The required class of Physical Education may sound like a miserable semester at GRC, but students don’t always understand how physical education can affect our lives in such positive ways, despite how we feel about it.

PE teacher and soccer coach, Nicholas Vogler is an expert on this topic, teaching multiple PE classes and soccer teams.

“I think it’s very important, on a daily basis, for kids of every ability level to get some form of physical activity,” says Vogler. ”It’s not just important to keep kids healthy but to give them some social interaction. Giving the students an option to go expend their energy is also mentally helpful for the students. If it were up to me, high school would still have recess.” 

Being a high school student, I understand how a loss or gain in social interaction can affect your overall mood and attitude during and out of school. PE classes and even recess, during middle school, led to meeting new friends and discovering fun activities that we grow to love.   

“There are kids that come to the gym all the time and just ask if they could shoot around or do something for a little while,” says Vogler. “Besides from wanting to get out of any kind of environment they are in, they also want to do it because it’s something a large part of the population wants to do and enjoy: going out to play basketball for 30 minutes, taking a walk on the track, or even learning a new backyard activity like cornhole or badminton.”

Physical activity can help us push through certain hard and uncomfortable environments that we are in anywhere in our life. I love working out or taking a nice jog outside to release any stress that I feel throughout the day.

“What we try to do at GRC is introduce the students to as many activities as our school can offer,” says Volger. “This allows students to experience things they may never get to experience in their life. For example, the game pickleball is exploding in popularity around the country. It’s not too complicated or physically taxing, and it’s a quick and fun way to exercise. Cornhole and disc golf are other extracurriculars that many people play, and are very popular around the United States. To be able to introduce minor physical activities to students is incredibly important because they could do these activities for the rest of their lives.”

Vogler continues to talk about how all students are affected differently when it comes to their interest in PE.

“Some students are really going to gravitate towards actually exercising as part of physical activity, ” he says. “Running on the treadmill, working out every day, hitting the gym for weightlifting, and so on. For some students, they enjoy the competitive aspect of sports. These students enjoy the competitive nature of beating other people at an activity, some love the aspect of competing against others more than the sport.”

There are an endless amount of activities that supply healthy ways to workout and be active. There will always be some activity that will interest anyone and allow them to get the physical workout they need and have a fun time doing it. 

This is the importance of physical education and activity in and out of GRC. GRC wants students to find interest in working out or playing a sport, meeting new people, growing bonds with teachers, creating competitiveness, and even working to become more healthy, all to increase students’ love of recreational activities that could be a part of us our whole lives.