How would you describe your job? How do you set up a sports degree program?

Our goal is to train students in Bremen in such a way that they acquaint the coming generations of school students with the many sports and movement cultures and assist their education and development through sports and exercise. We want them to do this with professional competence, a commitment to the subject, and sensitivity to the diversity of the students. In order to achieve these goals, we have decided on appropriate topics and created innovative courses that provide the students with both theory and practical testing. In a further step, we then – with the support of the administration – compared the design of our degree programs with both the university’s internal requirements and those of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) and used this to create the module structure.

Are you able to make use of existing structures from when sports degree programs were previously offered at the University of Bremen?

As far as the sports science degrees are concerned, that’s a clear no. However, the appeal of rebuilding is that a new foundation can be established. Using existing study structures would provide the temptation to continue in the existing grooves without reflection (or out of convenience or fear of the unknown). Our goal is to think ahead and ask: What should physical education entail in the digital age, in times of social diversity, sporting diversity, and psycho-physical challenges? What professional foundation, willingness to innovate, and flexibility do we need to help the students establish?

What should good physical education encompass?

Good physical education must enable all students to get to know the diversity of our sports and exercise culture and should establish personal access to sports and exercise. It shows young people that it can be satisfying to exert themselves physically and make progress, that it can be fun to play in a team and compete against others, that it is nice to experience how the body tenses up and relaxes itself again. In this sense, good physical education makes a valuable contribution to the education, upbringing, leisure activities, and well-being of youth. However, this does not happen automatically.

“In this sense, good physical education makes a valuable contribution to the education, upbringing, leisure activities, and well-being of youth.”

Because not everyone is athletic?

No, because those in charge of sports classes sometimes make didactic or pedagogical mistakes, or because classmates are insensitive, laugh, bully, etc. Those who are supposedly not athletic are not to blame for this. The task of physical education is to introduce these children in particular to sports and to show them that there is something for them in popular sports and exercise culture.

Incidentally, there is no fixed definition of “sports.” Physical education classes are filtered and created by the instructor. Which means that physical activity can also lead to shame, fear, and discomfort. Sometimes children feel exposed by things such as publicly choosing teams or performing a skill in front of the class. Sometimes methods are chosen that showcase their physical inadequacies or they are given tasks that simply overwhelm them. Sports usually has a direct impact on the psyche and the physique – for better or worse. This is precisely the reason why highly trained and reflective teachers are needed in schools where sports is not an elective subject.

What do teachers often do wrong? Do they ask for too much? Are they setting the bar too high?

Often, teachers do not take sufficient account of the fact that students come to physical education with very different prerequisites. This leads to frustration.

What role does diversity play in physical education today?

We have a very great diversity in our classes today. Some children excel in athletics from a young age, mastering several different sports; others have not experienced any access to exercise or sports in their families or already have negative associations with it. Children in a school class can have very differing levels of both physical and psychosocial resilience. They come from varying cultures, which assign different meanings to the body. They have –particularly within inclusive school systems – varying (attested) special needs or disabilities. It is imperative that physical education classes are able to accommodate this diversity and fulfill their purpose by making sure everyone benefits.

Your research focuses on (early) childhood exercise socialization. Can you describe what this is?

As far as socialization in early childhood movement goes, my research looks at how parents interact with the movement of their small children. In what ways is the child’s need for movement fulfilled, encouraged, regimented, or shut down – and what are the reasons for each parent’s behavior? How does the reaction to children’s movement differ between girls and boys?

What have you discovered?

We determined that – independent of environment – boys are still being actively encouraged and challenged to perform and dominate through sports and exercise. With girls, more emphasis is placed on being cooperative. In general, we can say that uneducated and economically disadvantaged parents socialize their children with less physical exercise. Families that are more educated, by contrast, search for specific opportunities to help their children’s motoric development. They see sports and exercise as a chance to develop a child’s personality and health, and routinely take part in sports activities. The differences in how families approach early childhood movement are astonishing. The differences in their life circumstances certainly are as well.

Our analyses also provide information about which children from which social groups attain developmental benefits from exercise and which do not, and based on these, recommendations can be made to increase their chances of participation.

You also are carrying out research on the health challenges of adolescents, correct?

Yes, I also evaluate how norms regarding sports and body types can take on a life of their own, and gradually become a burden for some. As is the case, for example, with boys who suddenly start to pump weights during puberty, and this developing into them eventually taking performance-enhancing substances. In my health-based research, I also focus on what specific forms of exercise can help children here and now when their development is off course. Our work uses psychomotorics, meaning that we consider both the body and the psyche. We also develop ways to help children who are very overweight or have other reasons for not participating in public sports enjoy exercise.