From digging in the trash to “DIY” PE equipment for his special education kids in PE to creating a National Craze of innovative high cardio, team friendly activities. The result….kids begging to work out even harder than you ever imagined they could..and loving every minute of it! This blog post will inspire and explain how Cardio Fitness Cups came to be a staple of our indoor PE program supplies we donate.

Guest Blog-Steve Cox

-Project Fit America National Director of In-Service/Master Teacher/Inventor of Cardio Fitness Cups-

It’s funny/strange how things sometimes just come together, seem to happen, fall in place …. chocolate meets peanut butter, as Stacey calls it! It was the early 80’s and I was teaching physical education in a small, tile floor gymnasium at Watrous Elem School (now called Morris Elementary School) in Des Moines Iowa. I was also a teaching tennis pro in the summer.

Watrous was a single floor building with a large level playground and flat parking lot with few to no steps to negotiate anywhere. I had a 45-minute duty free lunch break three of my five days. There was a pizza place within a five minute walk that had an all you can eat salad bar that included Anderson Erickson Dairy cottage cheese (the best in the world) with a large ice tea for $3.00. So do you see the connection to Cardio-Fitness Cups yet? No? Let’s add a little more to this scenario.

Watrous being a single floor school was a very conducive building for educating special needs students with physical handicaps. I always had several of these classes. I, out of necessity and enjoyment, liked to create, adapt and build some of my physical education equipment. The cups for the large ice tea were a sturdy, plastic 32 ounce colorful cup. Some days during the 45-minute lunch would fly by and I would bring the cup back to school with me. Soon, I had about 20 of these puppies, stacked in one pile in my equipment room. They were very easy to store in a small corner.

A 5th grade class was doing a bowling skills unit and a few special needs kids were integrated in with them. Setting up large plastic bowling pins was very difficult for one special needs boy (let’s call him Fred) but knocking them down was much easier and quite fun however, balancing those bowling pins in any semblance of order was just too hard for Fred. Several Yellow Brick students ( a Project Fit America term for students who are helpful leaders to other students) gladly and often worked/helped with Fred and others. The 32 ounce cups were just about the size of the pins and very colorful, some with neat, recognizable pictures on them. They were very easy to set up in a pattern close to each other or on top of each other. Are you starting to get a picture here?

I simply replaced plastic bowling pins for Fred and some of the others with the cups. This was a natural, time saving and fun alternative. Plus the cups, unlike plastic bowling pins, conveniently could be stacked in groups of 3, 6, and 10 on top of each other and they took up less room on the floor. Also, some students were in wheel chairs with very little ‘reach’ capability. I could set up a flat little school table by them or on the top of a 5 gallon plastic bucket and the cups (Targets) would stack on these. These cups were simply a fine, new, and cheap activity tool for my Physical Education classes.

Then I noticed an interesting occurrence/side affect, quickly sprang out of this. My other physical education kids began clamoring to set up the cups for the special education kids. They were also asking if they could use the cups for their bowling targets instead of the pins.

I started drinking lots more ice tea and even lowered myself to the point of quickly swiping up left over cups on dirty tables. Ok, let’s be totally honest here…. I even started pillaging through the trash containers when I thought no one was looking. I was wrong!  A couple of my favorite waitresses saw me and said they were going to take a picture and  blackmail me. I told them that, as a teacher, I had no money or friends with money and  therefore ‘blackmail’ would not work. Ha Ha!

I then told them the truth and that the cups were becoming a big hit for various activities        in class. They began coming up with bunches of cups for me and I graciously thanked them and told them to let the corporate office know how I and the kids and I appreciate this. Soon, I had hundreds of cups. All right, do you think it ends here or are you starting to ask yourself….“ So why did he mention, early on, that he was a tennis pro in the summer?” Glad that popped into your head because here comes the tennis ball-cup factor.

As a teaching tennis pro in the summer, I always had the opportunity to accumulate hundreds of used tennis balls. At school I easily had a cache of a thousand balls. I used them for all sorts of fun activities and games. I also evolved into giving away a ‘Birthday 10 S Ball’ to any kid in the school who came to me on their Birthday week and asked for one. I would let them choose the ball and I would write ‘Happy B-Day and their Name’ with a magic marker. So simple and the kids seem to love it! Those with Birthdays in the summer also got one anytime they came in and asked. Hundreds of balls would happily go this route through the years. Although the balls could be thrown, rolled, caught, bounced, juggled, hit, kicked etc. they could not be stacked on each other in any more than a four ball pile.

NOW those CUPS on the other hand had a marvelous ability to be stacked on the floor, on a table, on a bucket bottom, on a wheel chair, on your head and on a racket. Oh, did I mention that I always kept a class set of regular tennis rackets, cut down old tennis rackets and badminton rackets? Balancing cups on a racket while walking, tip-toeing, one leg, eyes closed, crawling etc., can be very challenging and fun. Add a tennis ball or two to that scene and it really gets challenging and exciting. PLUS, ever notice how there is always an indention in the bottom of the cups? (Probably a strength/structure thing.) This indentation allows for a very delicate balance spot (for a ball) when the cup is turned upside down.

If you’re a Physical Education Teacher, you might be jumping ahead in your mind here and contemplating all kinds of other ways to experiment with movement. Let’s add ambidextrous/cross lateral/dominant hand/off hand /weighted tennis ball (Dumball) to the mix. WOW! “Ok you advanced kids, that are having no trouble with this challenge ….. Switch the racket-ball-cup to your ’Off Hand’ and try it.”

Then it would go something like this:

“MR. COX, MR. COX, I can do it even with my un-dominant hand!”
“My goodness Sally, what can’t you do? I know, try to do the same thing with a racket-cup-ball in both hands?”
“Can I try that too Mr. Cox?”
“Sure any of you who want to try it that advanced Left-Brain/Right-Brain/Cross Lateral/Ambidextrous way, go ahead. But remember to be ‘Team Friendly’ about it.”
“ Who remembers what ‘Team Friendly, means?”
“I know Mr. Cox!”
“What Sally?”
“IT MEANS to SHARE, STAY SPREAD OUT so you don’t bother others. Think About Others while you’re moving around and even be willing to HELP Others in a Friendly Way if you see they need it.”
“Holy Cow Sally, you’re not only developing great physical skills, you are also becoming a Yellow Brick Student. I am so proud of you for both!”

Of course scenarios like this were just a pleasure to watch unfold. Much of the excitement was related to the cups! They provided quick improvement and a friendly working atmosphere that “Team Friendly/Yellow Brick” spawns and the simple aspect of sharing, doing good times with friendly peers. I had hundreds of cups at this time but my mind was projecting to what I could do with a thousand or more.

So I began asking the kids, parents, teachers, lunch ladies to please bring me in all their freshly used “cups.” Yes, I did do some thorough cleaning of the cups. Soon, I had close to a thousand. Now I needed a quick, portable storage method for them. The custodian supplied me with an old trash barrel that sat on a removable wheelbase. It seemed like a good fit at first but I shortly discovered that the barrel was too deep for the shorter kids to negotiate retrieving or replacing cups from the bottom. (Think I had a couple of first graders fall in). It also could easily be knocked off its wheelbase by over zealous students and cups can definitely create over zealous students! So I went to a Lumber/Hardware store in Des Moines. I believe it was Payless Cashway (no longer here). Found a little smaller plastic trash container with permanent wheels and a nice handle. It was shorter and made it much easier for the kids to both retrieve and replace the cups.

Here are a couple of example of the first ‘Mega Multi Cups’ activities I did.
GAME: “Oodles of Cups & Balls”

Scene:
Medium size gym, flat level tile floor. No lunchroom, music, custodial equipment lurking in the corners for an accident waiting to happen. Hundreds of cups and hundreds of tennis balls readily available, a class of 28 healthy energetic 3rd graders.

Back then:
I used terms like ‘Mine Field’, ‘Poison Berries’, “Swamp’, ‘Sleepy Spiders’, ‘Snow Fort’, ‘Cup Dungeon’, ‘Tall Timber Cups’, ‘Rattlesnake Balls’, ‘Cookie Monster Cups’, “Timberrrrr”, “Yellow Scorpions”, “Cherry Bomb Seeds”
You get the picture…terms that would make a point with the kids and get them excited and ready for a challenge!

SIDE NOTE!
I grew up in the 50’s and 60’s with open/safe neighborhoods, fence free back yards, polio shots at school, vacant lots, trees and creeks, Cowboys & Indians, Sunday & Vacation Bible School, un-busy streets, no seat belts, worked a Paper Route before school several years, paper bag lunches – only cold milk supplied by school, dogs not leashed, neighbors friendly, walked to school, snowball fights allowed on certain parts of the school playground (teachers participated), most neighbor parents WWII vets, my sister President of the Iowa Girl Scouts, one car families, no air conditioning, fresh milk bottles left on the front porch, unlocked doors, parent spankings, soap for cussing, duck-under-tables atomic bomb drills and even some yes maam/yes sir. So you now have a better understanding of why I was so politically un-correct and warped. Do not re-call ever having a parent complain about trauma or offense caused by any of the terms. Oh well, those were simply the times.

GAME ‘Poison Berries/Timber Cups’

Basic procedure:
-Kids “ In a ‘Team Friendly’ manner, on ’Go!’ spread out the balls all over the gym floor without throwing them down.
-Keep them inside the lines of the basketball court.
-When I yell “Done!” quickly/carefully go to the kitchen wall of the gym and wait for the next command.”

Fitness Challenge/ Consequence
-“If you touch a ball (Poison Berries once they’re down) with your foot, ANYTIME once I say GO or Done, you must quickly go over to a side wall and do 12 Wall Pus Ups before you can return” ……. “GO!”
-Kids “ Now that the balls are set out, when I say “Boogie“, I want you to get the Cups in a “Team Friendly” manner and spread them out inside the basket ball court lines.
-Stack them in a simple group of 3 or a stack of 6. When I yell, “DONE!” quickly go to the kitchen wall.

REMEMBER:
-All of this very ‘Team Friendly.’
-Oh! And if you happen to touch a ball with your foot or drop or knock over a cup, calmly put down any remaining cups in your hand and quickly go to a side wall and do 12 ‘Wall Push-Ups’ or 25 Rope Jumps.” *Put out a half dozen ropes “BOOGIE!” … 3 minutes later…“DONE!”

-Kids “Now the “Poison Berries & Timber Cups” are all set up.
-Notice over on the sidewall I have set out 6 Medicine Balls?
-When you do a Medicine Ball, you must toss it into the wall higher than your head and catch it.
-Now here is your next challenge. I will give each one of you a tennis ball. Then, when I say “Go!”, you must head down to the other wall and then back, while softly tossing the ball up about head height and catching it.
-If you touch a ‘Poison Berry’ or knock over a ‘Timber Tower’, you must calmly put down your ball and quickly go over to the side wall and do TWO of the Fitness Challenges.
-And of course, How Must All of This Be Done? …… TEAM FRIENDLY!!!” ….“Go!”

By now you see the lesson/activity pattern of adding difficulty to the challenge and additional fitness options for the flubs.

Challenge options:
Bounce the tennis ball down & back, balance the tennis ball on a racket down & back, balance a cup & a ball on the racket, softly dribble the tennis ball soccer stile down & back, balance a tennis ball on the racket with one hand and toss a ‘juggling scarf’ with the other etc, etc!

Fitness Options:
Weighted Jump Ropes, Step Up Boxes, Arm Band Stretches, Sit Ups, Weighted Hoops etc, etc!

The accumulation of a thousand cups to go with a thousand balls, plus all the other standard PE equipment Physical Education teachers so often have, made the creative possibilities for activities seemingly endless. Take the cups out of the mix and it just was not even close to the same.

Those of you reading this, that are somewhat familiar with Project Fit America, might be asking yourself, “Where is TCC (Teamwork, Communication & Cooperation) in this? Why hasn’t he mentioned TCC yet?” Actually, TCC was born out of a combination of the cups and balls plus:

-Cut backs in Physical Education scheduling
-Larger classes
-More intricate directions
-Declining school discipline
-Lack of class leaders

I was becoming concerned about the lack of ‘Yellow Brick’ students I was seeing. Around this time, at an educational conference I was introduced to the quote:

“Remember, they don’t simply lick it off the stove!”

That quote really struck me. It motivated and encouraged me to come up with some more specific, consistent ways that my Physical Education could streamline, enable and develop more Yellow Brick Students and therefore Yellow Brick classes.

This was before I was involved with marvelous Project Fit America. Cups and I were just getting started. What a wonderful ride it has been. I’m sure it very much helped open the door to my soon-to-be affiliation with Stacey Cook and Project Fit America. I need to write a follow up blog to this one along the lines of “TCC Cups & More”. Think I’ll let my ol’ brain settle for a few weeks and go fish, hit tennis balls, play with dog and grand kids before I write up that puppy. Later!

Project Fit America side note:
Steve Cox was our first National All Star Teacher of the Year-1999. He was invited and is a current Board Member representing all that Physical Education can be. Every one of our All Star Teachers ( Gallery of All Stars ) is a model of this creativity and passion.

In 1999 Steve became an In-Field Trainer to our schools. For two years he talked Anderson Erikson Dairy into giving him 1,000′s and 1,000′s of cups to bring to every school he in-serviced. When the number of Project Fit America Schools got too many for this, we had one year of Dannon donating thousands to us. Then one day, we looked on the bottom of the cup and it had imprinted Berry plastics

We knew from the onset Dannon was not a lasting source and we called Berry Plastics to ask them if they would make special cups for us. The short answer was NO. They make millions of cups a day….we only needed a million a year! We called the Vice President and told him about Steve’s Cups lessons, sent pictures of this and the fitness fire they ignited…in jig time..he said YES!!

To this day, every Project Fit America School receives 1,000 Fitness Cups to serve an average class size of 25 students. We recently opened an online Store for any school to buy them with 100% of the proceeds going back to our charity.…the demand has been so great..but remember Steve digging in the trash? If money to this is tight..you can totally do this for free..stalk the lunch room ladies and put a call out to every kid to bring in cups…in no time..you too will have all your kids Team Friendly, Yellow Brick Students and going Cup Crazy!!! Red faced, smiling, sweating and working harder..together in ways you ever imagined!

We finally met the little ol’ ant and this guy is rocking it. Once in a while a picture is worth a 1,000 words. We know  all too well the “aerobics” of politics our PE teachers teachers have to do. If turning on a dime was an Olympic Event..you would metal Gold.   Never Give Up.  The kids sitting in every class room across the nation and beyond are counting on you!  

For 22 years I have had a chalk board/dry erase board that covers the wall I look at every day. Years ago whenever a family member or friend came to my office…I asked them to sign the bottom half. There are signatures now from loved ones who have passed away as well friends & family cheering me on. Each on left a “foot print” of well wishes for Project Fit America.

A very long time ago I cut out 2 quotes and taped them to this board….one reads: There is no overnight success…but there is success…the harder you work the luckier you get……

The other reads: Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant-Robert Louis Stevenson.

Every year I wipe the top half of this board clean…and walk into a blank canvas each January. It is an odd feeling that I have never made friends with. It feels uneasy and restless and begs a walk in faith.

You see this top half of the board is where we track our donations, high accounts, grants pending, number of cold calls made, grants to launch etc…this board is lifeblood of Project Fit America…and as we fill it up…we open the door to new communities, schools, parents, sponsors and most of all kids.

It is a job we do virtually unnoticed, under the radar…this plowing the field and planting the seed stuff is not sexy. It is damn straight hard work. Yet each and every year there are particular elements that set their feet under our table and set up camp in our hearts… right as rain…passion…followed by passion’s friend inspiration and bringing up the rear…to drive this all to a place where no one can stop a really good idea….drive and determination.

This gathering is a force to recon with. It is true…the harder you work the luckier you get…and the seed planted is a powerful thing…in combination there it becomes our manifesto and the reason why we do what we do so well.

2012 bring it on! We are excited to plow the “fertile fitness soil” that will paint a child’s health fantastic and allow them to launch in the healthy adulthood every child deserves!

The game is in full swing. Every one knows the drill, many onlookers mill around. New people enter the game constantly. The people already there jockey for their place. There are 100’s of rule books, even more arm chair referees. There are vendors who want to cash in and set up camp. The special teams line up and bring their own brand of bravado. There are research analysts with their volumes of data and stats. The media has come and creates a swarm of chaotic information. There are mayors, Governors, the White House, celebrities, talk show hosts, Olympic Athletes, colleges and universities, doctors, lawyers. You name it….they are here!

…..and standing alone on the edge of the blacktop is a PE Teacher…..who only needs to see their students every day for 60 minutes a day to seriously make the reason why they are here..go away.  In the hurry to solve the problem and look at problem and research the problem…the person who holds a real key to unlock a child’s real chance to launch into healthy adulthood is lost in the shuffle.   We get it….You can not out run a bad diet…but we never met a doctor who said “Eat right and sit around….you’ll be just fine!”  …and when it comes to kids…whose true nature is to run, be active and play…schools and their PE programs are ground zero for positive lifestyle transitions.

As 2010 comes to a close there are many to thank and recognize. Each of you were key in making 2010 an amazing journey. It is your support that was the wind beneath my wings giving me the juice, the power, the inspiration, the drive and the determination that created all the great work accomplished this year. In doing so you take Project Fit America to the next level and launch us into a fantastic 2011! Get ready… here it comes……

On the home front…my fantastic, wonderful husband Charlie, my bff Victoria Stolinski and two amazing God kids- Sasha and Diego. My sister Carin Cook, my niece Allison White and nephews Eric and Michael Ponder.

Here at all things PFA….Our visionary Board of Directors that come together every year to dream, plot, and plan the many innovative ways to support the role of PE Teachers in America. To empower the vital and key role only they hold to reduce childhood obesity by putting fitness back into education!

Our amazing “Administrative Warriors”…Stephanie Elliott, Molly Spencer, and Kourtney Evans. Whose work to help schools roll out this program is awesome! We worked with over 1,000 schools this year and we never missed a beat because of you!! Carol Whitson the most amazing Data Manager who will sleep next to her computer and put her big ol’ dog in day care so he can run and play to so she could make deadlines. A huge shout out to our Web Master who has the patience of Job and the ability to read my mind; Shirley Williams-Art and Web Design. Guillermo Lobos of Pro Tech, who kept all our machines running night and day. Janice Lenhe…our computer Consultant who, like our Web Master, has the patience of Job and never fails to solve the tech problem.

Our In Field Trainers in 2010……Each of you work full time in schools so you know I have to start by thanking your Principals for supporting your work in field to build a fit America and “loaning you to us.” This includes Amanda Martin, Gary Martin, Kim Berg, Ken Chambless, Kathie Immerman, Leslie True, Brenda Byrd, Cheryl Gladwill, Kathy Crawford, Sharon Ryan and our Master Teacher, Steve Cox, whose Core Curriculum, lesson plans, ideas and die hard message….Hear It, Read It, See It, Do It …is a national drive to bring Physical Education to a place that has it’s feet firmly under the table of change for kid’s fitness. There is no way any kid won’t get fit when a PE teacher has those guidelines as their guide and mentor!

Our All Star Teachers…Each of you serve as a true model of what great PE can do in this country and what a great PE program looks like. You are living proof that one person can make a difference and that IT IS possible to get kids fit and launch them into healthy adulthood.…I would put each and every one of you up against any school in America and bet the farm…… You are the real deal!

To the outstanding PFA Grant Schools & PE Teachers….You are found north, east, south and west and meet with your students every hour on the hour, five days a week before school, after school, drive buses, coach, manage your own families and survive budget cuts that would make the average person run for the hills! No matter what you always find a way to run killer programming and never fail to find a way to inspire your kids!

To our Sponsors ……You made all of the above happen. It is your vision to build a generation of healthy kids starting in your own backyard. Your commitment to the schools, teachers, kids and families has impacted thousands. Your donations are the shot fired across the bow that declare war on obesity and declare the right for kids to grow up active, fit and healthy! It is you that every person mentioned in this blog is deeply grateful to, indebted to and empowered by. It all begins with you and look what you have created!

Look out 2011 we are fired up and coming your way and our message is loud, crystal clear and is the truth….

This nation will never solve the childhood obesity epidemic if PE Teachers and schools are not at the core of the solution. Aside from a child’s parents, there is no one more powerful and empowering than their teachers.

In closing I feel beyond blessed to be working with each and everyone of you. Together we make magic and change kids lives!

I had a chance to have work with a group of mid-twenty something year old’s on a local event in San Francisco. A couple weeks after the event they came to PFA to proudly produce a check for $400.00 donation. I took this young woman to lunch with her friend and spent the next hour or so being peppered with questions. …..the differences between the SF social scene from when I was their age to today…25 years have passed since that SF was my “playground”… and it was not until I started bench pressing 30, which seemed so ancient at the time, that I  looked around and decided I wanted to chase the almighty dollar… but for good things…not to let my boss park another Porsche in his garage, giving me a gold watch and Christmas bonus…to make money for good.

Most unexpected were the questions about how do you become a non profit? How do I build my career and build a non profit cause that I want to champion? These questions, which clearly had much soul searching, struck me. Here I am, looking like Carol King is having lunch with Coco Channel and yet not much has changed. Those dogged questions and desire to be more than a paycheck, how to build a life of integrity, with meaning and soul brought me right back to 1989…when all those questions and MORE tugged at my heart..my soul..my being. The only thing different is that now I am me, 25 years later, and can look back and tell these kids with confidence…nothing has changed….have a deep faith, driving passion and commitment and be open to the fact you probably won’t get most of what you pray for. Not because what you want is not right …. it is that NOW that you are looking, searching… the Universe will reach out to you and bring to you blessings that you never saw coming!

I could have never imaged the people who are now in my life, the places I have seen in this fine country and the raw soul of American communities who care so deeply and completely that you are compelled in ways that drive you to the next level of faith, hope and validation. You can pray for the teddy bear, but sometimes you end up with the whole damm toy store! This is not a money thing…but it is as, all I do is fund raise funds to help PE teachers and their schools…but is not about money, because if they did not have that inner spirit drive and calling to do what they do …I would not find what moves me and PFA forward. People always say “You could sell yesterday’s newspaper!”. ..these kids said that too…but my reply is the same one I gave, at 19 years old, when someone said that to me for the first time,…..”No I can not…I don’t believe in it.”

I do believe in the future generation and their passion and heart to be more than a paycheck. The “old guard” has an audience that can lift up and embrace the young people of this country. We see this everyday at PFA …the nurturing, the sharing the rallying behind those who are called to give. We succeed not because we push our message, we succeed because we help the next generation find their own voice and message and support the teachers who are in the field right now, who will wake up tomorrow morning and work with 25 kids every hour on the hour and change their lives. I will say this again and again…..this nation will NEVER solve the obesity epidemic as long as PE Teachers are left on the side lines and taken out of the equation… okay I am off track and on a soap box….

I sent the kids packing after lunch to a good friend’s winery, Delecutus, and returned to the office and looked at our list of Bay Area schools. One recently emailed us to tell us she needed more PFA Fitness Cups for her students. I cannot wait to call her in the morning to tell her I have 2,000 to donate because of these young people who cared enough to raise the funds, drive to our offices and do this thing. Next week about 500 kids are going to be red faced, sweating and smiling as they work so hard to do fitness activities to earn those cups and build, as a team in creative fitness play, where their imagination takes them….the great wall of China, the pyramids of Egypt or entomb the teacher… and to show this teacher, once again, their commitment matters. That is why we do what we do and why giving a hand up to the next generation is what makes our charity great and this country great. Some things never change and for this I am glad.

Crunch time…the time when your work is crunched into a ball…it feels like a boulder you gotta push uphill….and then you look over your shoulder and find the village, the community is lined up behind you! Your immediate thought is “Hey I am not alone…and the second thought is …”Who the heck are all these people?…Where did they come from?”

So it goes with social networking. We are babes in the woods, greenhorns, wet behind the ears, new kids on the block and the graduating class of 2010 to come onto this internet social networking platform. We are 90 days into this and have found so much support, connections and great folks who really do want to be part of something as powerful as helping a kid to foster the love of movement and lifetime fitness. We see no other common denominator other than that…..we see PFA schools, teachers, trainers, kids, parents, fitness enthusiasts, mom’s, dad’s and just an amazing array of fitness forward people.

We, at Project Fit America, have been so focused on each school, each teacher and their kids with such a singular vision…we never once looked over our shoulder. We just assumed after 20 years….we were a lone wolf, on a low radar, grass roots path that aside from the thousands of kids and teachers we work with …we were invisible…but then we looked one day over our shoulder, via social networking and there you were…..a reminder, validating that old song in my head…Just what makes that little ol’ ant…think she move a rubber tree plant…

Yup….guilty as charged with high hopes…high apple pie in sky hope!
……and it is all your fault!!

Thanks so much! Happy Fall and to falling into a good place in life….corny as it sounds, over used as it is…together we make a difference!!!