Getting Physically Educated

Peter E.

April 4, 2010 - 11:07 AM

I'm pretty much checked out as far as school goes, so I'm taking two P.E. classes this term: PE 311 10K Training and PE 111 Flag Football. I have both these classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so they comprise pretty rigorous exercise days twice a week (I call them my "two-a-days").

To begin, my 10K training class is tough (after all, it is an upper division PE course). My instructor Joe Henderson, from what I gather, is somewhat of a local running god. He's in his 60s and focuses more on coaching now, but he's ran and written about running more than anyone I've ever met. If you're interested in learning more about him, check out his website: http://joehenderson.com/. I ran track in high school and I've been running competitively one way or another since third grade, so I don't need a lot of push coaching-wise to pick up my pace. However, I find myself with added motivation to do my workouts well for Joe. He's extremely friendly and warm, and I haven't heard him raise his voice once to get us to run faster or pick up the pace. Joe seems perfectly content to let us push ourselves as hard as we want to individually. Nonetheless, I find myself wanting to better myself both for me and for Joe, like paying homage to my elder.

The class is labeled "10K Training," but I am using it as a training for the Eugene Half Marathon coming up in a month. Joe also does a half marathon training program in the class, so he tailors my workouts to help me train for the half. He's extremely knowledgeable about training and the running community both in Eugene and nationwide. I'm excited for the rest of the term to learn from him both as a student and as a mentor because I would really like to coach high school track or cross country next year when I'm a teacher in Tulsa.

Shifting gears from the warm, grandfather-like Joe Henderson, we move on to my flag football instructor. On the first day of class, I was waiting in the hallway of the Student Rec Center before class began, and my instructor was sitting on the steps outside our class in conversation on his Blackberry. After several minutes, he hung up the phone and turned to another student in the class and said flatly with an implied ego, "they want me to sign autographs."

"Wh...wha...what for?" Asked the puzzled student, taken aback by the strange conversation starter and the possibility that he may be in the presence of a celebrity.

"I'm now the number one disc golf player in the world," he replied. "I was number three, but now I'm back on top. They could care less when you're number three, but when you're number one everyone wants you for signings and demonstrations."

The number one rated disc golfer in the world is from Eugene, Oregon. Shocker.

"Oh, that's cool," replied the student, obligingly telling him what he wanted to hear when the several of us listening to the conversation were all really thinking: "Who cares? It's disc golf."

The fun didn't stop there. Class began with everyone being seated on the basketball court, and he began: "So first a little about me. Now I've been teaching this class for about three years, and it's my way to kind of give back to the community. You know, you could almost think of it as a tax write off." The class chuckled.

"But this obviously isn't how I make my money. I'm currently the number one rated disc golf player in the world." Oh great, I thought to myself, here we go again. "Just so you don't think your teacher isn't some hack, though, I do have a Masters degree in Physical Education." I laughed out loud.

Our instructor then segued into class rules, but it didn't take long for him to return to himself, stating: "we're going to have six class sessions, and then we'll have a week break because I'm going to take a UO team to nationals for flag football, and then I need to go to media day." My friend Mike and I again failed to hold in our laughter; he is either going to media day for flag football or disc golf, I'm sure one way or another a hotbed of media attention. With that, class adjourned for the day. I eagerly await the next day of flag football, partly to play football, but mostly to hear what kind of self aggrandizing line this guy roles out with next. In many respects he reminds me of Danny McBride as the washed up All Star pitcher turned PE teacher Kenny Powers in the HBO series Eastbound and Down. If you haven't seen it, the clip below captures it all as Kenny addresses his PE class for the first time (please be aware of language for sensitive viewers).

In conclusion, I have two widely different personalities as PE instructors this term. One way or another, I can bank on my Tuesdays and Thursdays this term being filled with exercise and comedy, and I'm just fine with that.