Students go for 'Fitness Gold' with in-line skate instruction

By Cyndi Kight
Correspondent

VIRGINIA BEACH

Forget running around the track and doing jumping jacks. That's so "yesterday" to physical education classes at Three Oaks Elementary.

Since October, students have been strapping on pads, helmets and in-line skates during lessons with teacher Tom Warren.

Going for the "Fitness Gold," they're learning the stride, crossover and swizzles of the activity in honor of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

"Every year, I come up with a theme. It helps with organization. We had a Field Day that had an Olympic theme last year, and that was kind of our kickoff, " Warren said.

There's lots of flexibility in what activities are taught at the grade-school level since the emphasis is on developing abilities, he added.

"We don't teach sports in elementary education; we teach skills," Warren said while doing safety checks on each student's equipment.

Skating is an alternative form of fitness, he added, outside of just the basics.

"It becomes a fun activity," he said. "It's a good program. They get sweaty. They get a workout."

Many of the skate/pad sets were purchased by the city, but students are allowed to bring in their own equipment. After warming up, more proficient skaters zipped around the outside of the delineated skating area in the gym. Slower skaters stuck closer to the inside.

Carrington Palmer was happy when he learned his physical education class would include skating. The fourth-grader has been in-line skating for more than a year. He also plays football and enjoys skateboarding.

"I know how to skate backwards!" Carrington proclaimed, demonstrating his expertise.

Warren encouraged all the students to work on their backward skating and told them to practice coming to a stop within a few seconds.

"That's something out of their comfort zone," he said.

Strapping on inline skates at school was a first for Frederick Poteet, 9.

"The crossover is the hardest," he said.

Classmate Kaley Prieto grinned self-consciously as she tried the backward skating.

"I think skateboarding's a little bit easier," she said.

Third-grade teacher Maggie Lohse is impressed that her daughter, Alex, was in-line skating during physical education.

"She has never Rollerbladed before, and she is feeling really good about it," Lohse said.

Alex has even requested in-line skates as a Christmas present.

Students aren't the only ones interested in taking on the challenge. Teacher assistant Patty Roberts asked Warren to teach her how to skate, too.

"He's going to start me out on the mat, though," she admitted wryly.

Lohse gave Warren kudos for giving the students an opportunity to try something different.

"There's a little bit of work to get prepared for it, but it's worth it," she said.