Another Jump, Another Kick, Another Try
Resilience in Physical Education
By Kate Auger, Digital Content Specialist & Photographer
Durham Academy’s physical education programs are designed to build more than physical strength. At every level, students develop different skill sets through a variety of activities — from nature walks and jumping rope to team sports and weightlifting. But no matter the age of their students, DA’s PE faculty share a larger goal: creating an environment where students learn how to be resilient.
In these classrooms and gyms, success isn’t defined by winning a race or mastering a movement on the first try. Participation in PE is about learning to face challenges, discomfort and failure, and to keep showing up anyway. Students practice skills that extend far beyond fitness: self-awareness, empathy, perseverance and confidence in the face of difficulty. These are the tools that equip them not just for sport, but also for life.
For our exploration of Durham Academy's physical education, we talked with faculty across grade levels. Their insights reveal how resilience is intentionally taught, modeled and practiced — one jump, one kick and one curl at a time.
Preschool & Lower School
Each of DA’s Preschool/Lower School PE teachers has a unique goal for their students. Costen Irons ’98 wants them to learn to be bold, kind and engaged participants. Eric Block strives for students to lean into what’s uncomfortable physically, emotionally and socially. Courtney Hexter hopes her students leave the gym with an understanding that it’s OK to not know something yet, and that effort leads to growth.
The obstacle course and jump rope units check all of these boxes. The obstacle course physically challenges students by comparing their personal times from the start of the unit to the end, but more important to their teachers are the opportunities for students to support each other as they seek to improve. That’s also why everyone plays a part in the jump rope unit, no matter their skill.
On a September morning, the obstacle course awaits a group of first graders, who must complete a short run, balance a ball on a cone, scale a “mountain” of a pommel horse, dribble a soccer ball and launch their bodies over hurdles. The most giggling comes from the scooter station, where the grand finish line has students flying across the last 30 feet of the course.
Helping to run the course are their classmates; at each station is at least one student who acts as facilitator, referee and cheerleader. Block explains: “In games, we’re really encouraging [them to] referee themselves… especially as they get older, the more they can be honest and show integrity.”
Foremost among these responsibilities of running the course is lifting one another up.
Not every student brings the same physical abilities to PE class, but the Preschool/Lower School PE team has created space for students to take risks with the support of their peers. Yes, there will be failure, but it’s much easier to sit with it and bounce back when a student’s entire class is chanting their name and propelling them to the finish line. Hexter’s perspective on this: “It is interesting to see the ones who are really super confident out on the playground, and then come in and you can just see their uncertainty. We help them through that, and that builds resilience. It’s OK to be 8 years old and not know how to do stuff. No one was born knowing how to do any of this stuff, so we can try and grow.”
Students also work through social or emotional challenges in PE class. One student might be frustrated that a classmate can’t keep up with their soccer team experience, while the other might be frustrated by trying something new. Such scenarios present opportunities to build both resilience and empathy. “Kids have power, even at a young age, to shape the environment,” Irons says. “The way they interact can help others grow.”
And Hexter’s anecdote illustrates exactly how the team approaches building emotional resilience: “When a student comes to one of us and says, ‘I got tagged on the back really hard, and I didn’t like it,’ I’ll say, ‘That makes sense. Did you tell them you didn’t like it?’ We try to empower them to feel what they’re feeling and understand how to work through it.”
Middle School
The four Middle School years are marked by leaps and bounds in students’ physical, social and emotional development. Longtime Middle School PE teacher Susan Ellis — part of a teaching team including Jon Lantzy, Andy Pronto and Kristin Stroupe — recognizes this in her students.
“Fifth graders often borrow resilience from adults — they need help finding their reset,” Ellis explains. “At this age, resilience often needs support: reminders to reset, encouragement to rejoin, guidance on how to handle frustration. It’s emotional, sometimes messy, but very real. They’re just beginning to understand that they can push through hard moments. Eighth graders are learning to own their resilience — they’re developing the ability to regulate, respond and push themselves forward. … It’s the student who is disappointed but manages their response, who keeps working even when confidence is shaken, who balances social pressures, academics and athletics without shutting down. They’re more aware of others’ opinions, more self-critical and sometimes harder on themselves. Resilience here is choosing to stay steady, to not withdraw, to keep showing up — even when things feel heavier.”
The Middle School PE team values opportunities for students to grow, not just physically, but socially and emotionally. Consider the student who learned to throw a slower pitch to help a teammate succeed. Or the student who felt out of place because her drive and skill were more advanced than that of her peers. Teachers worked with the student to not downplay her skill, but rather celebrate and own it — demonstrating teamwork while honoring and valuing her own abilities.
“We create an environment where students work with different people outside their friend groups, face varied challenges and see that everyone contributes differently,” Stroupe explains. “We assess students on how they show up in a group, not just on their physical skills. By normalizing struggle and celebrating effort over perfection, students learn that resilience isn't about never failing — it's about how you respond and contribute when things get difficult.”
With regard to their own resilience, the team sometimes encounters students who claim to dislike PE. That’s rough to hear when you’re so passionate about the subject, but it doesn’t deter the teachers. Ellis recalls a student who, at the start of the class, anticipated that she wouldn’t enjoy any of the PE units to come. What that student didn’t expect? Ellis to lead a nature walking unit. Then a soccer unit. And slowly, the student had to finally admit that she actually liked PE. The team finds creative ways to meet the students where they are, whether that’s in level of skill or in interest.
Pronto says engagement is one of the department’s goals. “If a student does not engage with the content or concepts, it will be difficult for them to perform,” he said. “Some of the best moments in PE happen when students dive in and surprise themselves with their abilities or how much fun they had.”
On a bright, sunny day, just outside the Middle School gym, the environment is the opposite of the gym class misery so often depicted in movies. It’s joyful, with energetic pop songs blaring from a speaker, and students smiling as they race across the field. Resilience is being built right here in the middle of the fun. Stroupe and Ellis reiterate that social and emotional learning is a top priority for the Middle School PE team, and from an outsider’s view, they’ve created the perfect environment — students learning through play.
Upper School
Students in their sophomore, junior and senior years have the option to fulfill their physical education credits in a variety of ways, including with after-school sports, but there’s still an abundance of students improving their athletic abilities in the strength and conditioning courses taught by Upper School fitness director Jordan Babwah and PE teacher Dr. Krishinda Lee. On a cold morning in the dead of winter, the weight room blooms with a bit of warmth, a little sweat and a lot of visible confidence from the students.
Immediately apparent in their movements is the confidence each student carries — they know how much weight they can handle and how far they can safely push themselves. A crowd gathers around a student trying to break a record for most reps in a minute — of an exercise that, for the average person, could be described as a Herculean feat, or as Babwah describes it, a Nordic hamstring curl.
Their support, words of encouragement and presence are enough to help Nick Friga ’26 nearly beat the Guinness World Record — currently held by Gregory Pignataro, with 24 Nordic hamstring curls per minute. Friga comes close, but doesn’t quite break the record on this day. Babwah notes an important distinction: “I teach a VERY strict form of [the Nordic hamstring curl] in class, and the world record criteria is less stringent.” In the weeks that follow, Friga continues in his pursuit of Pignataro’s record — and, ultimately, he succeeds with a personal best of 29 curls. But an even more valuable measure of success than a Guinness World Record? His persistence in the face of failure.
And that aligns perfectly with how Babwah views resilience in his classroom. “Resilience often looks like a student staying engaged when something is difficult, uncomfortable or does not go the way they hoped. In a gym, it may be continuing to work through a lift or movement pattern that does not come easily at first. In PE, resilience is not just toughness. It is the ability to keep going, adapt and learn through challenge.”
He also reflects on what it all looks like as a collaborative effort — not once has the PE program at any level focused only on personal achievement. A principle that brings every division together is the power of a team, a class, a grade or a division’s collective involvement in the individual’s success.
“We also intentionally build a sense of collective achievement. In some cases, we track total class improvement on certain metrics, which shifts the mindset from individual performance to shared success,” Babwah explains. “One semester, for instance, our class improved their cumulative vertical jump by 34 inches. Not only is that a significant gain, but it also creates a clear, tangible example of what collective progress can look like.”
As Lee sees it, PE classes offer students an opportunity to step away from academic stressors, as well as an environment where the cost of a mistake isn’t a permanent fixture on their transcript.
“It is a space where students can challenge themselves without a ‘fear of failing,’” she says. “I think it is one of the only spaces where we encourage students to occasionally take their bodies mentally and physically to a point of failure.”
And that failure happens “in a fairly inconsequential sandbox,” Babwah says. “In other parts of school life, students may feel that one grade can snowball into anxiety about college or their future. In PE, students are freer to try, adjust, get creative and let failure be a teacher. That makes it a powerful place to learn that setbacks are part of growth, not the end of the story.”