Description: This section has been developed to assist and update you on a variety of useful and practical physical education web resources currently found on the web. In this issue we have three items to share with you!
(1) Dallas ISD (Dallas, Texas) Back-To-School Speech: This inspirational back-to-school keynote speech was shared with us by
De Raynes of NASPE.  Enjoy it!
(2) She's a PE Teacher! An elementary school physical education teacher, Stephanie Canada, was named the Oklahoma Teacher of the Year. Stephanie, who teaches at Will Rogers Elementary School, will receive more than $50,000 in cash and prizes, including the use of a Toyota Prius for one year. Wow!

Conference Theme/Description: "Sailing into the Future" will be the theme of this year's conference which will have over 1,300 participants. The Caribe Royale Resort is just 5 minutes from Disney and 15 minutes from the other theme parks.
Contact:  Dr. Karen Dowd, Executive Director, at (954) 752-1600 or fahperd@comcast.net.
Website: To be connected to the FAHPERDS website (www.fahperd.org) please click here.

Conference Theme/Description: Featuring Dr. Torabi Chair of the Department of Applied Health Science at Indiana University and co-director of the Rural Center for Study and Promotion of HIV/STD Prevention. The topic of the presentation is "Prevention is our Mission, Quality of Life is our Passion." This presentation primarily focuses on the roles and trends of the major risk factors related to the leading cause of death. Special attention is given to tobacco as the gateway drug. This presentation is concluded with recommendations to universities/colleges, schools, communities, and finally and most importantly, to individuals. The one-hour presentation with PowerPoint will be followed by 30 minutes of questions and discussion. Please click here to Download Registration.

    Today I saw truth. For a moment I lived and breathed in the great presence of truth and felt its sweetness plunge deep into my soul. I am a coach in a junior high school. I work with five hundred boys each day. This has been my occupation for over twenty years. I enjoy it. Traditionally, I am supposed to be rugged, tough, crusty--yes, even a little severe at times. And yet underneath this exterior, feeling and understanding must exist if the job is to be done.
    Today was test day in climbing the rope. We climb from a standing start to a point fifteen feet high. One of my tasks these past few weeks has been to train and teach the boys to negotiate this distance in as few seconds as possible. The school record for the event is 2.1 seconds. It has stood for three years. Today this record was broken. But this is not my story. How this record was broken is the important thing here, as it is so often in many an endeavor in life.
    For three years Bobby Palacio, a fourteen-and-a-half-year-old ninth-grade Mexican boy, has trained and pointed and, I suspect, dreamed of breaking this record. It had been his consuming passion. It seemed his whole life depended upon owning this record. In his first of three attempts, Bobby climbed the rope in 2.1 seconds, tying the record. On the second try, the watch stopped at 2.0 seconds flat, a record. But as he descended the rope and the entire class gathered around to check the watch I knew I must ask Bobby a question. There was a slight doubt in my mind whether or not the board at the fifteen-foot height had been touched. If he missed, it was so very, very close, not more than a fraction of an inch, and only Bobby knew the answer.
    As he walked toward me, expressionless, I said, "Bobby, did you touch?" If he had said yes, the record he had dreamed of since he was a skinny seventh grader and had worked for almost daily would be his, and he knew I would trust his word. With the class already cheering him for his performance, the slim, brown skinned boy shook his head negatively. And in this simple gesture, I witnessed a moment of greatness.
    Coaches do not cry. Only babies cry, they say. But as I reached out to pat this boy on the shoulder, there was a small drop of water in each eye. And it was with effort through a tight throat that I told the class: "This boy has not set a record in the rope climb. No, he has set a much finer record for you and everyone to strive for. He has told the simple truth."
    I turned to Bobby and said, "Bobby, I'm proud of you. You have just set a record many athletes never attain. Now, on your last try, I want you to jump a few inches higher on the takeoff. You're going to break the record."
    After the other boys had finished their next turns and Bobby came up to the rope for his try, a strange stillness came over the gymnasium. Fifty boys and one coach were breathlessly set to help boost Bobby Palacio to a new record. He climbed the rope in 1.9 seconds--a school record, a city record, and perhaps close to a national record for a junior high school boy.
    When the bell rang and I walked away, now misty-eyed, from this group of boys, I was thinking, "Bobby, with your clear, bright, dark eyes, black hair, and your straight, trim, body--Bobby, at fourteen, you are a better man than I. Thank you for climbing so very, very high today."

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Source: This inspirational story is an example of the many other stories, teacher tips, games, and activities contained in the PEP Club Archives, the largest single collection of games, activities, and physical education teaching tips in the universe!  Access to the PEP Club is $59.95 a year.  Please call (800) 927-0682 for discounted rates for multi-school subscriptions.
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