Guest post by Grace Kavgian, my delightful, 11-year-old granddaughter
With joy, I invite you to read as my grand-darling Grace shares her recent candid essay. Grace’s assignment “I Survived” came from her 5th grade teacher, and her neighborhood P.E. class led by IU softball Coach Shonda Stanton supplied the ideal content.
And just so you know, this widely successful P.E. class rounded the bases into headline news!
Now for Grace’s story.
How I Survived Coach Stanton’s Gym Class
By Grace Kavgian
Because of the Coronavirus, we were stuck in our neighborhood. We couldn’t go to school. My mom made arrangements for the IU Softball Coach, our neighbor, to give us P.E. every day. I was excited, but I didn’t know how hard it’d be.
Since it had been cold recently, and now the temperature had gone up to the 60’s, it felt incredibly hot. I couldn’t believe I was wearing a sweatshirt!
“Grace! Vera!” My mom called. Right. I have P.E. today. “Get your water bottles and head over!”
IU Softball Coach Shonda Stanton would be running our gym class, and there was no way I was prepared. I followed my mom’s instructions, and since my younger sister Vera was still putting her shoes on, I made her a water bottle too.
I breathed in and out, just trying to make myself a little cooler. Since Coach Stanton was our neighbor, we only had to walk a little ways over. When we got there, I immediately stripped off my sweatshirt, and ditched it next to my water bottle. Josiah, her son, was in 3rd grade, and he was going to participate as well.
As soon as I had gotten a few breaths in she yelled “Alright, gimme ten jumping jacks, normal style!”
Oh no.
I counted my jumping jacks, one, two, three, four… And later, ten. We worked very hard with more exercises, and I finally got to drink some water. I was panting, and I chugged half my water.
“Okay! Good warm-ups!” She called.
That was just warm-ups!?!?!?!?!?!?
She pulled out some small hurdles and a rope ladder. First, we had to jump forwards over the hurdles, and then backwards over them, ten whole times. I started for my water, but she was telling us to jump back and forth over them with JUST our right foot. No break for me!
As I walked up, Vera and Josiah were halfway through. I managed ten, but they were done first. Next, we repeated the exercise, but on our left feet. Being ambidextrous, I was the first one done. Barely.
Then, all of the jump-over-the-hurdles-ten-times exercises were repeated, but sideways. Dang! I was sooooo tired. And then, there was the rope ladder. We weren’t actually going to climb that, were we? There was nowhere to put it, anyway.
“OK!” Coach Stanton called. “Everybody to the ladder!”
We had to jump in each one, skipping none, on one foot. Man, that was hard. I tend to jump really far due to my long legs, so I skipped a ton. I went back and started over. That time, I made it into every square.
Later, Tatum Rose came along. She had been taking a walk, and decided she wanted to be in o the whole gym business. She did a few exercises with us, and then went home.
Finally, the end of P.E. came. I was tired. Not just tired, pooped! Completely pooped! I sat on the concrete, ready to leave. Then, the worst thing in the world happened. Vera asked Coach Stanton if we could do a jogging exercise. We had to jog one lap around our neighborhood trail. We all took off, and I was last. The slowest. But, ¾ of the way, I pulled ahead of Vera! I knew I would have enough power to pull ahead of Josiah, too. But no. I didn’t. I took second place, and drank half of the remainder of my water.
Finally, it was time to leave, and so we left. When we got home, I poured the remainder of my water on my head. I ran inside, put on a face mask, and lay in my bed until dinner.
The Rest of The Story
Coach Shonda Stanton’s P.E. class brought a game changer to her neighborhood and attracted the attention of reporters. IndyStar, The Indiana Daily Student, and Big Ten Network documented the newsworthy COVID-19 event. (Click the links to read further.)
Photos by Coleman Kavgian
