Obstacle Course Race in Physical Education Lessons: A Way to Contrast the Covid-19 Restriction

In 2020 a wide range of attempts to develop PE lessons were done during the second way block of Covid-19 restrictions: guidelines for students on how to do PE at home, tips on how encourage students to do PA in the garden of their home, on the stairs of their building, outside in the park or even in the street. Web-based interactive learning platforms with several new educational materials (photos/videos, ppts, on-line PE format lessons...) for PE teachers were created by Capdi and LSM, the National Association of PE teachers in Italy, to help teachers who were faced the new challenge of organizing their teaching totally on line, or in presence (in the gym but with no contact between people or people and sport tools) or hybrid (at the same time with half class on line and half class in presence). Everybody, and especially young people, tend to be more active when they are outdoors rather than when they are inside (Nicol, 2014). The Outdoor Obstacle Course during PE lessons raised awareness to the possibility to use, beside all school facilities for PE like the gyms, all the spaces, in and out of the school, as places useful to move. Outdoor Obstacle Course lessons are safe and accessible to keep students active during PE classes, after school sport clubs, active breaks, recess, active lessons and other events that can be integrated into the school schedule. Using creativity and imaginations PE teachers could transform both indoor and outdoor spaces potentially as active spaces during the long school days. The Outdoor Obstacle Course triggers to involve the largest number of students of all ages, increase participations to the PE lessons in a holistic way, develop motor ability, motor coordination, psychomotor skills, cognitive skills and allow students to continue PA as a lifelong habit reducing the risk of possible health issue in their future (Dern, 2018).