Members of the Southern Arkansas University Muleriders football team partnered with staff from Talbot residence hall during the fall 2010 semester to promote physical education in Magnolia’s elementary schools. The group was dubbed “Muleriders for Movement.”
The student-athletes took weekly trips to the schools during the semester. Four to five members of the football team volunteered to make the trip each week. “We took part in the P.E. lesson that was being taught that day,” said Gary Herron, Talbot Hall director and a graduate assistant in the Department of Athletics.
During one trip to Westside Elementary School, the group played freeze tag with kindergarten students. While physical education classes at the junior high and high school levels place more focus on exercise and being fit, Herron said there is a different goal at the elementary level.
“What they do at the kindergarten is teach them fun games to stay active,” he said.
“The team is gaining the experience of being role models – someone for the students to look up to,” he said. “Really, it’s more about giving back.”
