43
Stadium Drive gym night promotes bonding
Photo
During the cup stacking relays, the dad and student teams were in a definite hurry. Josalyn Hibbard (left) had some help getting to the cups with a pull from her dad, Brad.
Photo
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Stadium Drive's Feb. 23 Gym Night with Dad event had students and their father figures playing crazy games like crab soccer. Crab soccer asked the guests to kick a giant beach ball while in the "crab walk" position on their hands and feet.
Photo
During the cup stacking relays, dad and student teams had to work together to stack oversized plastic cups in intricate positions. During one round, dad Aaron Dorazio (left) had to push his son Patrick (right) to the stacking cups on a scooter.
Photo
The last task of the cup stacking relay was to place all of the cups in a straight stack. Although the dads in this team were very close to making the tall stack, it fell over soon after.
By SARAH FOOR
Wear comfortable clothes and be ready to work up a sweat.
Those were the instructions given to fathers and sons who attended Stadium Drive’s Gym Night with Dad Feb. 23. The games and activities weren’t simple, but offered lots of laughs, teamwork, and bonding between students and their dads.
“I’d just like for the students to spend some quality time with the men in their lives,” said physical education teacher Kendal Farver. “All of our activities involve cooperation and working together, which definitely facilitates bonding. And as gym teacher, I’m just happy to see all ages moving and exercising.”
The event is a long-time institution at the school, with many of the dads and even principal Jim Goske remembering their own Gym Nights from when they were students at Stadium Drive.
PTA volunteers and Boardman High School students assisted Farver in the event’s three activity areas. Crab soccer was a favorite of the guests, which had the students and dads crawling in the crab walk position across the school’s gym while kicking around a giant beach ball.
The cup-stacking relay also had teams fired up, as students were asked to skip, get pushed on scooters, and sit on their dad’s shoulders to perfectly stack oversized plastic cups in intricate patterns.
The PTA offered drinks and snacks after the exhausting activities, that volunteers like PTA president Amy Dietz were happy to dole out.
“I love seeing the students leaving with their dad, uncle, step-dad or brother exhausted. Tonight was a hands-on, full of activity kind of night,“ Dietz reflected. “Somewhere through all the exhaustion, I can definitely see the bonding, and that’s what it’s all about.”