Mulerider football players Caleb Patterson, from left, Darren “Skinny” Lewis, and Greg Nelson play freeze tag with a group of students at Westside Kindergarten.
MAGNOLIA— Members of the Southern Arkansas University Muleriders football team have partnered with staff from Talbot residence hall to promote physical education in Magnolia’s elementary schools. The group has been dubbed “Muleriders for Movement.”
The student-athletes are planning weekly trips to the schools and hope to visit each campus three to four times during the semester. So far, the group has made two trips to Westside Kindergarten. Plans are being made to visit Eastside Elementary and Central Elementary in the future. Four to five members of the football team volunteer to make the trip each week.
“We take part in the P.E. lesson that is being taught that day,” said Gary Herron, Talbot Hall director and a graduate assistant in the Department of Athletics.
During a recent trip to Westside, the group played freeze tag with kindergarten students. While physical education classes at the junior high and high school levels place more focus on exercise and being fit, Herron said there is a different goal at the elementary level.
“What they do at the kindergarten is teach them fun games to stay active,” he said.
Herron credited physical education instructor Josh Willeford and Principal Jill Rader for making the trips to Westside very successful.
“The team is gaining the experience of being role models – someone for the students to look up to,” he said. “Really, it’s more about giving back.”
