"South Carolina AHPERD Report" by Tom Winiecki

The 1999 South Carolina AHPERD convention in Myrtle Beach was a collection of presenters that were full of new and innovative ideas for all physical education teachers. Presenters came in from all parts of the country, including Fayetteville, NY, Fargo, ND, Ridgewood, NJ, Orlando, FL, Charlottsville, VA, and San Antonio, TX. Also included were many National and Eastern District teachers of the year, as well as the best home grown talent that South Carolina had to offer.

Some, but not all of the highlights included the following:

Tony Nunez of San Antonio, Texas presented many "get to know you² activities, as well as quick rhythmic activities for the elementary school. He stressed how children play naturally with rhymes. He described the child's body and voice as the "music" and the "instruments" and the rhymes the words of childhood. Taking advantage of this in your teaching would be a natural! All of the routines were simple enough to learn quickly, yet complex enough to challenge your students. If you want to know more about these activities contact Lee Towell at catpaws@flash.net

Lisa Fagala, of Hollis Academy in South Carolina presented a very informative session on international games. These activities offer a great tie in to a social studies curriculum. All of the games were carefully adapted to not eliminate anyone. Once someone was caught, they stayed an active participant in the game! One example is "Japanese Tag." Two, or three people start as "oni," or ³it" in Japanese. They wear a vest and try to tag other people. When someone is tagged, they must place one hand on the place they were tagged. With his/her hand on that spot, they must chase someone else. Once they tag someone else, they no longer have to run around covering that spot. If they are re-caught by an "oni, " or someone else that was also caught, they cover that spot again and keep playing. All of the games she presented, as well as others will soon be available on John Williams' web site at Ayden Elementary School(http://schools.eastnet.ecu.edu/pitt/ayden/physed.htm) You can also contact Lisa directly at lfagala@greenville.infi.net

Janelle Schumacher of Fargo, ND presented many exercises that your kids wont think are "exercises." She calls them "camouflage fitness." One was called ³body ladder." You start with 3-4 students in a group, all laying on their backs on the floor head to toe. The first person has a ball. On "go," the first person sits up and gives the ball to the second person. Then, the first person gets up and runs to the front and lays down again. This continues until the ball reaches the finish line. The kids get their abdominal work without realizing it! They also showed how they use heart monitors and pedometers in all of their teaching. The kids are constantly hooked up to these instruments to give them instant feedback on their activity. You can reach them for more information at schumaj@fargo.k12.nd.us or visit their web site at http://www.corpcomm.net/~rmauch

Jim Ross of Ridgewood, NJ presented on teaching throwing and dodging without using kids as targets. His main point of emphasis was to get his kids to WANT to go to the ball, instead of away from it. No sport is designed where the players want to go away from a ball. In all sports the players want to go TO the ball. Why then, should we as physical educators design activities where kids want to get away from the ball (dodgeball)? One example is called "pin guard." Set up a playing area with two parallel end lines 15-25 feet apart. Place targets (pins, cones) in a straight-line between the two end lines, one target for each group. Divide your class into groups of three. One player is the pin guard. The other two players stand behind the end lines and try to throw a ball to hit the target. The pin guard tries to defend the target by knocking the ball away. Passing the ball is permitted. If the target gets hit, the pin guard switches with the person that hit the target. You can contact Jim Ross at jross@ridgewood.k12.nj.us

Francesca Zavacky, of Charlottsville, VA showed ways to integrate other curriculums into an existing elementary physical education program. She suggests looking for obvious tie-ins from other curriculums into your program. An idea like a very basic line dance, that involves repeating steps in a pattern is an excellent tie-in to math at the lower grades. Once the children realize the pattern of the dance and what makes a pattern, they will begin to see patterns in other settings, all on their own! Another math tie-in can be done in the context of your basketball unit. Place coated paper plates around the gym with numbers, or math problems on them (whatever the kids are doing at the time). The kids then have to dribble on that paper plate that number of times. Make them count out loud. Tell them how many plates they have to get to finish. Many other connections can be made. You can contact Francesca at 95petoy@firstva.com

Tom Winiecki of Fayetteville, NY presented on using the Internet in a physical education program. Topics included search engines and listserves. Web sites dealing with lesson plans as well as individual physical education programs were shown. Finally, possible ways to use a web site in instruction were demonstrated. One way was with a monthly quiz. Ten questions are listed monthly. Students click onto the answer they pick. They are immediately told if they are right, or wrong. All questions are related to the current instruction in the gym. You can visit Tom's web site at http://www.fm.cnyric.org/mott_road/pehome.html You can also contact Tom for more information at twiniecki@fm.cnyric.org

All in all the 72nd annual SCAPHERD Convention was a huge success. Everyone who had a part in organizing and presenting should be commended for a terrific job!

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