What If PE Was Where Kids Learned How to Try?
What if physical education wasn’t the place where kids worried about being the fastest, strongest, or most coordinated?
What if it was the place where kids learned how to try?
Over the years, I’ve watched thousands of children move through physical education environments. Most of them want to participate. Most of them want to do well. And yet, many quietly learn something unintended along the way: that effort only matters if it leads to success.
The Message Kids Absorb
The message is rarely spoken out loud. It’s conveyed through what gets noticed, praised, and rewarded. Children quickly pick up on it. Trying is encouraged—but only when it works.
Over time, that message sticks.
What Physical Education Can Teach Instead
As a founder and program designer, I’ve had the opportunity to observe how children respond to different learning environments over long periods of time. One thing has become increasingly clear: physical education has enormous potential to teach something far more important than movement alone.
It can teach children how to try.
Movement makes effort visible in a way few other settings can. You can see hesitation. You can see courage. You can see the moment a child decides to participate even when they’re unsure. When those moments are acknowledged, something powerful happens.
When Effort Comes Before Performance
Children begin to understand that effort itself has value.
In well-designed programs, participation is encouraged before performance. Students are invited to engage—to raise a hand, to speak up, to step forward—not because they’re confident they’ll be right, but because they’re willing to try. That expectation creates a foundation of safety.
And once children feel safe engaging, something bigger follows.
They become more willing to attempt an unfamiliar or awkward movement in front of others. They’re less concerned with looking perfect and more open to learning. The act of trying becomes something they feel good about—even before they feel competent.
Why This Shift Matters
When success is defined by participation rather than perfection, children relax. Their bodies loosen. Their minds open. They stop protecting themselves from being wrong and start leaning into the learning process. What begins as a physical experience quickly becomes a cognitive one.
And that readiness doesn’t stay confined to the gym.
Children who learn that trying is safe carry that mindset into the rest of their day. They’re more willing to participate in class, speak up during discussions, attempt challenging work, and stay engaged when something feels uncomfortable. They’ve practiced effort in an environment where it’s visible, supported, and consistently reinforced.
The Unique Role of Intentional PE
This is where physical education can play a unique role in a child’s development—when it’s intentional.
Movement creates a natural feedback loop. Children feel effort in their bodies before they can always articulate it in words. When that effort is noticed—not just outcomes—they begin to associate trying with growth rather than risk. Over time, that association reshapes how they approach challenges of all kinds.
Across years of observation, the pattern is consistent.
Children who once hesitated begin to volunteer.
Children who stayed quiet begin to step forward.
Children who doubted themselves experience meaningful “aha” moments—the kind that change how they approach learning, not just physical activity.
Those moments don’t come from pressure or comparison. They come from consistency, clarity, and an environment where effort is reliably seen.
Extending the Same Philosophy Beyond One Location
As this philosophy took shape over time, it became clear that its impact extended beyond a single location. To ensure that more families could experience an approach to physical education built on consistency, effort, and intentional movement, Great Start Karate was created as an online program rooted in the same principles. It allows students outside the local community to engage in a learning environment where trying is encouraged, participation is valued, and growth is measured over time rather than moments.
Whether in a dojo or online, the principle remains the same.
Trying Is Where Learning Begins
When physical education is designed with purpose, it becomes a place where children practice something essential: showing up even when they’re unsure.
What if PE was where kids learned that trying isn’t something to avoid—but something to be proud of?
That question continues to guide how programs are built, refined, and evaluated. And every time a child steps forward to participate without certainty, it reinforces why physical education, when done well, can shape far more than physical skill.
Trying is where learning begins.
About the Author
Jan Stockton is a nationally recognized leader in children’s martial arts education and the co-founder of Karate West, one of Washington’s longest-running martial arts schools, established in 1989. She is also the founder of Great Start Karate, an online program built on intentional movement and character development, and the author of PE With a Purpose, which explores how physical education can support learning, focus, and character development in children.