By Ed Piper
Yesterday (Fri., Feb. 10), I am happy to report to you that I substitute-taught in P.E., and more importantly, while students interacted with one another nearby in soccer, Frisbee, football, walking (actually, we all walked three laps around the track at a local high school before "bag of fun" free-play/ choice), and the like, I practiced "twirling" a rugby ball underhanded as I've seen the Viking players do. (The ball was stamped "La Jolla Vikings", Model 5, I believe--they have the same coach as the school I subbed at.)
I found what worked better was using my upper hand (I'm very right-handed from my prep baseball and basketball days) to exert force on the oblong ball as I "passed" it two-handed (into the net of a soccer goal). My left hand doesn't have quite the strength or ability to put spin on the ball--I'm not much of a lefty.
The other rugby-related activity I undertook, again as students from period four continued to kick a soccer ball, roll it among adult aides and special-needs students, and throw a football in an impromptu scrimmage right behind me, was practice drop-kicks. One left-handed student was throwing some great passes, which I commented on favorably.
Granted, I didn't have eight behemoths, many weighing close to or over 200 pounds, rushing me as they breathed down my neck during a game. That would be the situation when the Vikings are facing off in rugby. But I found the drop/let bounce for an instant/kick the ball (into the same net) came back to me fairly well. The kicks were hard, my right foot met squarely with the odd-shaped ball, and results were good.
Disclaimer: At 68 years of age, I am way beyond my years of actively playing basketball and softball, as I did with my students in juvenile court schools in the South Bay until I retired eight years ago. I know that. So I'm not pretending that I could just go out there and perform like I did a decade ago. (Plus I have neuropathy in both feet, which lends a numbness. But I use CBD roll-on two out of every four days to keep a "sensation" of touch and feel which a Kaiser doctor I described my procedure to a couple of years ago fully understood--the CBD helps me "know" where my feet are positioned below me.)
In all, a period four subbing in PE that was satisfying and gratifying.
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