ELDRIDGE, Iowa — The medicine balls lopped back and forth between class partners on the field south of North Scott Junior High in Eldridge. The equipment with an old-fashioned twist, along with dumbbells and weighted rings, might be a part of physical education classes in the area now that a handful of teachers spent three days this week learning how the tools can help boost children’s fitness levels.

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“The wisdom of the old system is now brand new to us,” said Ed Thomas, a renowned physical education expert who grew up in Davenport, spending time at Turner Hall, which used to be located at 3rd and Scott streets. Physical education changed in the 1920s, focusing more on team sports than individual fitness, he said. “Lopsided” sports activities like throwing a ball and swinging a golf club also took precedence. The structured exercises and games taught this week provide a solid base, teachers said. “If you want a body to last forever, you have to have the core structure there,” said Karen Bertolino, a physical education teacher at Central Middle School in DeWitt, Iowa. According to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, the number of overweight children has doubled in the past two decades. Only half of U.S. people 12 and 21 years old “regularly participate in vigorous activity,” the council states. Also, 25 percent reported no such activity, the council stated. One quarter of children also spend four hours or more watching television daily in this country. Twenty-nine percent of high school students participated in daily physical education in 1999, down from 42 percent in 1991. “We’re on a collision course,” Thomas said. The techniques taught this week easily can be adapted for children with special needs. Some of the exercises require new equipment, but some require inexpensive items such as sheets of paper. As a California study shows a positive correlation between physical fitness and test scores, and as the federal government focuses on the No Child Left Behind initiative, instructors believe physical education should play an even bigger role in schools. “Every child can participate” in these activities, Thomas said. Ann McGlynn can be contacted at                   (563) 383-2336 or amcglynn@qctimes.com.