1900’s, it was apparently revived in 1951., although modern-day competitors are now allowed to stuff straw down their pant-legs.
(While shin-kicking is a real “sport,” I am joking about using it in your PE classes….honest! I think).
Have a great summer!
P.S. You can learn more about Welsh Shin Kicking at:
Welsh Shin Kicking
Dick Moss, Editor,
PE Update.com
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[tags]physical education,Welsh Shin Kicking[/tags]
