Hello and welcome to the PE Department at Reigate College.
My name is Ian Pizzey and I’m the Head of A Level Physical Education. We’re really pleased you’ve chosen to study PE at Reigate College and I’m looking forward to getting to know you and welcoming you to the department in person at the beginning of the academic year.
Before you start with us, I’d like you to complete a series of tasks and activities over the coming months to get you ready for studying PE at advanced level. These activities have all been designed for you to complete independently from home and there’ll be the chance to discuss what you’ve learnt when you start the course in September.
The tasks are organised in three distinct steps and should all be completed by Choices Day on 25 August 2026. This is to give you the best insight into what the courses will be like and/or help prepare you for them.
Please note, some Course Leaders (for example for Music) may release their tasks earlier, as they may form part of the College’s audition process. If this applies to you, you’ll be notified separately.
New Starters Course Tasks and Activities
| Release date | Suggested Completion Dates | |
| Explore your Subject | 1 June | 1 July |
| Get Going | 1 June | 1 August |
| Aim High | 1 June | 1 September |
Knowing the skills for success
A level PE involves examining all the factors that contribute to sporting success. Physical, mental and sociological factors all combine in order for someone to become an elite sports player!
Watch ‘The Science of Lance Armstrong Cycling Sports Documentary’:
Now answer the following questions to list the qualities that helped Lance Armstrong rise to stardom:
PHYSICAL: What physiological qualities did he have? Use key terms from the video.
PSYCHOLOGICAL: What mental qualities did he show in his path to success – when young, when competing and when ill?
SOCIOLOGICAL: What support did he get when young, as a teenager and later to help him start, train, win. Think about his family, location, sponsors, team.
Which of these three areas – physical, psychological, sociological – do you think was most important in making him a champion? Why do you think that’s the case?
It’s important to understand the meaning of key terms used in PE. Using your own words, please write definitions for the following terms:
- Cardiac Hypertrophy
- VO2 Max
Now, watch the ‘Cycling’s Greatest Fraud – Lance Armstrong’ documentary on YouTube:
Having watched the previous documentary you’ll have seen the huge success Lance Armstrong had as a cyclist and his battles to achieve that success after life-threatening illness.
Cycling has always had problems with competitors taking performance-enhancing drugs, particularly in the Tour de France.
Below is a list of ways the rules are broken relating to taking drugs and performance enhancement. Write down what is involved in each of these procedures or drugs and their physical benefits:
- EPO
- Blood doping
- Human growth hormone
- Testosterone
- Dodging tests
- Back-dated prescriptions
Breaking the rules in these ways is a huge risk, with serious consequences if caught. Answer the below questions to try to explain why some athletes take the risk.
What are the pressures athletes have on them that lead to taking drugs? (Think about money, fame, family, medals, sponsors etc.)
What are the possible consequences of taking performance-enhancing drugs? Your answer should include physical, psychological and sociological consequences? (Think about personal health, Law, media.)
Finally, consider the following debate:
Should we continue to fight drug-taking in sport or should we allow it?
Write down a list of points in support of each side. How many can you think of? Some ideas include: health, law, money/cost, personal choice, keeping up with science and cheats (research how UK Sport tests for drugs through UKAD and think about how hard the job is).
Sport has existed in Society for 1000s of years. Humans are naturally competitive and a huge range of competitive sports are practiced across the globe, taking many, many forms – from who can run the furthest to who can hit a small ball into a small hole 600 yards away. Competition is everywhere!
During the A Level Physical Education course we will study the origins of modern Sport as we know it and will focus on Association Football, Tennis and Athletics in particular.
Research task
Choose one of the above Sports and investigate its origin by answering the questions below.
Be warned, there is always debate as to how, where and exactly when these may have originated.
Present your findings as a PowerPoint presentation or poster that identifies key dates, people and events in the development of the Sport you’ve chosen.
Don’t forget to include the Extension Task – see below.
Athletics
Question:
Where and how did the modern Olympics of 1896 come about?
Some starting points for your research:
- Baron De Coubertin
- Much Wenlock home to the Wenlock Olympian Games
- Ancient Greece-Olympus
Association Football
Questions to answer:
- When was the FA (Football Association) established?
- What were ‘Football’ type sports like before the modern game emerged?
- What factors resulted in the emergence of the modern game?
Some starting points for your research:
1863, Public Schools e.g. Rugby school, Ashbourne (Shrovetide football), mob football.
Lawn Tennis
Questions to answer:
- When was Lawn Tennis invented?
- Where did it come from and what was the first major Tennis competition?
- When did Tennis turn professional?
Some starting points for your research:
- The All England Tennis and Croquet Club
- LTA
- Walter Wingfield
- Sphairistike
- Real tennis
Extension Task
Investigate the progress of women’s participation in the sport you chose. Who were the first female stars? When and where were they first allowed to compete compared to men? What are the key dates in their participation? For example, for Athletics and the Olympics, what were the specific events women first competed in? For Football consider World Cups and leagues, professionalism and pay. Consider how the history of women’s sport compares to men’s.
Training and rehabilitation
So far we’ve looked at the history of certain sports and some of the key factors that make a modern sports star.
However, two major influences on success are:
- training, and
- sports medicine
Having access to facilities and medical support can be critical in a sportsperson’s success. Training methods and rehabilitation techniques are evolving all the time, so to be successful, players needs to be up to date with all the latest developments.
TASK 1: Research the following three training methods to find out how they work and to identify which sports they benefit the most:
- HIIT training
- altitude training
- plyometric training
TASK 2: Now research the following three rehab methods, again finding out how they work and identifying which sports each benefits most:
- ice baths
- cryotherapy
- hypobaric chambers
Please use a variety of sources in your research. You may find the following website useful:
Hint: If you are doing a Google search, try typing A Level PE before the name of the method you’re researching to make sure you find websites at the appropriate level.
TASK 3: Please present your findings from TASKS 1 and 2 by creating:
- EITHER two A4 posters (one for the above training methods and one for the rehab methods)
- OR six PowerPoint slides (one for each of the above training and rehab methods)
TASK 4: For your final task, we’d like you to undertake a case study. Please research a famous sports player who has recovered from a major injury (Andy Murray would be a good example but you could choose anyone) and answer the following questions:
- What was the injury and how did it occur?
- What methods did they need to use to recover?
- How long did full recovery take?
- What specialist training do they now use as part of their training?
Ian Pizzey
Head of Physical Education
