The Department of physical education was established in 1932 as the Department of military training and physical education. Physical education was introduced into the curriculum of the Ryazan Agrarian and Pedagogical Institute in 1930, A.N. Smekhov was its first teacher.
Significant contributions to the development of the department were made by Z.K. Baykova, S.S. Ivanova, G. Navozov, L. Melnikov.
Z.K. Baykova inititated the construction of the "Polyanka" summer health camp, which now functions as the university’s educational and production base.
In 2017, the swimming pool “Klassika” opened as a new sports facility, this allowed starting swimming specializations.