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Background A longstanding contradiction has persisted in the field of physical education (PE). On the one hand, teaching oriented toward “fun PE” can overemphasize immediate enjoyment; yet because it often lacks substantive skill improvement, students’ interest becomes surface-level and difficult to sustain. On the other hand, traditional skill-centered teaching emphasizes technical proficiency, but its dull, repetitive process frequently extinguishes learners’ enthusiasm. This coexistence of two outcomes—students either have fun but do not really learn, or learn but do not enjoy it—has become a bottleneck hindering PE from developing toward higher quality. Purpose To address this problem, the present study attempts to move beyond either-or thinking and clarify how skill and interest are connected. Based on foundational theories in contemporary motivational psychology—especially interpretations of the needs for competence and autonomy within Self-Determination Theory (SDT), and complementing this with other frameworks like Achievement Goal Theory—and combined with stage models of interest development, we propose and test a new theoretical framework: the Skill-Interest Spiral Symbiosis (SISS) Model. We aim to clarify how skill mastery is associated with learning interest through an indirect psychological pathway, and how interest in turn may feed back into further skill refinement, forming a potential feedback cycle. Methods To verify the generalizability of the SISS Model, we conducted an anonymous cross-sectional survey among adult participants enrolled in sport-related courses using the Wenjuanxing platform. A total of 620 valid responses were collected (valid response rate: 88.6%), covering a wide range of sport programs such as basketball, yoga, swimming, and more. Key measures included: skill self-appraisal, perceived competence, perceived teacher autonomy support, situational interest, and long-term participation intention. Data were preliminarily processed with SPSS, and a structural equation model (SEM) was constructed in AMOS to empirically test the hypothesized paths. Bootstrap methods were further used to examine mediation and moderation effects. Results Model fit indices for the SEM ( χ 2 / df = 2.41, CFI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.050), together with mediation and moderation tests, jointly validated a potentia feedback cycle of “skill → competence → interest → engagement.” The SEM showed that: (1) skill self-appraisal was an important positive predictor of perceived competence; (2) perceived competence played a key “bridge” role between skill self-appraisal and interest (partial mediation); (3) teacher autonomy support significantly “catalyzed” the conversion from competence to interest—under high autonomy-supportive environments, competence more readily was associated with interest; and (4) situational interest strongly and positively predicted behavioral engagement and long-term persistence, forming a complete pathway from psychological processes to behavior. Conclusion The central argument is that skill and interest are not mutually exclusive choices; rather, they can form a symbiotic relationship that can mutually nourish and spiral upward. Skill improvement is the “fuel” that is associated with ignited interest, while interest is the “engine” that drives skill refinement. In this symbiotic cycle, perceived competence is the crucial psychological converter, and autonomy support in the teaching environment is the key “catalyst” determining conversion efficiency. While acknowledging the limitations of our cross-sectional data, establishing the SISS Model provides new ideas and practical leverage points for resolving the longstanding “learning vs. fun” dilemma in physical activity education, and offers guidance for designing more effective and attractive learning experiences.