Be part of a fit and thriving community.
Everyone wants to feel well. Health and wellness are basic aspects of the lifelong enrichment that physical education affords individuals and their communities. As a scholar-athlete, you’ve likely benefited from experienced coaches who know how to help their athletes obtain their best performances. Our coach/mentors embrace differences and draw diverse communities together through sport and physical activity. If you want to gain a deeper understanding of the psychological and sociological concepts underlying athletic performance, and improve your personal performance in the process, you’ll thrive in the inclusive and welcoming environment of our physical education program. Learn about the components for running an athletic department. Get certified for coaching and lifeguarding. Explore athletic theory and research. Your experiences here will help you excel in many careers and responsibly contribute to the well-being of your community.
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First-Year Tutorial
Journeys: Life is a Road Trip
Professor Will Freeman believes the road is a powerful classroom. Why are we enthralled by the romance of the road? What is the difference between traveler and tourist? What do we learn and how do we grow from the road trip? Offered fall 2021, this tutorial looks at “the road” as escape, as teacher, and as healer.
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First-Year Tutorial
The Black Athlete: Changing 20th- and 21st-Century Society?
In fall 2020, Professor Andy Hamilton '85 taught a First-Year Tutorial topic that he's taught a couple of times before on Black athletes. With racial justice protests in 2020, the course had added resonance and "allowed our students to make social and historical connections about society of the past century and the events of 2020."
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Featured Course
Comprehensive Coaching
If you’ve participated in sports at any level, you’ve likely encountered a coach who inspired you to be a better athlete, a better team player, or a better student. “How,” you may have wondered, “did they know the right things to do?”
Students wanting to coach individual and team youth sports will find a comprehensive approach in PHE 202 Coaching Methods. It combines sports and science with elements of the social sciences to provide a solid foundation for the coaching and administration of youth programs from prekindergarten through high school.
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Alumni Story
Leading with Purpose
When Maddy Pesch ’16 stepped out of the Russell K. Osgood Pool for the final time, the 16-time medalist and swim team captain had earned seven Midwest Conference titles, several school and conference relay records, the 2016 Honor G Scholastic Award, and a nomination for NCAA Woman of the Year. She was already an all-American triathlete.
Even with all that, she didn’t envision a career in professional sports.