Kaitlyn Flanagan

THE MIRROR

Physical education is a requirement among many high schools and is crucial to living a healthy lifestyle. Scott Anderson has spent a lot of time in sports as a coach, as a gym teacher, and as a father who has children in sports. Exercising is essential and Anderson gives us a look into his life and how that has changed his life for the better.

How long have you been a gym teacher? 

So I’ve been teaching physical education for 24 years now.

What gym classes do you teach?

Right now I teach one Competitive Team Sports class, I teach three Lifetime Recreational sport fitness classes, and I teach one Sculpt and Tone class. 

What is your favorite part about teaching?

I enjoy working with kids and in the physical activity area, that is what originally made me pick being a phy ed teacher and it’s something I still enjoy now. I like to be active. I like a lot of different physical activities and sports and I really enjoy working with kids and I can combine those things.

What is the most frustrating thing about teaching?

Luckily it’s not too much but every once in a while you get some kids who really don’t want to work too hard in class and they aren’t into it. That can be frustrating, trying to find the right way to motivate that student to get going. 

Knowing that you coached, how would you describe your teaching style?

I think that I tried to as a coach and as a teacher, I guess, help kids or help players find their greatest potential. I tried to do that by being very demanding but also being caring by trying to develop a relationship with that kid. I just try to find the right buttons to push to try to get that person to be the best possible person of themselves. 

What have you coached? 

I’ve coached a lot of basketball of course, that’s probably my favorite. I was an assistant football coach for a couple of years way back when. I was also a junior varsity (jv)  baseball coach for a few years and I spent about three or four years as an assistant golf coach as well. 

How did coaching change your life?

You know as a coach, you get to compete, you get to be a part of a team. Those are things that I really, really enjoy, being a part of a team and leading a team, love competing. The greatest part of it is all those relationships through the years that you’ve built with the players and their families. I still see people that I coached 20 years ago and still have that special bond with them and that was the biggest part probably to my life.

Do you still coach? If not, how come?

I do not.  I guess I quit a couple of years ago so that I could follow my son. My son is playing college basketball and I wanted to be able to follow his career closely and I didn’t want to have the conflict. I always felt like if I was going to coach and teach I had to be all in and I had to really make sure that all my abilities and what I wanted to do, I could do it at the highest level and I did not want to continue coaching if I wasn’t able to do that. I didn’t think I could be able to cause I’d have that pull to be at my son’s games so I decided to step back.

Gym is a required class for graduation. Do you think that each student should be required to take a gym class each year of high school?

Yeah, I do. There are many studies out there now that correlate how important exercise is to how well your brain and body function. Me being a phy-ed teacher, that is something that I would be a huge proponent for.

You always started your gym classes having your students do warm-up activities. Why was that so important? 

That was to get your body ready for what we were doing that day but it was also to do with the movement screens. To see how your body is working and some of those warm-up activities were actually meant to help how your body works and moves and how it functions. About three or four years ago our district decided to go make sure that we do more of that. 

What are the three major benefits of living a healthy lifestyle?

If you’re healthy with exercise with a good diet and nutrition, your brain, your body will function better. I think that your quality of life will go up. I know just from my experience when I get away from exercise my body doesn’t feel as good. It doesn’t function as well. I think it’s important for your quality of life, the quantity of your life, how many years you’re going to live is important too. Also all those benefits of feeling better. Not only your body feeling better but your mind, your confidence, self-esteem and all those good things that come with being active.

Encouraging your students to live a healthy lifestyle, how do you live that out in your own life?

Sometimes I’m better than others. Right now I’m in a good spot where I’ve got a good habit and exercise four or five times a week. Sometimes you get away from that so it is important, being a role model. I try to stay healthy, I try to portray a healthy lifestyle not only for my benefit but for the benefits of my students because sometimes people can be that old “practice what you preach” thing.