Lessons from Phys Ed, a Decade After I Quit Taking It

This post originally appeared on my other blogging home, Sports Bra Diaries. You can see it there, and check out some of the other things I've been writing!

Even though I’ve got an undergrad and a Masters degree in Kinesiology, when I started in teacher’s college, I chose my teachable subjects as Biology and General Science. It was a practical choice–they’d taken out the option of Phys Ed at Althouse, where I wanted to go–and a strategic one–I figured I’d appreciate the crash course on using Bunsen burners and teaching things about physics I can hardly remember more than the time in the gym–but I’m happy that in my latest placement, I’ve gotten the chance to be in some PE classes. By a stroke of luck, I’ve been sitting in on and teaching a bit of a senior fitness class called “Body Shape” where the girls do all kinds of workouts on a daily basis and discuss things like healthy eating and body image. Beyond being right up my alley in the subject department, I’ve learned a lot and been really inspired by the teacher of the course, who has welcomed me with open arms even though I am placed with another teacher for the bulk of the day.

On the day I met the teacher, she asked me why I wanted to teach. There is of course a long story here, but my response, in particular to why I want to teach phys ed some day, has to do with my own experiences back in high school. In a class that was focused on sports and honestly was not that fun for a slightly overweight and very uncoordinated young girl, I want to create the kind of class where all kinds of kids take some kind of joy in participating and getting a chance to move their bodies. In short, I want to be the teacher I wish I’d had.

When I introduced myself to the Body Shape class, I told them the truth: I hated gym and was not really into an exercise routine when I was in their shoes. It wasn’t until the very end of high school, when I started running and did my first spin class with a friend at the Sarnia YMCA, that I really started to love fitness. The process was a long time coming, and the ways I like to move have continually evolved so much, but I figured they should know that not all gym teachers are jocks, and not all people who make fitness a big part of their lives came out of the womb wearing Nikes.

And when I told them my story, I saw something shift in the way they looked at me. I realized something that I’ve known for a long time, and it comes back to the idea of sharing our story and leading by example. It’s a very Brene Brown-inspired idea, and it has been so cool to be able to be a part of the class and sort of see the way those girls find inspiration in both their teacher and me.

My first response was, of course, Who, me?

But yes, me.

The other day, one of the students and I were shuffling along in a warm-up jog that only sort of angered my foot. On the topic of not running for a while, I said I was feeling a little out of shape. She told me that I certainly didn’t look out of shape, and was pretty jacked, and beyond making my day, it gave me that same response of really?

Isn’t it funny how we see ourselves, vs. how other people see us?

Here I am worrying that I am not fit enough to be a fitness instructor or a gym teacher or a human being with worth, and all the while someone sees me in quite the opposite. That helped me. I saw the way the girls in that class watch their teacher doing her thing int the weight room days. I saw the way they watched my push-ups or pull-ups, and I saw the way one of the girls started working on her assisted pull-ups and told me how she was working towards her first. It was really cool to be able to tell her she’ll get one and to keep working at it, and I realized that leading by example and living what you preach is oh so important when it comes to teaching.

Beyond the lessons about leading with my actions (not being a coffee cup gym teacher), I’ve learned so much from the teacher I’ve been working with, who literally inspires me to be fitter simply by standing tall in her Nikes. She is almost ready to retire, and she leaves her students with some gems I don’t think other adults are saying to them. From her I’ve learned lots not just about who I want to be as a teacher, but beyond that about who I want to be as a person.

One of the things she says often is that, fitness is hard. And fitness is a choice. That’s refreshing. I’m pretty guilty of wanting to take the easy way out with things, and even of getting pretty comfortable with “good enough” when it comes to my training or workouts. The teacher also talked to the kids about being willing to dive into that challenge themselves. There’s a line in the sand where it gets hard and you have to work through it, but people are so scared of that line that they don’t push it.

And that’s sad, because then we never find out what we’re capable of. Hearing that things are supposed to be hard–and that we should dig into the challenge–has been a great reminder for me these past few weeks. This fabulous teacher also celebrates hard work, rewarding excellence and demanding that the students do quality work–not just show up. Nothing worth having comes easy, and instead of coming up with excuses about why we can’t we ought to put our efforts into doing better. Those people who are winning medals or who are super fit work hard for it–and they deserve all the things that go along with it. It has made me think about the participation medals given to everyone vs. the medals you are so proud of because you’ve earned them, and about aiming for excellence without being so scared of falling short. We might be scared we’ll fail, but what could happen if you went for it?

There are so many cliches in all of this, I know, but I hope I’ve done the lessons some justice. I’ll be sad to wrap up the placement at the end of the week, but excited to start the journey towards having a class of my own, and happily reminded of the experience every time I wear my new Nikes.