In recent years, smog has become one of the most disastrous weather events in China, hurting daily life and seriously affecting public health. To explore the school sports participants in a smog environment based on risk cognition and communication. This study used literature, questionnaire, and other research methods to deeply understand the current situation of school physical education in the haze weather environment. The spatial autocorrelation index tested the spatial agglomeration characteristics of smog pollution. As was evidenced, sports in a smog environment can cause physical discomfort and mild psychological stress. The significant difference in maximal oxygen uptake was p < 0.01. The level of students’ perception of smog positively correlates with students’ active of physical exercise, and it has a significant predictive effect. The explanatory power of smog perception level to resisting coping behaviour is 49.5 % (R 2 = 0.495, P < 0.001). Under the influence of smog, participants in school sports activities showed high smog risk cognition and weak coping behaviour, and schools showed low smog risk communication. Experience and policy supervision explain 50.1 % of the information on risk communication influencing factors, with high explanatory power. One can conclude that outdoor teaching and practice in physical education classes should be carried out because the outdoor air does not influence the human body to enhance physical fitness and health.