This study investigated the experiences of beginning teachers during their first year to determine what is necessary for the education of pre-service teachers. For this purpose, one middle school physical education teacher who was appointed as a teacher in 2020 was selected as a research participant. For data collection, four meetings were held from February 2020 to February 2021 to discuss his first year as a middle school teacher. The study was conducted using a narrative inquiry method. As a result of the study, the difficulties he experienced over the course of one year were summarized into three types: difficulties cause by lack of experience, difficulties due to COVID-19, and difficulties due to the nature of the subject, physical education. He reported having a hard time coping with these difficulties at first, but as time went on, he showed signs of adaptation. First, he was able to cope with the difficulties that he might have faced in his first year of teaching by keeping distance, being careful with each other, and letting go of excessive expectations. Next, he responded by offering classes in formats different from traditional physical education classes to cope with the situation posed by COVID-19. Thus, he became an innovative teacher he never foresaw. However, he could not find a solution to the difficulties caused by the stereotype of physical education subjects. COVID-19 had a big impact on the changes he experienced in his first year, and differentiated his teaching from those of pre-COVID-19 teachers. Educational implications based on these findings were discussed.