Gray Elementary School receives honors for physical education

Clockwise from top left, third-grader Julian Payton, left, gets parallel to the ground as he does push-up jumps, as Blake Pride-Zorn swings the jump rope at Gray Elementary School, 2825 S. Torrey Pines Drive. Rylee Gomez, 8, left, and Nicole Salcedo, 9, jump rope. Gray Elementary School physical education teacher Deb LaComb takes pride in her program, which was named as a President?s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Demonstration Center.Photos by Louie Traub/View Clockwise from top left, third-grader Julian Payton, left, gets parallel to the ground as he does push-up jumps, as Blake Pride-Zorn swings the jump rope at Gray Elementary School, 2825 S. Torrey Pines Drive. Rylee Gomez, 8, left, and Nicole Salcedo, 9, jump rope. Gray Elementary School physical education teacher Deb LaComb takes pride in her program, which was named as a President?s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Demonstration Center.Photos by Louie Traub/View Advertisement

Earlier this year, Gray Elementary was designated as a President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Demonstration Center, along with seven other schools in the valley.

The programs were selected based on criteria, and the designations were made by Partners for a Healthy Nevada, an obesity prevention coalition founded by the Southern Nevada Health District.

"It's very important that P.E. programs include physical activity," said Anne Lindsay, state coordinator for the President's Council. "You don't have to be an athlete to be physically active."

To be selected as a demonstration center, the schools had to have eight criteria based on Nevada state and national standards.

"The teachers are doing a phenomenal job," Lindsay said.

The criteria included promoting lifelong fitness and physical activity, maximizing participation and time in class, teaching a variety of fitness options, having pre- and post-fitness testing and teaching students what they're learning and why.

"I think it's an extremely wonderful honor," said Deb LaComb, P.E. teacher at Gray.

In addition to teaching elementary P.E., LaComb has created a huge jump rope culture at her school and oversees two teams at the campus.

"My kids are crazy about jumping rope," LaComb said. "Even our kindergartners jump rope."

Throughout the years, LaComb has motivated her students to learn jump rope tricks. Once the kids learn the basics, they're in the playground making up newer and harder stunts to perform.

"Every year, the kids come up with something new, which tells me they're jumping more and more," LaComb said.

Kids at Gray, 2825 S. Torrey Pines Drive, also can participate in intramurals that include football, basketball, soccer, jump rope and kickball.

"I like to promote fitness with my kids," LaComb said. "I like to keep my kids moving as much as I can. We really try to promote it as a lifestyle."

LaComb also has worked on the state standards and the curriculum for P.E. so she said she feels like she knows her subject "inside out and backwards."

"I love what I do," LaComb said. "To be able to see smiles on the kids' faces makes it all worthwhile."

The P.E. department at Gray received pedometers as a result of being named a President's Council demonstration center.