Imagine hundreds of foam balls spread around a gym floor, with elementary-school kids running around throwing them at each other, shrieking with joy. Two kids run with long sticks, sort of like lightsabers, freeing kids from being frozen if they’d been hit by a ball.
If you went to Mary Lin Elementary, chances are you were taught physical education by Stephanie Bennett-Walker, and if you were taught by Bennett-Walker, you played the famous game, “Star Wars.” For many Mary Lin students, that is their favorite activity in P.E.
“P.E. is my second favorite class after art,” said Lily Whitehead, a first-grader at Mary Lin. “I like the running and skipping and jumping and playing Star Wars.”
Whitehead expressed enthusiasm for P.E. that probably seems strange to high school students who long ago lost their enthusiasm for P.E. class. What high schoolers do not lose, however, are the memories of their elementary P.E. teachers. Something that might surprise students is that their former P.E. teachers remember them as well.
Morningside Elementary School’s current P.E. teacher, Cheryl Carter, remembers many students, including juniors Peter Mastin and Emma Kasper and senior Sam Burney.
“They were great leaders, people the other kids looked up to,” Carter said. “They’re the type of kids you’d want on your team.”
Carter said that when students show athletic ability, she likes to introduce them to playing various sports outside of school. Carter said one of the best athletes she ever taught was Micah Abernathy. Abernathy is a sophomore at Greater Atlanta Christian School and a member of the track and football teams. He has been nationally ranked for seven years on his summer track team.
Bennett-Walker remembered Grady senior and cross-country runner Isabelle Taft. Taft has been a varsity runner all four years of high school. Her four varsity letters came as something of a surprise to her grade-school teacher.
“I never knew she was that athletic,” said Bennett-Walker, who still teachers P.E. at Mary Lin. “Isabelle Taft was always asking ‘Can I go get a book?’”
But Bennett-Walker did see Taft’s drive and determination, qualities that make it easy for her to believe Taft has become a great athlete.
Bennett-Walker said she tries to engage people like Taft and girls especially in P.E. because they might not experience or enjoy sports very much otherwise.
“I try to encourage girls to do sports because scholarships can be really helpful to them when they’re going to college,” Bennett-Walker said.
Students said that Bronwen Karatassos, a former P.E. teacher at Centennial Place Elementary School, also took care to encourage girls.
“Coach K. really helped me like sports,” senior Niquisha Ruff said. “We always did activities that helped me build my strength in running.”
Ruff is now a member of the Grady track team. She credits Karatassos for helping her get there.
Some students do not remember their P.E. teachers for rigorous athletic training, but rather, for the good times and kid-friendly games they taught them.
“I loved the game ‘Star Wars’ that Ms. Bennett-Walker used to let us play,” said sophomore Ike Hammond, a Mary Lin graduate. “She also made us make up a dance every year, and one time we rolled around with lightsabers to the Star Wars theme song for ours.”
Bennett-Walker laughed when reminded of those dance routines.
“Yeah, we don’t do too many of those anymore,” she said. “But I still let them play ‘Octopus’ and ‘Star Wars.’”
Memories of Karatassos, Carter and Bennett-Walker really stick with Grady students, and years from now, these women will still be shaping kids’ lives. Whitehead is not the only child who 10 years from now will still be able to say her favorite game in P.E. was Star Wars.
