Hey Reader!
I hope you had a great weekend and are feeling energized for another week in the gym.
This week, I've been reflecting on something that comes up constantly in my K-2 classes: how kids handle winning and losing. No matter how well a game is going, it only takes one meltdown over the final score to derail the entire lesson.
The truth is, we're not just teaching games: we're teaching kids how to define success for themselves. And until we help them reframe what winning actually means, the scoreboard will keep destroying their self-worth and our lessons.
Let's dive in.
⚛️ THIS WEEK'S ATOMIC ESSAY
Losing Doesn't Make You a Loser: Teaching Kids to Redefine Winning.
If you've been teaching PE for a while, you know this scene:
The game is close. Kids are working hard. The bell rings, one team wins, one team loses... and suddenly your carefully crafted lesson is ruined by a meltdown.
Dealing with sore losers is exhausting.
No matter what you say, some kids tie too much of their self-worth to the scoreboard. They blame teammates. They complain the teams weren't fair. They spiral.
This is learned behavior. Kids absorb what our culture overvalues: the final score. We celebrate the product of athletic performance while ignoring the process.
Until we help kids reframe what winning actually means, they'll continue to feel like losers when the scoreboard says they lost.
Five Ways to Win (That Have Nothing to Do With the Score)
Scores will always play a role in the excitement of games. That said, there are a lot of different ways to leave a game feeling like a winner:
💪 Effort Wins
You gave it your all. You experienced what it feels like to push beyond your limits. You'll leave this game having grown as an athlete and a person, regardless of the score.
✅ Strategic Wins
You played your part. Your team had a plan, and you executed it. You stayed present enough to not let pressure derail you. You kept your head down and kept working.
🧭 Character Wins
You chose to be your best self in the toughest moments. When your character was tested as frustration peaked... you still came out on top.
🌱 Resilience Wins
You refused to give up. This loss, no matter how painful, doesn't make you want to walk away. It makes you want to come back tomorrow and keep working.
❤️ Joy Wins
You remembered what a privilege it is to play games with other people. You used physical activity to create memories and stories you'll look back on. You made sure today didn't just blur into every other day.
How to Put This Into Practice
As a PE teacher, you can play an important role in helping students reframe losses and redefine what it means to leave a game feeling like a winner:
🥅 Shift the goalposts.
Ask students to track things beyond scoring: How many passes did you make? How many teammates did you involve? How many times did you hustle back on defense?
🎬 Create character highlight reels.
Have students share moments when they put in effort despite long odds, refused to give up, or supported teammates in tough moments.
📢 Honour the opponent.
Invite students to recognize the other team's effort and hard work. Beautiful things happen in games that your team might not control, but that doesn't mean they weren't pretty cool.
🗣️ Be the narrator.
Point out effort as it happens. Call out beautiful passes, defensive hustle, and attitude in the face of obstacles. Highlight these things during gameplay and in post-game discussions. Make sure struggling kids hear what they did well.
The Reality Check
Any shift takes time. These strategies only work when repeated consistently in your program.
But sticking to it today means you'll deal with fewer sore losers tomorrow.
👉 Try this week: Pick one type of winning to overemphasize in your games. See what shifts in your students' attitudes toward winning and losing.
Because losing doesn't make you a loser. And winning starts long before the final score.
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That's it for this week! I hope you found some value in this edition of The #PhysEd Newsletter! If you did, feel free to invite others to sign up for it!
Happy Teaching!
Joey
Joey Feith
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