‘Physical education is the most important subject at school’ |22 September 2017

Teaching is a profession that sees a person have a lasting influence on others and often the biggest reward in this career is seeing the people you have taught and influenced succeed in life. This is the story of Sir Luther Roseline who, after having spent 31 years as a physical education teacher, has decided to retire because of an illness.

Having spent so many years involved in sports at youth level and also having been responsible for producing some of Seychelles’ top athletes, Sports NATION sought out the now retired teacher to get a deeper insight into his experiences.

Sir Luther was born and raised at Anse Louis in the Anse Boileau district. He went to school at La Salette and Anse Boileau and later formed part of the first group of students to attend the National Youth Service (NYS), before spending three years at the Seychelles Polytechnic.

The physical education (PE) teacher started working in 1986 at the Anse Boileau school and from 1998 until his retirement, he was working at the Anse Aux Pins primary school.

Sports NATION: Since you have for a very long time worked with sports and the youth, what changes have you observed over the years, especially in terms of the children’s physical abilities?

Luther Roseline: A lot has changed actually as nowadays children eat just anything. If you ask children what they do when they get home after school, the first thing is they open the fridge at home. Actually, I opened a club for obesity at the Anse Aux Pins School where children would exercise. I also had some issues with parents who said that I will not tell their child what to eat. But, to be honest at the Anse Aux Pins School, the obese children are very happy to participate in physical activities.

Sports NATION: What do you think has caused our children to neglect physical activities?

Luther Roseline: The advent of technology. The children come home and sit in front of the television, play with all these gadgets. Also, what I have seen is the use of buses to go home when the homes are not even that far from the school. For example at Anse Aux Pins, children take the bus to go just up to the sub-districts of Bodamier and Capucin. Parents also spend a lot of money on transport to pick up their children after school. This makes the children lazy and unfit. When I was at school, we had to walk home after school and we were all very fit.

Sports NATION: So, what do you feel should be done to address this issue?

Luther Roseline: It’s difficult, but I feel we need to promote more healthy living among children, which includes less buses, more physical activities, etc…

Sports NATION: Having worked with young athletes for so long, do you feel we still have athletes with the potential to compete at high level?

Luther Roseline: Yes. If we as educators push them harder, they will succeed. It depends on us the educators and also the parents to work together as even at crèche level, we start seeing their potential. So we need to push them.

Sports NATION: If we are honest, many people do not see physical education as an important part of school as other academic subjects. As a PE teacher, what do you feel about this?

Luther Roseline: I cannot stress this enough. The most important subject at school is in fact physical education. I say this because if you are not fit, you cannot do anything in life. For example, I am not fit now, so I can’t work anymore. You need to be fit to be able to do other subjects. Sport helps you mentally and also socially. Overseas, professional athletes are often very good both in sports and academically.

Sports NATION: How important do you feel sports is in the community?

Luther Roseline: I feel it’s very important and one thing I want to stress on is the need to re-introduce after-school sports tournaments and I feel that it should not be done only by the NSC (National Sports Council). The Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development should also run it. This is important because when children take part in sports competitions after school hours they are taken straight home afterwards and there is no time for them to indulge in other destructive habits.

Sports NATION: What inspired you to take on the challenge of physical education?

Luther Roseline: For me, teaching is not simply a job. It’s a vocation. I owe a lot to Mr Thomas Dodin though, who was my first PE teacher. He inspired me and I loved the job when I saw him doing it and I wanted to be like him.

Sports NATION: With the lack of teachers nowadays, do you think physical education is also being affected?

Luther Roseline: Yes. We do need new blood as there is a lack of teachers. I feel there must be more training for PE teachers and also there must be more generalists. That is, more PE teachers who are trained in all sports, rather than taking someone from the national teams and getting them to teach only one sport, that is the sport he or she is good at.

Sports NATION: Having spent 31 years in teaching, what do you feel is the main reason teachers do not stay long in the profession nowadays?

Luther Roseline: The students’ mentality is one thing. Also, if I may take as example in PE, where a teacher who only knows one sport, he or she will likely struggle and that can make him or her leave.

Sports NATION: What sports did you practice when you were much younger?

Luther Roseline: I played volleyball and also took part in athletics. I even beat a few well-known people in athletics. I can name some: Giovanni Fanny, Jean Quatre and Frank Marengo. I only played volleyball during my school days.

Sports NATION: You have become popular for getting good results from your students during the National Inter-School Athletics Championship. Next year, it will be held at a different date, what do you feel about this?

Luther Roseline: I feel it’s a good thing and I have suggested it be done at the end of the year, but that would not work as students are busy with exams and all that. But any date is good, although all considerations must be taken, including religious commitments. However, as a PE teacher, you should always be prepared.

Sports NATION: Do you feel the level of sports among the youth is going up or it is not the case?

Luther Roseline: I feel at the moment there is a bit of a slack, but I think with more qualified instructors and more motivation from teachers and parents, it will improve.

Sports NATION: As someone who has worked with a lot of Seychelles’ top athletes during their younger days, what do you think must be done to ensure that young promising athletes keep going, rather than stop when they reach a certain age or start working, etc..?

Luther Roseline: We need more specialists who can identify the young promising youths in various sports and train them. They need to be encouraged in order to reach their full potential.

Sports NATION: With a lot of talk about poor discipline in some schools nowadays, as a former teacher, what do you think can be done to address this issue?

Luther Roseline: I think the ‘house’ system is a good thing as it encourages students to perform well to earn points for their ‘house’. Also, we need to be more severe, for example, when a student does something bad he/she should be punished or suspended from school. It does not matter if their parents are at home or not. This should not be an issue as the parents should encourage good behaviour from their child and so they must find a way to deal with their child when he or she has been suspended.

Sports NATION: Schools will soon be able to operate more freely after being given more autonomy. What effect do you feel this will have on the schools?

Luther Roseline: I think it will work better on the academic front, but I am a bit worried where discipline is concerned.

Sports NATION: Why are you worried?

Luther Roseline: For example, before we could go to the ministry to deal with disciplinary issues, but now the school’s management will handle it itself. I feel more security officers will therefore be needed as parents could become more disruptive.

Sports NATION: The pride of a teacher is seeing your student achieve success. Can you name some of the top Seychellois athletes you have worked with during their younger days?

Luther Roseline: Of course I can name a few. Kenny Roberts who started swimming with me at the age of eight, Anniessa Benstrong from table tennis, sprinter Dylan Sicobo, he was really good actually.

Sports NATION: Any advice to the younger teachers and of course athletes?

Luther Roseline: To the younger teachers I would like to say take better care of your students and don’t only work for your salaries. As for the athletes, I would advise them to take their training more seriously and not to mix drinking and drugs with sports.

Sports NATION: Thank you Sir Luther and we wish you all the best in your retirement.

Interview conducted by Sedrick Nicette