What are your thoughts on sports for PT?

I see soldiers injured from simply doing there jobs at work. I see them injured at regular PT also.  We don't cancel either of those.  I believe that some commands are too afraid of even the smallest injury, this is why a lot of units are not allowed to do sports.  If you actually engage a sport the way you are supposed to, you will get more exercise out of it then you would a regular PRT session.

I think it would be awesome to play sports once a week or every other week. PT is boring, running the same path, doing the same exercises. Besides, sports can be a team building exercise much like obstacle courses. With sports though it definitely requires people to work together more then each individual person completing each part of the course.

I personally don't care for it because as much as it does build cohesion I have see the downside of not including everyone. I think if you're going to do sports make it competitive but not individually.

I think it should be authorized because you always need to build moral within the platoon and company. Sure there's the possibility of someone getting hurt but you can run the risk of someone getting hurt in PT everyday.

Sports really do help with moral and team building. The PRT that they allow us to do is not the best in the world and is so structured it brings down the motivation of the soldiers.

I think sports for PT is a good idea, as long as it is not everyday. Playing ultimate or something along those lines, brings in a lot more unit cohesion than normal PT. People tend to put out more effort in sports anyway due to the competition.

We used to play a sport every other week or so, usually on a Friday as a weekend wind down. There is not that much more risk of injury from organized sports as there is from a PT regimen. We would play soccer, flag football, ultimate Frisbee any kind of open field team sport. Basketball was one of the few sports not allowed during PT time.

SGT (Join to see) Great question here.... I'm a huge personal advocate of sports PT. I helped start a modified Rugby league with Maj (Join to see) & Maj (Join to see) at Kirtland AFB. Had to put in a ton of non-contact rules so folks wouldn't get hurt, but overall it was a huge success with Squadron leadership and military personnel. I left the area several years ago and my old unit has kept the tradition of "Ultimate Rugby" alive every Friday and Wednesday. We never fought the PT Gods on having it authorized or sanctioned, but it helped to have the support of our commander and it did a lot for unit cohesion and moral.

SGT Spratley,

when I was at my first duty station, Ft. Stewart, we would sneak off occasionally for some s-2 vs. s-6 ultimate football or frisbee. our NCOICs and OICs were always on board. Here at Bragg, we do Spiritual Fitness a few times a month, in which the Chaplain sponsors a game of ultimate football or frisbee. Our CO and 1SG always take place, and recently, our BC and CSM played as well.

I think sports pt is a great way to build morale in units. I enjoy and my Soldiers eat it up. I think it fosters teamwork in the long run.

I dont think sports should be a substitute for PT. I believe in sports activities to boost morale for sure. Here at charleston we have Chief Fun-fridays, which are all sports events that pit the AMUs against each other in physical challenges, which is great.

However sports is not a good measure for fitness standards. You cant determine strengths and weaknesses from sports in the same manner you can from traditional fitness training. Besides there is a reason athletes go to the gym, and TRAIN to compete in sports.

Not to mention sports is not controlled, you are more prone to injury competing in a sport, than you are properly training in a gym. Tearing an FCL playing soccer, does not make you stronger.