Lewandowski said “I'm in shock” three times after hearing the claims. Robert Lewandowski was left visibly shocked after being told at a press conference that most Polish children cannot correctly bounce a ball off a wall and catch it. A journalist asked the legendary striker to respond to the findings of research led by the University of Physical Education in Warsaw (AWF) which showed that 86% of children in the first three years of primary school are unable to control a ball in this way. Poland's captain grabbed his head, took a deep breath, and asked for the figure to be repeated before responding to the reported. "Dramatic results," he said. "I'm in shock" — a phrase he repeated three times. "It looks terrible. I didn't know it was that bad," said the 38-year-old, who joined MLS side Chicago Fire this year after a career including stint at European superclubs Bayern Munich and Barcelona. "I don't mean the state of sport, but how we feel. Sport is health. Sport affects our posture, how we think and how we feel. "A deep reform is needed, one that reaches the foundations, so the youngest children start moving. Lack of movement leads to more frequent doctor's visits." Years of research The figures cited by the journalist come "WF z AWF," a government-commissioned program run by the AWF in Warsaw that has tracked the fitness of Polish schoolchildren since 2021. When the latest edition was release in the spring, Professor Bartosz Molik, rector of AWF Warsaw, spoke publicly of the need for specialist physical education teachers to help young schoolchildren with their motor skills. The research project’s findings have been consistently bleak. The latest figures showed that, among pupils in grades one to three of primary school (6 to 9 years old), 89% cannot skip rope properly and 86% are unable to throw and grab a ball bouncing off the wall. Researchers also reported a marked decline in cardiorespiratory fitness over the past decade. ‘A disaster’ Professor Molik gave an interview on the subject to a Polish sport broadcaster this week, prompting the question to Lewandowski at a press conference ahead of the national team’s upcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures. The son of two PE teachers, Lewandowski said he knew firsthand how easily children are excused from class and how leniently they're graded. "Let children be assessed fairly," he said. "As a parent, I can't imagine my children being anywhere near these statistics. I don't want them to be athletes, but I want them to be healthy, so I want them to play sport." He said his own fitness still benefited from having played every sport growing up, and urged people to walk and cycle more. As he left the table, he was still repeating: "86%. A disaster."
