Physical Education at Charles University

Physical education has got very old tradition at Charles University. In 2010, we celebrated 50 years from the foundation of the department of physical education at Faculty of Science last year. Physical education and sport occupy very important place in study programs of the students. Education is organised to be well used in the student’s lifestyle and future professional life.

The main aims are: to integrate sport activities into student‘s education at Faculty of Science, to give the students  a maximum of essential knowledge, to teach our students about the influence of sport activities and health, to mount the basic level of physical education by the new disciplines and innovating methods in sport.

Today the sport at the Faculty of Science is integrated into the Department of Geography today. The cooperation between these departments, that is the Department of Geography and Department of Physical education, is quite high. We organize lot of projects in cooperation with other, excursions, courses and other events. For example the course „ Rivers of Slovakia“, which consists descending the river and of a geographical excursion. We also organize the Sport Day of Department of Geography, when many kinds of sport activities for teachers, assistants and students from both faculties take place.

Physical education at the Faculty of Science is a compulsory subject (1 lesson – 60 minutes per week) for all students (except for students of biology) during the first four terms. Students of biology and older students can choose the physical education as a facultative subject. Students have credits from lessons of physical education.

Students of the first and second terms have to pass „general physical education“. It means that they learn nearly all sport activities which are provided by the Department of the Physical education. There is fitness and swimming in the first term and games and canoeing in the other term of the year. Students of the third and fourth terms can choose from wide offer of regular sports: fitness, poweryoga, pilates, bodystyling, aqua-aerobic, exercise for health, volleyball, basketball, football, softball, tennis, table-tennis, floorball, swimming, diving, climbing, athletics and golf. The choice of sports at Faculty of Science is the largest at Charles University. There are special lessons of swimming for bad swimmers and special excercising in the swimming pool or in the gym for physically handicapped students.

Students have to manage three compulsory long - term courses. One of them is course of skiing. Students can choose downhill skiing, cross-country skiing or snowboard. There are courses in the summer – course of hiking, water touring, cycling or fitness.

Other activities provided by the department of physical education are sport days, swimming or running races, volleyball, football, floorball and basketball matches, Academic Aerobic Show and Czech Academic Sport Games.

Competition-level – students who are interested in doing sports at Competition-level can become members of the University sport club „Přírodní vědy“. Students who are members of the University sport club, can do many kinds of sports at „racing– level. The sport teams complete with other faculties and universities in the Czech republic. Available competition-level sports are volleyball, tennis, basketball, softball, swimming, hiking, orientiering, aerobics. For the members, there are specially offer courses of salsa, belly dance and tae-bo, diving and free-diving.

The demand of present – day society is to influence the lifestyle of individuals and groups of people (students) with a suitable offer of physical exercise activities.

Physical Education at Charles University of Prague

Physical education has a very old tradition at Charles University. In 2010, we celebrated 50 years since the foundation of the department of physical education at the Faculty of Science last year. Physical education and sport occupy a very important place in study programs of the students. Education is designed to be well used in the student’s lifestyle and future professional life.

The main aims are: to integrate sport activities into student‘s education at the Faculty of Science, to give the students  the maximum of essential knowledge, to teach our students about the influence of sport activities and health, to improve the basic level of physical education by new disciplines and innovative methods in sport.

Today sport at the Faculty of Science is integrated into the Department of Geography. The cooperation between these departments, that is the Department of Geography and Department of Physical education, is quite high. We organize lot of projects in cooperation with others such as excursions, courses and other events. For example there is the course „ Rivers of Slovakia“, which consists of descending the river and a geographical excursion. We also organize the Sport Day of the Department of Geography, when there are many kinds of sport activities for teachers, assistants and students from both faculties to take part in.

Physical education at the Faculty of Science is a compulsory subject (1 lesson – 60 minutes per week) for all students (except for students of biology) during the first four terms. Students of biology and older students can choose the physical education as a facultative subject. Students have credits from lessons of physical education.

Students of the first and second terms have to pass „general physical education“. It means that they learn nearly all sport activities which are provided by the Department of the Physical education. There is fitness and swimming in the first term and games and canoeing in the second. Students of the third and fourth terms can choose from a wide offer of regular sports: fitness, poweryoga, pilates, bodystyling, aqua-aerobic, exercise for health, volleyball, basketball, football, softball, tennis, table-tennis, floorball, swimming, diving, climbing, athletics and golf. The choice of sports at the Faculty of Science is the largest at Charles University. There are special lessons for bad swimmers and special exercises in the swimming pool or in the gym for physically handicapped students.

Students have to manage three compulsory long - term courses. One of them is a skiing course. Students can choose downhill skiing, cross-country skiing or snowboarding. There are courses in the summer –  hiking, water touring, cycling or fitness.

Other activities provided by the department of physical education are sport days, swimming or running races, volleyball, football, floorball and basketball matches, Academic Aerobic Show and Czech Academic Sport Games.

Competition-level – students who are interested in doing sports at Competition-level can become members of the University sport club „Přírodní vědy“. Students who are members of the University sport club can do many kinds of sports at „racing– level. The sport teams compete with other faculties and universities in the Czech republic. Available competition-level sports are volleyball, tennis, basketball, softball, swimming, hiking, orienteering, aerobics. For the members, there are special offer courses of salsa, belly dancing, tae-bo, diving and free-diving.

The role of present – day society is to influence the lifestyle of individuals and groups of people (students) with a suitable offering of physical exercise activities.