What Physicals can you do for DofE? 9 original ideas you didn't know about
The Physical section of DofE doesn’t have to be playing for your local Sunday league football club — there’s a huge range of physical activities to pick from, including ones perfect for those who prefer to stay indoors, those who want something more adventurous than competitive, and those who want to work on their fitness. In this post I’ll go through 9 great ideas for your Physical DofE section that you may not have known about.
First things first: how long is your Physical section?
Before you sign up to a sports club, or start contacting friends and colleagues, it’s important to know how long your Physical section is going to last. On DofE, with each successive award, the Physical section becomes longer:
Bronze - 3 months (or 6 months is you select Physical as your longer section)
Silver - 3 months, or 6 months if you select Physical as your longer section (and 12 months if you haven’t completed Bronze and you select Physical as your longer section)
Gold - 6 months, or 12 months if you select Physical as your longer section (and 18 months if you haven’t completed Silver and you select Physical as your longer section)
For a full breakdown of timescales on DofE, check out my post on How long is DofE?.
1. Wii-fit
For those who are less into outdoor sports, Wii-fit is a great preapproved option for a DofE Physical section. Now, given the age of the Wii as a console, you may be wondering: I don’t have a Nintendo Wii, but does [insert video game here] count? Well, the answer is not necessarily clear-cut.
Given that Wii-fit counts I would suggest that similar physical activity-based video games, such as Just Dance, would qualify too. However, do not expect the likes of FIFA or Call of Duty to count. As a general rule of thumb, the activity must have a positive effect on your fitness.
If you decide to go with Wii-fit (or similar alternative) for your Physical DofE section, you will need to find an assessor. If you have a friend who is also interested in using Wii-fit for their Physical section, you could do the activity together, and use each other’s parents as assessors — i.e. your friend’s parent is your assessor and your friend’s assessor is your parent.
You could also suggest introducing a weekly Wii-fit club at your school, and ask a teacher if they would be happy to supervise and be the assessor. Whoever your assessor is, make sure they fit the rules: this means they’re not a family member, and they understand the activity well enough to (at the minimum) review your progress. For more detail on who your assessor can be, read my post on DofE assessor’s reports.
2. Geocaching
You may not have heard of geocaching before, but after reading the next few paragraphs you’ll be wishing you already had. As the official Geocaching website puts it, “geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.”
So how does it work? Essentially, “caches” are small containers, currently in millions of locations all over the world, waiting to be found by others. Sometimes caches contain items of physical value (if you take something, you are require to leave something else of equal or greater value), and sometimes they contain just a logbook. All you need to start geocaching is a GPS enabled device (i.e. your smartphone) and an account with Geocaching.com.
As with Wii-fit, there is no natural assessor if you were to pick geocaching as your Physical activity. Again, I think the best option would be to go geocaching with a friend every week, and use each other’s parents as assessors.
3. Gym work
If you’re a gym bunny then you may want to combine your regular workout with part of your DofE Award. Or, if you’re looking for some extra motivation and accountability to get to the gym on a (more) regular basis, this could be a great option for you too!
The term “gym work” is intentionally vague. It could involve anything from treadmills, to spin bikes, to pullups, to the rowing machine (can you tell I go to the gym regularly?). This point is: as long as it’s physical activity that lasts at least one hour each work, it qualifies.
In terms of assessors, this one is a bit tricky. Of course you could use a personal trainer — which would make for a perfect assessor — but you may not want to spend the money. If you are familiar with the people at the gym, someone may agree to be your assessor if you ask nicely. Otherwise, unfortunately, there aren’t many options for this activity outside of having dedicated lessons.
4. Team sports
In reality, a large proportion of people will end up doing a team sport for their DofE Physical section, and so I felt it was necessary for me to have at least one bullet point that covers them. There is a long list of preapproved team sports — and even if they aren’t on the list, they may still qualify (speak to your DofE Leader for confirmation).
The list of preapproved team sports are: American football, baseball, basketball, boccia (similar to bowls, for athletes with high support needs), camogie (an Irish stick-and-ball team sport which, according to Wikipedia, is only played by women), cricket, curling, dodgeball, dodge disc (basically what it sounds like), fives, football (plus football variations), goalball, handball, hockey, hurling, ice hockey, kabaddi (kind of like ‘it’ but you also have to hold your breath), korfball (similar to netball and requires and even male/female split), lacrosse, netball, octopushing (also known as underwater hockey), polo, quidditch (see point 9), roller derby (a roller skating contact sport), rogaining (basically a competitive DofE Expedition), rounders, rugby, sitting volleyball, sledge hockey/ice hockey, softball, stoolball (an indoor ball sport), tug of war, ultimate flying disc, volleyball, wallyball (like volleyball but with walls), water polo, wheelchair basketball, and wheelchair rugby.
5. Boxing
Boxing is one of the best sports out there for fitness, and there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that it can help significantly to reduce anxiety and aggression. To find your local boxing club (in England), you can use this tool from englandboxing.org.
6. Climbing
Climbing is one of a number of extreme sports that you can do for your DofE Physical section, and is in fact the sport I did for my Awards. If you can, outdoor climbing is the coolest way to climb, but if (like me) you live in a city, you’ll likely have to settle for an indoor climbing gym.
There are a couple of types of climbing gym. Firstly, there are bouldering gyms (my personal favourite), which have lots of short climbing routes that are sufficiently low that you don’t need to wear a harness/use ropes. Alternatively, you could go to a sport climbing gym, which has much taller walls, and requires ropes and harnesses.
Other preapproved extreme sports you can do for DofE Physical are: BMX, caving, parkour, ice skating, mountain biking, parachuting, skateboarding, skydiving, snow sports, speed skating, and street luge.
7. Dance
There is really no restriction on what type of dance you can do for your Physical section, from ballet to salsa to breakdancing. If this might interest you, consider taking dance lessons or joining a dance club/dance group. Remember, as long as you are doing at least one hour of weekly activity, and can find a suitable assessor, dance is an excellent choice for a DofE Physical section.
8. Yoga/Pilates
There are an increasing number of yoga, Pilates, and aerobics studies around the UK, especially in major cities. These sports are excellent for keeping fit and improving overall body strength, and may be particularly preferable if you’re not a fan of traditional gyms.
To do this for your DofE Physical, it is probably easiest to join a regular weekly class with the same instructor, so that he/she can see your progress over the course of a number of months, and also confirm your repeated attendance.
9. Quidditch
I must confess, I did have to Google this one. Not because I don’t know what Quidditch is (don’t worry, I had a childhood), but because I didn’t know what muggle Quidditch is. Sadly, although unsurprisingly, it’s a bit less exciting than the original game — think dodgeballs for Bludgers, deflated volleyballs for Quaffles, and tennis balls for the Golden Snitch.
Nonetheless, if you’re interested in becoming the Victor Krum of the muggle world, you may as well combine it with your DofE.
Still not found what you’re looking for?
If you still haven’t found something that ticks your boxes, you can read the full list of DofE preapproved Skills options here for more inspiration.