On a Friday morning at West High School, sneakers squeaked on the shiny wood gym floor as 30 students skipped, slid and backpedaled their way from the bleachers to center court and back.
The total well-being program may seem like any other physical education class on the surface, but sports performance director Natalie Hughes said the elective class that has been offered in the Sioux City Community School District for four years is much more demanding.
"It's more intense; and we let them know that we'll push them in here," she said.
The prevalence of childhood and adult obesity remains high in the United States, according to the most recent report from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. From 1999 to 2013 the percentage of high school students nationwide who were obese increased from 10.6 percent to 13.7 percent, while the number of students who were overweight rose from 14.2 percent to 16.6 percent.
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Hughes said students come away with the ability to use workout equipment at any gym, which will serve them throughout their lives. They perform exercises designed to challenge and improve their balance, strength, conditioning and agility.
"With sports it's another way to get in shape and ready for our games at the same time," said senior Tanner Wauhob.
Junior Rylie Brun said the class is making her upper arms stronger to throw and hit the softball.
"You don't have to be in a sport to feel like you need to succeed here," Hughes noted.
Hughes, who said she would've loved to take a class like this when she was in high school, sometimes hears students complain about not waiting to change their clothes after working up a sweat. Overall, she said students like the class.
"I never hear people say, 'I just don't enjoy this,'" she said.
Tanner Smith, 18, has taken the class for 3 1/2 years.
"I love working out," he said. "It just helps to improve my well-being."
After a brief warmup featuring drills and dynamic stretching, the students broke into two groups. One of the groups remained in the gym while the other headed to the weight room just outside a set of glass doors.
In the weight room students took turns squatting, lifting free weights over their heads as they stepped on top of boxes, and perfecting their power clean technique.
"Bend your knees a little bit. Big chest," physical education teacher Josh Van Den Hul instructed as a Taylor Swift song blared in the background over the sound of clanging weights.
Students with sweat-glistened faces gasped for breath as they hurriedly switched stations.
"I don't let them slack," Van Den Hul said.
Back in the gym, the other group of students were racing around three orange cones positioned in the shape of an "L."
"Finish it. Finish it," Hughes encouraged.
Brun, who has been participating in the class for two years, said she would recommend it to other students.
"It's a great way to stay in shape," she said. "If you're not in sports it's a good way to stay active."
