Elrod students on the move with NFL Play 60
Elrod principal Jeff Hornby runs along side students as they participate in the NFL Play 60 program on Monday morning in Kalispell.
Elrod kindergarden teacher Brent Benkelman holds hands with his students Mackenzie Walhus and Abiail Swenson as they complete their last of four laps around the school on Monday in Kalispell.
Chance Shugg, number 52, and his brother Kameron, both second graders at Elrod Elementary race around the school on Monday morning as they and their fellow students participate in the NFL Play 60 program which encourages kids to get at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day. The students began their day with an assembly in the gym followed by at least four laps around the school to complete one mile.
The excitement was palpable Monday morning as runners took their marks outside Elrod School.
It was a clear, sunny morning, not too hot and perfect for racing.
Clad mostly in tennis shoes and too-big football jerseys or team T-shirts, the entire student body lined up on the sidewalk and waited for the signal to start.
They were gearing up for a one-mile walk/jog/run kicking off Elrod School’s participation in the NFL Play 60 campaign this year. The National Football League sponsors the program that encourages kids to be active for at least 60 minutes every day.
The school took part in the program last year, Principal Jeff Hornby said, but plans to ramp up its involvement this year with more events like Monday’s fun run.
This year the school also is vying for a $10,000 grant from the NFL, first-year physical education teacher Hannah Hilley said.
The grant can be used for anything health- and wellness-related, she said. If Elrod wins the grant, the school might use it to buy P.E. equipment, start a summer activity program and help with fees for programs around the Flathead Valley.
“We want to provide them with opportunities they might not normally get,” Hilley said.
This week the school submitted its grant application, complete with photos from Monday’s run. Showing the school’s commitment to health and wellness and demonstrating NFL pride is a requirement, Hilley said.
But because Montana lacks an NFL team, students were encouraged to support Montana players who have made it to the NFL or to support their favorite team.
The result was a sea of colorful shirts and jerseys showing support for the Bobcats, Grizzlies, Braves, Wolfpack, Elrod School and other teams.
The excitement mounted as the countdown to the race began.
“Ready ... set ... go!” As the kindergartners, first off the mark, tore around the corner, their older peers cheered — as much in anticipation of getting to run themselves as in support of Elrod’s youngest students.
One by one, each class was released, and over the next several minutes, students chalked up laps around the block. Four laps equaled one mile — and for some, it was farther than it looked.
One girl discovered the full-sized football helmet she was toting was too heavy to haul around the school four times; she handed it off to a teacher partway through the run. Another little girl made it three laps before veering off course — “I can’t take it!” — until a teacher took her by the hand and walked the final lap with her.
But for others, the run was a delight.
Some ran the whole way. One small boy alternated walking and running — only a few yards at a time, but with impressive bursts of speed. A girl with one foot in a walking cast was unable to run but walked all four laps.
At the end of his fourth lap, one boy pumped both fists triumphantly in the air and shouted, “Woo!”
Some were so excited they ran extra laps. Others looked a little discouraged when teachers told them to walk part of a lap to cool down.
“You can tell pretty quickly not everybody is as active as we would like them to be,” Hornby said.
That’s true just about everywhere, Hilley said. More youths are sedentary at home, and in many schools, when the budget gets tight, P.E. is one of the first programs to be cut, she said.
At Elrod, she sees each class twice a week for 40 minutes of P.E. — a far cry from Hilley’s own experience. She said when she was growing up in Bigfork, she had P.E. every day.
Forty minutes doesn’t seem like enough, she said, but even those two periods are helpful.
“When we have assemblies and kids miss P.E., the teachers miss it,” Hilley said.
The NFL Play 60 campaign will help Elrod encourage kids to get moving every day. She’s hopeful that the school will be able to put on other events throughout the year and has plans to start a mileage club, which would encourage kids to walk and run during lunch.
Hilley said she also is sending home monthly activity calendars with a different suggested physical activity for every day.
Based on the enthusiasm for Monday’s run, Hornby said he hopes the school might be able to do something weekly.
“It’s obvious how much the teachers like this,” he said. “We will think of things throughout the school year. We would like to think of snow things.”
For more information about NFL Play 60, visit www.nflrush.com/play60.
Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.