Throughout my K-12 education, I hated Physical Education courses. I have always been a rather slight fellow, and I was young for my grade, which for a fourth grader can mean a big difference in physical ability. I was always slowest, I could never do pullups, it took me forever to do 60 situps (an exercise which I believe to do more harm than good), and pushups were torturous. I just liked playing with the trampoline and the dodgeballs while in elementary school. But then in middle school, things changed. Though I still disliked physical education, I no longer dreaded the pushups, situps, and running. By eighth grade, I had reached most of my adult height and weight, and I could actually do those things. I could run the mile in about seven minutes, which was not particularly fast, but it was faster than a good number of my peers. I could do 65 pushups in two minutes. I was more flexible than everyone else, and I could do situps and pullups if I had to. What I dreaded about phys-ed in middle school and high school were playing the stupid games. I relished the time spent doing calisthenics, because I could actually do them. But playing basketball for forty minutes was like a year in purgatory. Since high school gym class, I haven't even played so much as a game of 21.
Anyway, as I look back on high school phys-ed I realize that some of my experiences there were among my most important in all of school. My eighth grade gym teacher, Mr. Marn, remains one of the most influential teachers I have ever had, mostly because he was very supportive of me. In all of my more academic pursuits, I appreciated the input of my teachers, but I was able to do good work without very much contact with them. That stuff came naturally to me. But gym did not. Mr. Marn recognized that I had some potential, perhaps not as an athlete, but at least as a person capable of meeting fairly rigorous fitness standards. The encouragement he gave me in an area in which I did not excel meant more to me than the recognition I received for my more cerebral achievments.
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