Grayslake North students and staff follow safety precautions during P.E. classes.

Strength and Conditioning and Team Sports teacher Tyler Hansen talked about COVID guidelines in his class.

“P.E. looks a lot different at the moment. Students don’t need to change for class. We don’t wear heart rate monitors, and there are very few students coming into class at all,” Hansen said.

Team Sports teacher Steve Wood explained some of the guidelines they had to follow.

“Masks, social distancing, cleaning supplies everywhere, no competitive games, no sharing of equipment, restrictions on food and drink, are some of them,” Wood said.

Senior Christianz Berganza is in Team Sports and misses the interaction of being in person. 

“Gym class doesn’t feel as active and united as it did when we are in person. A lot of us are still remote, so we don’t get to see and be with a lot of friends while being active,” Berganza said.

Students are not allowed to change for P.E. classes this year in order to prevent having a group of students in a small area.

“Yes, there are such few students coming in that we are very limited in the activities that we can do.  Students are also not allowed to use the locker room, so no P.E. uniforms,” Hansen said.

Teachers have lowered what is expected of students while trying to be understanding of their situation.

“It is difficult to ask kids to go hard for 60 minutes when they are not allowed to change. That is one of the reasons we only require 20 minutes of activity each day,” Wood said.

The curriculum for Team Sports has been planned out and will differ from this year’s curriculum.

“When we go to block next year, we will have both fitness and unit days combined into one for roughly 30 minutes of each,” Wood said.

Students predict P.E. classes will go back to how a typical gym class runs next year.

“I think gym class units are going to become longer and you’ll be able to practice that skill you are learning more efficiently,” Berganza said.

Physical education teachers make sure that their class is still engaging for students.

“Next year with a block schedule we will look to do a variety of activities within a period to keep things from getting boring,” Hansen said

While some teachers are expecting heart rate straps to make a return, some of the students doubt it.

“I don’t think heart rate straps are going to come back. I think we especially now realized how unsanitary they were,” Berganza said.