Many sports are played in Japanese gym class. Today, the activity is vaulting in the gym. This vaulting horse is made especially for the elementary school students. Other sports include gymnastics such as mat exercises, the horizontal bars, the balance beam, as well as soccer, dodge ball, baseball, basketball, track and field, and a required course of swimming in the pool. Schools in the northern parts of the country do winter sports such as skiing and skating.
Some schools also have stilts.
In gym class, the students change into their gym clothes. First, the students form lines for their exercises. To form straight lines and even the same distances between them, they put their arms out of front of them. Japanese schools often emphasize the importance of keeping order. This is one part of traditional education.