Athletics at Brookwood
Physical Education
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND ATHLETICS
 There’s an athlete in all of us just waiting to be discovered. Finding and developing that athlete is what our physical education program is all about. Beginning with our youngest students and culminating with our 6th grade students, we provide a comprehensive physical education program that is designed to help each individual develop an appreciation of the benefits of being physically active. We do this through skill development and individual and team play, and we do it by providing a safe and supportive environment where students of all abilities become more comfortable and confident in taking risks by working outside of their comfort zone. Sportsmanship is taught, modeled, and honored in our program. In addition to the regular physical education curriculum in 6th grade, we provide opportunities for students to experience some interscholastic competition in the sports offered at the 7th and 8th grade levels.
 In the 7th and 8th grades, we move from a physical education program to a developmentally appropriate athletic program. We require our students to play either in our interscholastic or our intramural athletic program. By this time, students have been exposed to all sports offerings, enabling them to make informed and comfortable sports choices. In our interscholastic program, we provide two levels (varsity and junior varsity) of competition, each with its own guiding philosophy. Students go through an extensive tryout period at the start of each season. Our varsity teams play a very competitive schedule primarily against high school junior varsity teams. Although winning is an acknowledged priority at the varsity level, we also overtly emphasize teamwork and sportsmanship. Although everyone plays, we do not require equal playing time at the varsity level. At the junior varsity level, our teams play a middle school schedule; the players get more-or-less equal playing time, and the emphasis is on skill and strategy development. Although we are not able to offer everyone’s sport of choice at Brookwood, we do want to honor their interests, so we seasonally provide a sports option which allows a student to both fulfill his or her sports requirement and to leave at the regular dismissal time each day.
Our Physical Education Department consists of four highly experienced, certified instructors, and our 7th and 8th grade athletic program is coached by a variety of Brookwood teachers who not only have played sports themselves, but also have experience coaching. All coaches are certified in CPR and First Aid. Our facilities include two full-size gymnasiums, 2 fields and an additional practice/recreation area, a pond for winter skating, an indoor climbing wall, and an outdoor ropes course with both high and low elements, and locker rooms for both boys and girls in Grades 4 through 8. We offer interscholastic opportunities in field hockey, boys and girls soccer, co-ed cross country, boys and girls basketball, co-ed ice hockey, and boys and girls lacrosse.
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