Every morning, teacher Yazid Houari takes his students to play at the municipal park located a stone’s throw from Christ-Roi elementary school, in the north of Montreal. Tennis, soccer, cycling, baseball and a dozen other sports are on the program: this public school offers five periods of physical education per week (rather than two) to its fourth, fifth and sixth grade students.
“Physical education is as essential a subject as any other. Children who move have better concentration and greater motivation, especially if we take them outside,” says Yazid Houari, met with his students on the tennis court at Henri-Julien Park, in the Ahuntsic district.
This immense green space became the favorite playground for students at the local school four years ago. Their teacher convinced his management to offer an intensive physical education program after completing a master’s degree on the benefits of sport on academic performance.
Seeing and hearing the 17 students struggling on the tennis court, the program was on target: the young people were practicing their serve, their forehand and their backhand with enthusiasm. We didn’t see any followers of Leylah Fernandez or Félix Auger-Aliassime, but the children had fun. They are full of energy.
“Tennis is my favorite sport,” says Théo with a convinced air. Without their teachers determined to do everything possible to get young people moving, Théo and his friends would perhaps never have discovered the joys of tennis – and a series of other activities.
Yazid Houari and his colleague Miguel Fréchette, the school’s two physical education teachers, don’t just make the students play dodgeball (even if the young people love this schoolyard classic). The school’s storage lockers are particularly well stocked: Vélo Québec lent 15 bikes and as many helmets, the school foundation contributed to the purchase of cross-country skis, indoor scooter parking was set up, and the shelves are overflowing with tennis, badminton and pickleball rackets.
We also find everything you need for circus arts, baseball, soccer, gymnastics, flag football, broomball, hockey, yoga, basketball. And other little-known activities, such as acrogym, kinball and tchoukball.
All this equipment did not fall from the sky: physical education teachers knocked on several doors to find funds, including that of the Ministry of Education, which has envelopes to finance sports-oriented schools.
To the sound of Super Mario
“Young people move less and less because of screens. We have to give them a taste for physical activity,” says teacher Miguel Fréchette, met in one of the school’s two gymnasiums.
The Super Mario theme music echoes throughout the training room. It motivates fourth and fifth graders, who have to run for eight minutes. The session takes place in a good mood: the students frolic, trot and hop to the rhythm of the music. Laughter and smiles burst forth from everywhere.
“My gym is a bit of a party », confides Miguel Fréchette. It creates an atmosphere conducive to training, because “running is not necessarily the activity where young people will get tired first”.
The professor and his colleague can still boast of sending a delegation from Christ-Roi school to the friendly two-kilometer race, bringing together primary schools from Montreal, which will take place on October 12 on Sainte-Hélène Island. .
“The goal is not to train athletes. I am training citizens,” explains Miguel Fréchette. Young people learn to win by respecting the rules of the game, to make an effort — a notion that seems rare today — and to establish strategies with their teammates.
It involves being open to others, listening to them and communicating effectively. The students learn to live in society, after all.
An inspiring model
“Intensive physical education helps a lot with group cohesion,” says Valérie Simoneau, teacher of a sixth-grade class. She travels to the sports facilities three hours a week to collaborate with her physical education colleagues.
At the time of the visit of Duty, the teacher took advantage of the sports period to sit one-on-one, away from the group, with a student with an autism spectrum disorder, who is integrated into the regular class. On the menu, a little geography lesson: what is this continent? The capital of this country? The name of this river?
The intensive physical education program greatly helps students with academic difficulties, underlines Laila Tamda, director of Christ-Roi school. “Among other things, it allows them to experience success when they see that they are good at a sport,” she says.
The initiative is so popular that the school now offers it to half of eligible students for five months, and the other half for the following five months. Inspired by Christ-Roi school, other primary schools in the neighborhood also created sports programs.
Professor Yazid Houari’s greatest satisfaction is seeing his students come to school by bike or scooter. The bike racks next to the building are full.
“I also see that my former students remain active. They go to high school by bike using the cycle paths that have been created in the neighborhood. It is good for their physical and mental health. »