By Amanda Estes

Staff Writer

    Now entering South Portland: it’s the ConKaz Physical Education Camp.

    With the first summer camp of its kind in Maine,
Physical Education Teachers Phil Conley and Dianne Kazilionis hope to
offer children– between the ages of four and seven– a positive
introduction to exercise that will lead to a love of physical activity.


    “We have such a crisis in childhood health related
illnesses and diseases,” Kazilionis said during an interview at the
South Portland Community Center. “The obesity level, the Type II
diabetes...you name it we’ve got it. You look in the media (and)
everyday there’s something regarding that.”

    As physical education teachers in the city’s five
elementary schools, Conley and Kazilionis recognize that more is
expected of children at a younger age, yet some children enter
kindergarten not knowing what those expectations are. Through games and
activities, Conley and Kazilionis hope to offer their campers physical
activities that will not only get their heart rates up, but also aid in
the development of skills for the classroom.  

    Activities will include games with parachutes,
balls, hula-hoops and relays. Campers will also learn how to skip,
gallop and hop on one foot.  Through the games, campers will
improve hand and eye coordination, throwing and catching skills and
social skills. Participants will also learn about personal space and
safety.

    “I think our number one goal is to have each student
that participates in our Phys. Ed. camp to come away with, ‘Hey,
physical activity is fun, it’s good for my body and I want to continue
to stay healthy and be active,’” Conley said.

    Part of instilling that interest at a young age is to keep things simple, they said.

    “It’s things that they can do with their family,”
Kazilionis said. “Little things that are very simple, that don’t cost a
lot (and) that they can do in their backyard.” She said they might open
up the final day of the camp to parents and invite them to go through
the activities with their children.  

    At the end of the program, Conley and Kazilionis
said they would like to give each camper a report card or some form of
assessment to better illustrate to parents where their child is as far
as motor skills and social safety awareness. Conley said it would be a
positive assessment that will point out what each child does well and
what they may need to work on.

    If all goes well, Conley and Kazilionis said they
would like to expand their program and open it up to other recreation
departments, daycares and nursery schools.

    “It could possibly become similar to pre-school,”
Kazilionis said. “We send our children to pre-school so that they’re
ready to enter kindergarten for all social purposes, academic
(purposes)...all of that, so for me this is kind of like a take-off
from that.”

    As they plan for their program, Conley and
Kazilionis’s are encouraged in their efforts by their current students’
enthusiasm for Phys. Ed. class.

    “They can’t wait to come into our gym and start the
activity,” Conley said. “Ninety-nine percent of the students love what
we do. We just want to start it at a younger age– that’s why we have
the four-year-old and five-year-olds-just so they have an understanding
of what it’s like to be in our gym classes.”

    Kazilionis said she would like campers to learn the
appropriate way to behave during gym class and in any environment with
a large group of students. 

    “How do you appropriately enter into a space with a
large group of kids, into a class and how do you follow that direction
of sitting on a line (or) sitting on a circle?” she said of some of the
camp’s objectives. In her own Phys. Ed. classes, Kazilionis said, she
teaches students that although Phys. Ed. is meant to be fun, there is
an appropriate way to behave when entering the gym or going outside to
the field. She said establishing an expectation early on allows them to
be productive throughout the school year.

    Currently, they see students once a week for 45
minutes. Kazilionis said elementary students, nationwide, should be
participating in Phys. Ed. classes two to three times a
week.   

    Although the students only have Phys. Ed. class once
a week, Conley said he uses that time to involve the children in a fun
and enjoyable activity so they don’t even realize that they are getting
a workout.         

    “Instead of having them jog eight times around the
field, we may play a game called Builders and Bulldozers,” Conley said.

    During the game, they set up cones around the gym
and first the bulldozer team runs around and knocks all of the cones
over and then the builder team runs around and picks up the cones or
builds the houses. “They’re getting that aerobic exercise, not even
knowing that they’re really working hard because they’re having such a
good time.”

    Kazilionis said music is another way to get kids
moving. During April’s “City Wide Jump for the American Heart
Association” event, she said the kids were dancing while they were
waiting in line at each fitness station, even though the fifth graders
would have you believe that they were too old for such silliness.

    “They hate to do that stuff or they think they hate
to do it- they want you to think that, but...while they’re waiting in
line, they’re all doing the Macarena or the Chicken Dance,” she said.
“They left there remembering that (and) they were involved in physical
activity without even thinking...this could be hard (or) I don’t want
to do this.”   

    Kazilionis said it bothers her that many people,
herself included, don’t remember their elementary school Phys. Ed.
classes.

    “I don’t have negative memories, but I don’t have any memories,” she said.

    If children, however, have an opportunity to
participate in creative, fun and exciting activities, they will have
fond memories of those classes.

    Kazilionis said she is thrilled when a 19 or
20-year-old approaches her to share a memory of a past Phys. Ed. class.
     “I think that’s my ultimate goal,” she said.
“I want kids to remember-not me-but what they did.”

    During the American Heart Association fundraiser,
the five elementary schools combined raised more than $24,000 by
participating in various cardiovascular activities. Students visited
stations on fitness, jumping long and short ropes, jumping routines and
tricks, cardiovascular work out and nutrition. Many of the same
activities will also be part of the ConKaz experience.

    “We’re real big now on kindergartners jumping rope
and double dutching so I’m sure that is going to be a part of our
program,” Kazilionis said.

    During the event, she said, a three-year-old girl,
who was there to watch the older kids, “hopped right in” and started
double dutching.

    As Conley and Kazilionis would say, there’s no age limit for staying active.

    For more information or to register for the ConKaz
camp contact the South Portland Community Center at 767-7650. ConKaz 1,
open to four and five year olds, runs from July 16 to July 20, 8:30
a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ConKaz 2, open to six and seven year olds, runs from
July 16 to July 20, 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. The program cost is $60 and
all campers receive a t-shirt.