“How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal, and you have to be willing to work for it.” - Jim Valvano

Friday, November 25, 2011

New York State AHPERD Conference

       This past weekend I made a trip to Verona, NY to attend the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance Conference held at the Turning Stone Casino.  I had a great time and learned a lot of cool things.  One session that I went to taught us about the game of rugby, and how it could be incorporated into Physical Education.  A big reason why I wanted to go to this session was because rugby is such a growing sport in this country, and I have seen it on television yet I did not know the rules or any game play whatsoever.  I wanted to be able to learn how the game was so I could watch a game more enjoyably knowing the different rules and tactics that the teams performed and why they performed them.  This was the first thing that Professor Jeff Walkulski and two other SUNY Cortland students taught us because they knew that a lot of other people were in the same boat as I was.  After going over the basic rules, they told us how we could incorporate into the classroom using a "touch" style of play, rather than tackling.  They showed us multiple activities that went over basic skills such as passing and team movement.  I liked doing the activities because I enjoy being more active with students.  I would rather be doing an activity and having the kids learning, rather than sitting at a desk all day.  Thus, This is a big reason why I chose PE.  Most of the drills they had were not too difficult to teach either, therefore would be easy to teach to students because they would be just like us and being just introduced to the game.  Overall I enjoyed this session, I walked out knowing a lot more about the game and I hope to see it transform into PE programs across the country

         Another session that I really enjoyed was a Lacrosse teaching session that was taught by two Syracuse University lacrosse players.  When I was reading through the classes that were being taught at the same time as this, I came across that it was lacrosse which is a sport I love and would love to coach, and that it was being taught by Syracuse University Lacrosse players which I thought was awesome.  The two players that taught the session were Gairet Myers and JoJo Marasco.  I knew of JoJo because I am a huge Syracuse lacrosse fan so I chatted with him throughout the session because when we were doing the drills he noticed that I had played before so we reminisced about high school and college lacrosse.  The majority of the session dealt with basic skills such as passing, catching, obtaining ground balls, and shooting.  They taught the people at the session the correct ways in which to do them, and then showed us multiple activities in which they could incorporate each skill.  Overall I had a blast at this session even though I already knew how to do the basic skills the correct way because I played lacrosse, however, some of the drills and activities we did I had not seen before so I still learned a great deal.  
       Overall I think the Conference was awesome, and whatever PE students/teachers that decided not to go missed out.  There is so much information that can be learned at these conferences that can only make your lessons and activities better and you overall as a better PE advocate!

No comments:

Post a Comment