Before the halls of Carlmont flicker to life, some students are already drenched in sweat, logging laps in an empty pool, moving through plyometric drills, or squeezing in a lift before dawn. By the time the first period bell rings, they’ll do it all again, chasing podium finishes and roster spots in club leagues that demand year-round devotion. Yet, for many of these athletes, those hours do not count toward Carlmont’s physical education (PE) requirements.
The Sequoia Union High School District requires students to complete 20 physical education credits to graduate. At Carlmont, freshmen enroll in ninth-grade physical education, earning 10 credits in one year. The policy is designed to provide consistent instruction in fitness, health, and lifelong wellness for every student, regardless of outside activities.
Carlmont also offers a pathway for students who participate in school athletics to fulfill part of the requirement.
“Each time a student participates in a sport at Carlmont, aside from freshman year, they receive 3.5 credits per season per sport. If a student completes three seasons of sports through Carlmont, they no longer need to take a second year of physical education,” said Theresa Torres, Carlmont’s head counselor.
For athletes whose primary commitments exist outside the school day, the requirement can compress already crowded schedules. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, high school students spend an average of about seven hours per week on homework, in addition to school days that often exceed six hours.
”If I didn’t have to take physical education, I’d have at least an hour each night to get all my homework done, recover, and have personal time,” said Arabella Breslow, a competitive rower with NorCal Crew and a sophomore at Carlmont.
Breslow trains for more than 16 hours each week, including early mornings, after-school practices, and weekend sessions. Despite the demanding schedule, she was still required to take physical education in her freshman year.
“It was definitely a lot coming back from a hard practice and then being expected to run a mile and try your best in PE after giving it my all the night before,” Breslow said.
For student athletes, these requirements can feel disconnected from the intensity and volume of training completed outside of the school day.
“No matter how many hours you put in, the school still views you as not applicable,” Breslow said.
School officials emphasize that the distinction between school and club sports is rooted in instructional standards rather than training volume and intensity.
“School teams function within the teaching standards for physical education, including attendance. Club teams are not beholden to that criterion,” Torres said.
Yet for many athletes, club participation can demand even greater time, travel, and competitive intensity than school programs.
“Club sports can have a travel schedule that brings athletes across California and the country,” said Celine Estrada, a clinical athletic trainer at Stanford Children’s Health. “While I don’t work with club teams directly, one could argue that club athletes train at higher intensity with higher standards and tougher competition schedules.”
From a medical and athletic training perspective, the workload many student athletes carry is substantial. Competitive seasons alone can exceed the demands of physical education classes.
“During their competitive seasons, student athletes typically train for an average of two hours per session for five to six days per week, for a total of 10 to 12 hours per week, which is fairly demanding when compared to hours per week in a PE class,” Estrada said.
A study in the National Library of Medicine found that sustained increases in physical training without adequate recovery may contribute to overtraining syndrome (OT), elevated injury and illness risk, and potential cardiovascular, neurologic, endocrine, and psychological effects.
While physical education classes are designed to build foundational fitness and motor development, layering them onto already intense schedules can interfere with recovery.
“Recovery is very important for student athletes, mostly focusing on sleep, nutrition, and stress,” Estrada said. “This affects not only their performance in sport, but also their academic performance and overall well-being.”
