Combining Fitness and Skill Tasks

Physical educators face the daily challenge of providing young people with the necessary skills to live a physically active and health-enhancing lifestyle. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE, 2004) identifies six standards that should serve as a foundation for physical education programs. They specifically charge physical educators with ensuring that students demonstrate competency in the motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform a variety of physical activities (standard 1),participate regularly in physical activily (standard 3), and achieve a health-enhancing level of physical fitness (standard 4). Darst and Pangrazi (2009) further suggest four unique contributions that physical education makes to the lives of students: (1) the achievement of daily physical activity, (2) the achievement of a personalized level of physical fitness, (3) the development of competency in a variety of physical skills, and (4) the acquisition of requisite knowledge for leading an active and healthy lifestyle.