Bobcat Brief

December 14, 2017

Yoga in P.E.

Out of the 26 letters in our alphabet soup, the 25^th letter is near and dear to my yeart. There are few words that begin with the letter Y that I do not like. On the short list of Y words that I like/love/admire are yoga, yogurt, yams, yaks, yokes (jokes) and yolks, Yardbirds (Clapton band from the 60’s) and yodeling. For the sake of brevity, and because 57% of those reading this brief are just one more poorly worded sentence away from stopping the reading of this brief, I will focus on the P.E. word of the week, yoga.

Physical Education teacher Mr. Brian Malady has added the practice of yoga to our P.E. curriculum. I sat in recently and noticed the following:

• Students catch on fast!
• Engagement was high for both our youngest and oldest of students.
• They were extremely focused as they changed positions and postures.
• Yoga is a changeup to activities that typically focus on balls, i.e. basketball, soccer, bocceball, floor hockey and volleyball,
• Yoga’s focus on balance, strength and flexibility will serve students well who participate in some of the previously named sports/activities.
• The on-video yoga instructor used a Harry Potter book to tell a story that implemented yoga moves.
• Because a large screen video was used to direct the activities, Mr. Malady was free to move through the gym and coach students.

Dale