Just as physical education has been variously labelled and has faced seeming identity cries, it also has been described in a multitude of ways. What does physical education mean? Is it synonymous with exercise, play, games, leisure, recreation, sports, or athletics?

Before defining physical education, each of these terms needs to be understood. Exercise, in the physical dimension, means using or exerting the body. Play refers to the resultant action, or what the participants do during physical exertion.

Games range from amusements or diversions to competitions with significant outcomes governed by rules. Freedom from work or duties describes leisure, which may or may not be used for physical activity.

Similarly, recreation refreshes or renews one’s strength and spirits after toil, again with or without activity, Sport encompasses all those diversions and physical activities that one does for pleasure or success. Athletics are organized, competitive activities in which trained individuals participate. Skill levels vary in each.