The Physical section is about doing a sport or aerobic activity regularly that works your body (which distinguishes it from a skill).

Your physical can be something organised by school, like regularly playing for a team and attending training (but it can't count things that you do during curriculum time - i.e. it cannot be a PE or Games lesson) or it could be something you follow outside school, in a team or on your own.

This page explains what you can do for your Physical, what doesn’t count, how to get started, how long you need to do it for and how to finish.

How to start your Physical section

• First, find an adult to be your Assessor. Usually this is a Coach or trainer or it could be an adult known to you with an  interest and understanding of the activity.
• Ask them if they are willing to be your Assessor.  So many students in Guernsey take part in the DofE Award, your Coach will almost certainly have assessed other DofE participants.
• Talk to them and agree your dates, times and goals.
• Submit details on eDofE, including your Assessor contact details and agreed goals for approval on eDofE so that they can be checked before you start anything.
• Keep evidence as you progress. This should be a log of dates or briefly updated diary of your progress. If possible add further evidence to show that you are making progress e.g. photo evidence or Awards.
• Remember you can be an expert or start a new sport as a beginner. It is progress that counts and this means setting appropriate goals with your Assessor.

Rules for the Physical section

• You can choose almost any sport for your Physical activity. It can be a team sport (e.g. rugby, netball, hockey) or an individual sport (cycling, running, dancing). If you do something on your own you can use an app such as Strava to log your activity.
• You cannot choose activities that do not work up a sweat.  For example shooting, snooker and darts would all count as Skills and not Physical activities as far as the DofE is concerned.
• You need to spend at least an hour a week on your activity for 3 or 6 months (depending on the time scale you selected).  If the season ends before you have finished your activity, talk to your leader and/or your Assessor.  You can either set goals that you can continue out of season (such as strength and conditioning training in the gym) or you can take a break and add some more time on at the start of the next season.
• A SHORT intensive period of sport squeezed into a few days does NOT COUNT e.g. an intensive four day training course at a rugby camp or hockey event does NOT count for DofE Physical activity by itself. You will need to add further regular hours every week.

Ideas for your Physical section

There are lots of ideas for the Physical section on the DofE resource pages, see below for this document.

Frequently Asked Questions - Physical

Check out the link below for frequently asked questions about the physical section. If your question isn't answered here, please do see Mr Robinson.

Physical Section FAQs - The Duke of Edinburgh's Award - This page has all of the FAQs for the physical section.