By Sydney Mann ’14, Staff Writer 

Under the guise of a new department, the Physical Health program at the Academy is in the midst of a great transformation. This year, Physical Health became a requirement for every Junior. The class was implemented as a stress management course for Juniors to alleviate the anxiety associated with Junior year, whether it is Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Level classes, the SAT or ACT, or simply the onset of the college application process. The agenda of Physical Health includes stress-relief activities such as yoga and Pilates as well as traditional gym games like war ball, dodgeball, and badminton.

However, Physical Health is required for all students, including athletes who already exercise several hours per week. While the purpose of the program—stress relief through physical exertion—is worthy, the new Physical Health requirement can for already-fit student athletes have the counterintuitive effect of creating more stress than it erases as it takes valuable time from students’ schedules.

Department Head Ms. Spooner said the Department wants the program to “build each year toward the goal of a healthy lifestyle.” There is no question that physical exercise is a requisite part of physical health. As Ms. Spooner observed, “mind and body work together.” There is no sense in a physical health education that focuses exclusively on the academic component and ignores the physical element. Students must have the opportunity to put what they learn in the classroom to use on the playing fields or in the gymnasium.

It is entirely reasonable for the Academy to ensure that its students engage in some form of physical exercise. “The goal,” said Physical Health Department member Ms. Santos, “is to take students away from their desks and get them to relax and get physical activity…[and] to get oxygen to the brain…” Playing sports elevates the heart rate and gets blood flowing. Regardless of whether it takes place on a yoga mat or on a lacrosse field, on a badminton court or in the swimming pool, the release of endorphins through physical exercise relieves stress.

Junior athletes have protested the new gym requirement, claiming that the class’s affects are adverse to its purpose. In other words, the class creates stress rather than assuages stress.  Many athletes find it unfair to complete gym when they already play sports, sports that in the past would result in an exemption from gym. Junior athletes’ main concern is that they need adequate time in their schedules during the school day to complete assignments because a large section of their time after school is consumed by athletic endeavors.

Tyler Park ’14, a spring season athlete, contends that, “Junior Year is a pivotal year for NA students, as many undertake difficult course schedules…Thus, it is completely unnecessary to take valuable time for physical health, that could be used in a much more productive way.” Tyler also claims that by the time a student is seventeen, he or she should know how to take care of his or her own body, seeing as Physical Health also strives to teach students the fundamentals of working out.  A two-season athlete maintains a similar belief.  Speaking anonymously, she notes, “Students would rather have an extra hour to work on their homework rather than play war ball or practice yoga.  As an athlete, I do not need to learn how to use the equipment in the weight room, and honestly, if Juniors didn’t use the weight room before physical health chances are they won’t continue to use the weight room when the course ends.”

Beyond ensuring that students engage in adequate amounts of stress-relieving physical exercise, the Academy should grant students the freedom to choose how to structure their schedules. As the current system stands, the Physical Health requirement for student athletes has the unintentional result of creating more stress than it reduces. While the revitalization of Physical Health is still ongoing and the end result could potentially turn out for the better, Newark Academy Junior athletes are in the short term caught in an inconvenient situation.