EC Physical Education Department Finds Creative Ways to Promote Lifetime Fitness During Remote Learning

During this time of quarantine and isolation, the EC Physical Education Department is finding innovative and fun ways to teach lifetime fitness skills. It is well reported that in addition to all the other difficulties due to COVID-19, people are struggling to maintain fitness goals during this time. The phrase “freshman 15” has been replaced with “the quarantine 15” as a way to describe the potential weight gain that can accompany a sedentary lifestyle.

To flip this switch, our PE department has led live calisthenic workouts, created videos to teach coordination skills and brain development, and utilized technology to like the app Map My Run so students can log the time, distance, and route of jogs taken. They are also reminding our students that staying active can be a lot of fun. You may have seen Barry and Debi Veenstra on social media participating in the EC Spring Break Challenge videos. Go ahead and see if you can complete Mrs. Veenstra’s Over/Under Challenge or The Human Bird Bath Challenge, and then try Mr. Veenstra’s Spin, Head, and In Challenge.

The transition to remote PE has of course had its struggles. Group activities and team sports are simply meant to be in person; however, while our PE teachers look forward to the return of in person activities, they have made the best of a challenging situation. Of course there have been bumps in the road and difficulties to overcome. Mr. Veentra said, “We’ve had some funny moments involving parents, pets and pesty siblings getting in the way and the occasional oops moments when microphones are accidentally left on.” Overall though, Mr. Veenstra is happy that our students and teachers can laugh about those moments and are staying active. “They are buying into the need for exercise during this quarantine for their physical, mental and emotional health and that makes us happy!”

To hear from our PE department firsthand, watch the special edition of our Teacher Feature series. In the video above, the entire P-12 Physical Education department sat down to talk about doing PE when we can’t be together physically, the importance of exercise, and what EC families can do to keep fit in this time of learning and working from home.