Art of Exceptional Coaching Seminar Held at Sachem

Coaches, physical education and health teachers came together recently all with a common goal—to learn how to better motivate students.

In a Wednesday evening event sponsored by the Suffolk Chapter of the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, Martin Rooney, CEO of Parisi Speed School, spoke at Sachem High School North to share his success secrets with Long Island teachers. He has over 20 years of experience, including the coaching of New York Giants and Jets players among other professional athletes - but at Sachem, he said it was all about inspiring teachers to make changes in order to better reach their students.

“You are the frontline of fitness and you can’t bring [fitness] to the kids if you’re not in it,” Rooney said to the group of over 20 in attendance.

Using a presentation as well as body weight exercises, he emphasized the most overlooked quality of a great coach is enthusiasm. He explained coaching is an art, one that revolves around positive attitude and feedback.

“My kids think their name is ‘champion,’” Rooney said, explaining that interest in the student is the best motivator. “You have to be interested to be interesting.”

To do that, Rooney said coaches need to have the right balance of knowledge and emotion in order to able to make connections with students. He said that requires believing in themselves as well as their students.

“Until you think you’re awesome, it’s really hard to get other people to think they’re awesome, “Rooney said.

Rooney stressed this approach to teaching and coaching is more important now than ever, because of growing national health problems.

“[There’s an] obesity epidemic going on - and the most affected demographic is ages two through five - and that’s our future,” Rooney said. “I regret knowing that physical education isn’t a focus of education… tell you what, I don’t use trigonometry much, but I’ve had to run across a street to avoid getting hit by a car.”

“We have New York State wellness policies in place, but there’s no real watchdog enforcing them," said Laura Zavatto, an elementary teacher from the Middle Country School District. "I try to teach the kids to make good choices. I have kids that come in and say ‘Ms. Zavatto, I lost 15 pounds’ It really starts with the teachers.”

That is why a lot of teachers said they are excited to bring these new ideas into their classes.

“He’s talking about goal setting which is great for me and for coaching. These are good opportunities for people to become better teachers and people,” said Joan Wolffer, chair of the physical education department at Sachem North.

Syosset High School permanent substitute teacher Chris Dethwick cannot wait to have a class of his own to apply these concepts to. “Fresh start, start with this instead of having to change something already existing. This is the foundation.”

Rooney said that is the ultimate goal. “You never know you’re influencing or impacting…you may not remember every kid, but they will remember you.”