Warrior Wellness: An inside look at Willowbrook’s freshmen and sophomore physical education classes
Willowbrook students are working hard every day to become more educated with their health and wellness, and we are thrilled to feature those accomplishments through this monthly column.
In this edition of Warrior Wellness, Willowbrook is proud to showcase its freshmen and sophomore physical education classes. Students in these classes began the semester with fitness testing, which included the:
- Mile run: Aerobic capacity
- 20-meter Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) test: Aerobic capacity
- Curl-Up test: Muscular endurance
- Push-Up test: Muscular strength
- Back-Saver Sit and Reach test: Flexibility
These tests help students realize the importance of staying physically active each day and allow them to see tangible results from maintaining those efforts. Pupils will repeat these at the end of the semester to measure individual improvement and growth.
Freshmen have started unit one, which focuses on gymnastics. This is a great unit for all students and provides an opportunity for many to try something new. They learn basic tumbling, balance beam and spotting skills. Students work together to maintain a safe environment, where everyone has opportunities for success. The unit will culminate with students creating their own tumbling pass, using the skills they have learned. After gymnastics, we will move to the fitness center, followed by badminton, volleyball and soccer.
Freshmen are in the classroom once a week to focus on the parts of fitness that keep us healthy. Unit one in the classroom is all about the heart and how exercising within our target heartrate zone can strengthen the heart muscle and improve the quality and length of our life. Unit two will cover muscle anatomy, muscle function and exercises that target each of the muscles learned. Toward the end of the semester, we will discuss flexibility and how it can not only improve performance and prevent injuries, but also how it has a positive impact on our overall well-being.
After fitness testing, the sophomore classes started their badminton unit. This unit teaches students the basic rules of badminton and game play. We will incorporate the skill-related fitness components we have been discussing in our cognitive lessons. Other units sophomores will participate in this semester are basketball, volleyball, tennis, pickleball and flag football. The students also will have a three-week unit in the fitness center, where they will learn how to create workouts that benefit their overall fitness.
Sophomores are in the classroom once a week and have been reviewing information from last year and learning about skill-related fitness components. In the next couple of weeks, students will learn about the different stages of their target heartrate zone and how to design an individualized workout plan according to the goals they set at the beginning of the semester.
- The Warrior Wellness column provides an inside look into the physical education, health and driver education classes at Willowbrook. This monthly feature highlights what students are working on in class, as well as student successes in those departments.