As the school year comes to an end, the freshmen who were able to cheat their way out of physical education class, or better known as P.E., for the last eight months, confronted with the inevitable test: the physical fitness test, bright and early in the morning at 7:00 sharp, Monday, April 30, 2012. All freshmen in most of the fall sports reported to the gym at the start of zero period and ended up tired and sweaty about 15 minutes before 1st period started.
How did it all work out? How did almost 100 co-ed freshmen finish all seven of the tests and in less than two hours?
Well it was an efficient and orderly method with the P.E. teachers leading the young athletes through every test. As I was there, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, to personally take the physical fitness test, I had a first-hand account of the not-so-pleasant-but-thank-God-it’s-over experience.
As I walked into the gym with my friends, admittedly 10 minutes late, there were already most of the other students there. Many grouped in their cliché sports groups – soccer girls with soccer girls, boys basketball with boys basketball, and so on, at least nobody was left out.
The first order of business was recording our weight and height, which would determine how fast we had to run our mile later on that morning. Self-conscious students all around struggled to cover up their weight from their friends, as they waited in line for the next test – trunk lift. Most passed through breezily, though many visibly struggled and made light of it afterwards, without a problem.
Then the shoulder stretch – the one where you tried to clasp both hands behind your back, one coming from top-to-bottom, the other from bottom-to-top –easy for some, but once again a struggle for others, as they couldn’t tough their hands on either one side or the other, or both. If you didn’t pass that, you had to head to the dreaded sit-and-reach. Luckily, I passed both, and was able to steer clear of that.
Then came the harder and more challenging tests – sit ups and curl ups. Teachers ushered girls into the wrestling room and administered the curl-ups test (I’m not surprised if I failed my curl-ups, the entire time in, all I could think about was contracting staph infections and ringworm from my body touching the mat), and the boys continued on in the gym doing the push-up portion of the test. Again, I passed both, though I struggled through curl-ups more so than expected, and I nearly collapsed on my eighth push-up (seven to pass for girls).
After that, the dreaded mile came. The students paired up, one would record the times and the other would actually run the mile, and vice versa. Many students were nervous and lots of anxious, “This is my first time running the mile since eighth grade!” type statements were exchanged. Once again I surprised myself by passing the mile with my fastest time yet, and finally at last, the physical fitness test was over.
For those who passed the test (passed six out of seven tests) and would continue to do a sport and its off-season for their sophomore year, that would be the last time they would interact with the P.E. teachers, and for some that was enough interaction for their entire high school career.
It was the greatest feeling to have done so much exercise before school even started for the day, but changing back to street clothes as well as fixing your hair, tied in a ponytail and pulled back with a head band, after being all sweaty was a most unpleasant feeling. I also wouldn’t give up that sleep for anything in the world. It was a great experience and my body started that wonderful aching in 2nd period, but for one day to pass my physical fitness test for the last time in my life, it was wonderful.
