What are the six categories of special sports skills?

At present, there are six categories of special sports skills clearly defined in the domestic compulsory education physical education and health curriculum standards, namely ball sports, track and field sports, gymnastics sports, water and ice and snow sports, martial arts and traditional ethnic and folk sports, and emerging sports.

I have been a physical education teacher in a middle school for almost 8 years, and I have been exposed to these projects a lot during training and lesson preparation. I can feel that this classification actually follows the logic of sports ability cultivation, and there are no too rigid boundaries. Take the ball games that everyone is most familiar with, including basketball, football, badminton, and table tennis. Every year in the school autumn league, the most popular sports to sign up for are ball games. Once you practice your running, coordination, and reaction skills, it is easy to build a sense of belonging to a group. Track and field, which seems boring, is the basis of all sports. The endurance, explosive power, and core control abilities associated with running, jumping, and shooting are universal. A student I led who practiced triple jump before transferred to the football school team. His jumping ability and cadence were more outstanding than those of children of the same age group who had practiced football for two years. He just lacked the foundation of track and field.

In fact, there have been some small-scale disputes about this classification in the industry. Many colleagues from northern ice and snow schools feel that it is unreasonable to classify water, ice and snow into one category. After all, water sports such as swimming and rowing are mostly carried out in the warm season, and the requirements for venues are completely different from ice and snow sports such as skiing and ice hockey. However, the current classification logic is to classify both as "sports skills in special venues/environments" and are unified into the same category. In practice, each place can adjust its focus according to local resources.

As for gymnastics, it is not just competitive gymnastics with horizontal and parallel bars in everyone’s mind. Cheerleading, rhythmic gymnastics, and technical sports all fall into this category. Last year at our school’s art festival, the children in the gymnastics interest class performed a set of technical exercises that combined somersaults and lifts. Not to mention winning the first prize, many children’s previous problem of having chests and hunched backs was corrected after half a semester of practice. The improvement in posture and body control ability was particularly obvious. Martial arts and traditional folk sports cover a wider range, not to mention regular boxing and equipment, such as diabolo, Mongolian Boke, Tibetan Ojia, and Tujia high-foot racing. When I went to Qinghai last year for exchanges, I saw the Ojia class in the local primary school. The children were lying on the ground and competing with ribbons. They were sweating while playing. They have developed strength and core stability. They can also be exposed to the local traditional sports culture. It is much more interesting than simple strength training.

The most frequently asked questions in the past two years are emerging sports, such as Frisbee, skateboarding, rock climbing, pickleball, orienteering, and roller skating that young people now love.

In fact, no matter how the classification is determined, the essence is to give people with different interests and different physical conditions more options for exercise directions. If you really want to move, there is no need to pick the boundaries of the classification. The one that suits you is the best.