AGAWAM — COVID-19 not only disrupted the traditional learning schedule at Agawam Junior High School (AJHS). It also had a huge impact on the school’s physical education program — for the better.

The pandemic challenged the school’s physical education (PE) staff re-evaluate teaching and learning by developing plans to keep students safe in a physically active environment.

“It forced us to think outside the box,” said PE teacher Sam Lemanski, who has taught gym class at the school for eight years.

Lemanski and the other two PE teachers at the school, Michael Peterson and Nikki Desautels, began teaching students a variety of different no-contact physical activities, such as golf, disc golf and badminton, and expanded their unit on pickleball.

They also developed a partnership with the Agawam Municipal Golf Course. PE students usually walk the short distance from the school to the course to use its facilities to play and practice with donated clubs and equipment.

“COVID[-19] really gave us the opportunity to incorporate a lot of new things into our teaching that we have always talked about doing and now had the chance to,” added Peterson.

It also led to led to a schedule change for how often seventh graders took PE.

“In the past, the schedule didn’t allow for these students to have physical education all year,” said Lemanski. In September, when the school adopted a new schedule, it gave the PE staff the opportunity to offer gym class all year for both grades at the school.

“As PE teachers we have always advocated for more time throughout the year with our seventh graders. Luckily, with some manipulation to the schedule, we now have that,” said Peterson.

While many traditional PE programs focus on popular and competitive sports — which have a number of benefits for students — Lemanski said many students already participate in these sports outside of school, which leads to an imbalance in the skill level of participants in class.

“Those who don’t play these sports can feel left behind,” he said. “At AJHS, we wanted to introduce some non-traditional activities that can benefit our students for a lifetime.”

Eighth grader Anthony Norman, who participates in wrestling and plays football, said he enjoys the non-traditional activities.

“The new sports get me out of my comfort zone,” he said. “I really enjoy disc golf — it’s the most fun I’ve had in gym in a while.”

Lemanski added that all three PE teachers believe it’s “crucial” to introduce a variety of activities to students as a way to help them find something that they are passionate about.

“Because physical activity is crucial to our overall health and wellness throughout our lifetime, we want our students to be exposed to activities that they can carry with them outside of school and into the future,” said Desautels.

The PE staff developed a curriculum and introduced new activities for students in keeping up with some national trends. Pickleball, for example, is the fastest-growing sport in the country, so they added more time on that game.

“During the past several years, many students have actually started playing pickleball even prior to being introduced to it in PE,” said Lemanski.

Abigail Kovalsky, a seventh grader, said she’s a fan of pickleball: “It’s easy to understand and gives me a lot of exercise and a chance to run around a bit more at school.”

Disc golf is the second-fastest-growing sport, so it was added as a unit for the first time last year.

“We’ve created a nine-hole course around the junior high school using actual golf discs and cages. Last spring was the first time we incorporated golf into the PE curriculum — and with the partnership with the town’s golf course, the unit has been a huge success,” said Lemanski.

“We have a lot more freedom and responsibility now,” said eighth grader Caden Tulgeen. “I didn’t know anything about disc golf, so it’s been a challenge for me — but it’s fun.”

Peterson, a PE teacher at the school for 13 years, added that for the most part the PE staff feels students are excited about the curriculum and are willing to try new activities throughout the year.

“Many of the new units that we teach students have the ability to be more social, develop relationships, and allow kids to have fun.”

Physical education is meant to be physically active in a social environment, said Desautels, who taught health at AJHS for six years before she began teaching PE at the school two years ago.

“Just like in any other classroom, we want to promote 21st century skills, which include critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication,” she said. “Along with these, we want students to be flexible and adapt to change, develop leadership skills, take responsibility and initiative, and be socially responsible and respectful towards each other.”

Seventh grader Aubri Gilmore said “it’s great” that the school has added more programs for PE classes.

“This is really good for us, because we need more exercise,” Gilmore said. “And, if we start trying new things now when were young, we’ll get better at it later. So, it’s good for us to have the opportunity to play different sports.”

Peterson said each unit runs for six to eight class days, with the exception of volleyball, which runs about 20 classes. Outdoor units also can change and be modified based upon the weather.

“For each unit we have pre-assessments to determine how much students know and if they have any prior knowledge. Throughout the units, we’re assessing student growth through skill development, game play and strategies while also incorporating peer assessments,” Peterson said.

At the end of the unit, there is usually a post-assessment or reflection piece that enables the PE staff to not only measure student growth throughout the unit, but also to review their teaching and to make adjustments for the future.

Soccer, football, badminton, field hockey and ultimate frisbee were offered in the fall. The units offered during the first part of winter included basketball, swimming (strokes, rescue and games), and floor hockey; dance and volleyball were offered in the second half of winter.

This spring, students are playing pickleball, disc golf, golf, softball, lacrosse and yard games. Eighth graders attend PE classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while seventh graders attend on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The three PE teachers, who each teach three units during each term, are currently working to develop separate “year 1” and “year 2” schedules, since they now have seventh-graders for the full year.

“Ideally, the activities that students had in the fall this year will not be the same activities they will have next year,” said Lemanski. “Our goal is to introduce as many activities as possible that will help promote a healthy and active lifestyle.”