Time for a shout out!

We’re fortunate enough to have a number of ROCK STAR physical education professionals on the PE4life team. Combined, they have well over a century of PE experience. Their programs have been recognized in media outlets, big and small. Their programs are innovative, fitness-based and let’s not forget – FUN! We’ll just say it; our Academy Directors are pretty stinkin’ cool. We think it’s time we introduce them to you, one by one, starting with PE4life Academy Training Center at Grundy Center’s very own, Rick Schupbach.

If you geek out on PE the way us PE4lifers do, you’ve probably seen Grundy Center in the news lately. It hosted the 2010 Global Forum for Physical Education Pedagogy, where the Executive Director of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports said about Grundy’s PE program, "this is what every physical education class should be like and look like.” So, what makes Grundy Center’s PE program “perhaps the best in the world” as the article states?  Well there are a number of things, but we’ll only mention three here (for all of them, check out our Core Principles).

First, support from your administration and community is critical. We have to give another huge shout out to Grundy Center School District's Superintendent, John Stevens. John has been a driving force in Grundy Center's program development. Cass Murra, will be taking over as Superintendent next year. She, too, is extremely supportive of the PE program and will play a crucial role in its future.   

Secondly, the use of technology tools to assess students’ fitness levels and progress made. Rick’s program is top of the line in terms of technology and its use of heart rate monitors and assessment equipment.  Partnering with Polar and the University of Northern Iowa, Grundy Center Community Schools is home to the Polar Scholars Graduate Program – students from UNI who come to learn the best practices and methods of incorporating technology into physical education.  

Rick recently said this about the use of technology in PE. "We are a gadget society. We have to tap into a new way of doing business. The medical field does not perform the way it used to. Teachers in other areas are not teaching the way they used to. It is up to us to use technology to bring science into exercise. We can't afford to be guessing on student activity any longer."  (Check out Rick’s 12 Questions for Assessing a PE Program handout from a presentation at a past PE4life Resource Conference presentation for more on assessment.) This leads us to the last criteria – one heck of a PE teacher.
 

We would have liked to interview Rick on his innermost feelings about his passion for PE, but Rick is a very busy man this week (you know, determining the future of PE with the head of the President’s Council and all. Hey, it ain’t easy bein’ that good!). So, we’ll tell you what we know about Rick Schupbach.
 

Rick has twenty-six years of teaching experience in Iowa, 21 years in Grundy Center as an elementary Physical Education instructor. In 1993 he was honored as the Iowa Elementary PE teacher of the year. During his tenure at Grundy Center he has presented at numerous conferences and workshops in the Midwest and nationally. These presentations are highlighted by his featured lesson at National PE Day in Washington D.C., and his presentations at the National PE conference in 2005 and 2007. In 2003 Rick’s program at Grundy Center Elementary School was recognized as the 1st Elementary PE4life Academy Training Center in the nation.
 

Rick pushes for change in the physical education world. He recognizes the need for open-mindedness and innovation and has said this during a presentation “if we continue doing what we have done in the past we will continue to get what we have gotten in the past, to the point of being eliminated from the educational landscape.”

Rick doesn’t just talk the talk. Several years ago, Rick was training for a marathon when he was diagnosed with cancer.  His oncologist said that living his profession literally saved his life.  If he wasn’t in such good physical condition going into his cancer treatments, the result may not have been so good.
 

What more can we say? We're so grateful to have you on board the PE4life train! Congratulations on your program's well-deserved success, Rick! 

Last year, Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, toured Grundy Center Elementary School to witness their stellar program in action.

Read about the PE4life Academy Training Center at Grundy Center in the news:
PE plans for the future

SMALL-TOWN SOLUTION: Delegates from 29 countries find inspiration in Grundy Center The school district's P.E. program is among the best in the world.

Fitness council's Pfohl wants to reshape physical education in schools

Leader of President’s Council on Physical Fitness to visit Grundy Center

Grundy Center forum will shape future of PE

PE4life Academy Training Center highlighted in NPR story

Check out an excerpt from this great NPR story highlighting Woodland Elementary School, a PE4life Academy Training Center.

How Revving Up Your Heart Rate, Even A Bit, Pays Off
NPR 2/1/2010

Benefits Beyond The Heart
Nowadays, much of the focus on fitness is about how to exercise to prevent obesity. One school started measuring target heart rate zones as part of an in-school exercise program. And they found it helped more than just the students' physical health.

"[Exercise] should be fun," says principal Craig Rupert of Woodland Elementary School in Kansas, Mo., as he shows off his school's gym, which has been converted into an exercise arcade.

With the help of the national nonprofit group PE4Life, he's pushing to expand physical education. Rupert says by sixth grade, the majority of students do not participate in organized, competitive athletics; their level of activity starts to drop off. The PE4Life model encourages exercise as a form of play.

"It's really about getting the kids to exercise every day," Rupert says.

On a rainy, cold Wednesday afternoon, Rupert shows how his eighth-graders are getting their heart rates up. Student Juan Reynoso cycles through a video racing game called Off-Road.

"The bike is connected to a remote control," Juan explains. "And when I pedal, it makes the car go."

As physical education instructor Bernie Fitzpatrick makes the rounds, she takes a look at Juan's heart rate monitor. Juan and his classmate Kevin Thompson have hit their target zones at about 140 beats per minute. "Keep it up," she says.

"I feel great," says Kevin, as he moves from cycling to a dance game. "And energetic."

Fitzpatrick says the point of wearing the heart-rate monitors is to teach the kids what it feels like to be exercising at the proper pace — about 60 percent of their maximum.

"If you're in the target heart rate zone, you're burning more of the fat you have stored." When people exercise beyond 80 percent of max, the body starts to burn more sugar. "So by keeping them in that, we get them to be more lean and to use up some of that body fat rather than just the candy bar they ate a little while ago."

And, Fitzpatrick says, at Woodland, the students exercise far more frequently than the 50 minutes a week of physical education typical at many schools.

No one has tested the kids at Woodland Elementary to see if the daily exercise has led to specific improvements in academic success, but PE4Life has begun to document academic gains.

The big surprise for administrators at Woodland Elementary: They've noted a significant decrease in aggressive behavior. In-school suspensions have gone down about 60 percent since the program began.

"I've seen that go down quite a bit, because they can expend that energy on the exercise equipment," says Mark Dickerson, who oversees discipline referrals.

"I've always exercised to blow off steam," Dickerson says. But the transformation at the school has surprised him. "I didn't make the connection ... that it can happen to kids, as well."

Read or listen to story in its entirety.