In New Brunswick schools [education is a Provincial responsibilty in Canada] school sports are competitive and only the elite get to play. American football is the high profile sport.

In secondary school, the children get one 9-week block of physical education each school year. We augment this with extra-curricular sports, which we pay for. In our case, it's competitive swimming three days per week and Tai Kwon Do twice a week. I think that opting out of school would probably improve fitness levels around here.