AAPHERD Mini-Conference Suny Cortland

The AAPHERD mini conference was a great experience. Just walking in to the gym at 8:00 in the morning and seeing how big the turnout was, was inspiring. To see all the physical educators who are already out in the field working, gathered around for the conference was moving. Everyone seemed friendly and welcoming. It was awesome to see all my fellow students participating and coming together to help make it happen. Judith Rink was the keynote speaker. She is a seasoned veteran of physcial education that is well accomplished. It was a treat to hear her massage and learn some valuable information. One of the things she spoke of was the idea of bringing the school to the community. This principle would obviously help promote lifelong physical activity by helping them getting use to being resourceful and allowing them to be plugged in for when they get out of school. One practical way to achieve this goal would be to make it a requirement to take part in community run physical activities. Another way could be to bring people from the community who are physical activity and health promoters and activists into the school to teach, lecture, help out, and for the kids to get to know. Another issue that Judith presented on was to do no harm to overweight kids. It shined a different light on the matter because I am so use to the mind set of fighting obesity tooth and nail. We have to be very careful to not damage kids self esteem even though are motives may be good. Some kids are more predispositioned to be overweight. The most important thing is to motivate kids to be physically active and make them feel comfortable to participate. Another concept she lectured on was the family unit. I am also a member of the PE majors club and I was honored with the opportunity to preside at a workshop. It was called “Character education in health education”, and it was run by Greg Scutt, who at one point signed a contract with the Green Bay Packers. He delivered an encouraging talk that addressed the idea of showing that you care as the foundation for teaching. The first step for getting kids to listen is to convey that you have their best interest at heart and that you genuinely care about them. He also lectured on the significance of topics like being prepared, altruism, interviewing, honesty, consequences, and listening. It was a privilege to meet him and preside for him. He seemed like a good hearted warm individual. I was a little afraid of going in front of the group and presiding at first but as I started to talk and introduce him it just flowed. I feel like I grew from the experience and was able to learn some great information that I will be able to apply one day. I left with a feeling of confidence, professionalism, and participating in something much bigger than I am.