It’s important to have work-life balance. This is the reason that all students are required to take a kinesiology class. A class focused on physical movement can be a stress-free break in the middle of a busy college student’s day.
Freshman radiology major Miranda Grahm appreciates this break.
“Racquet sports is my favorite class, it’s the least stressful. I like learning the roles of racquet sports,” Grahm said.
Professor of Kinesiology Haley Stickerod teaches the class. She focuses on self-learning and getting playtime to build confidence.
Stickerod explains the motions through pantomime, as well as explaining each rule to ensure everyone understands. She gives students time to practice with the wall before they get in groups and practice passing to each other.
Once the students are ready, they begin to use the nets and hit back and forth without the rules. After a while, we add the rules and play kings-court style, rotating every seven minutes.
The winner moves towards the king’s court where the loser stays, excluding the king’s court. On the king’s court, the winner stays, and the loser goes to the lowest court.
“[I’ve] always played tennis, so it was a fun opportunity,” sophomore art history major Bethany Kimmel said.
Every day, the class has a five-minute warm-up, practicing “dinking,” which is hitting lightly over and close to the net to get used to the racket before beginning the games. Then, the game begins.
Teams are assigned randomly to ensure fairness and work with different people every day. This promotes community and team bonding, a great way to make friends in college.
Stickerod walks around the class, ensuring everyone understands and corrects errors in rules. She also gives advice about how to improve.
At the beginning of this class, I had never played pickleball before. I was uncoordinated with the ball and weight of the paddle, but after the drills and practice, now I can confidently say that I know how to play and can play.
This class isn’t too drill-focused and boring, but it’s also not too self-led and difficult for those who can’t play sports yet. Overall, it’s a great class to take and very enjoyable if you like to play racket sports.
