Clark students, as per California Education laws, are required to take two years of Physical Education (PE) classes. Some students opt out of PE and instead take on a sport that often leads them to commit for longer than the two year requirement. 

Steven Frazer, Clark’s sophomore P.E teacher, decided to create a class that allows the upperclassmen to have fun, de-stress, and stay active leading to the development of the class Lifetime Sports.

This school year, the students in Lifetime Sports are made up of seniors and a few juniors who are all eager to learn and build on their physical and mental health. This was exciting for the people in the class because most sophomores complained about the fact that they were never able to utilize the weight room since it was never ready. Due to the generous donations of UCLA Heath, Clark was able to update and buy new equipment to target different body parts. 

With this year’s new class, students will be receiving the basics of how to weight lift properly and where to start. Students are welcomed into a brand-new weight room with new equipment readily available for all, with the supervision of Mr. Frazer. The best part of this class is that both beginners and experienced students can join.

Every week Mr. Frazer sets up a three-day week plan, allowing students to get in their cardio for thirty minutes through basketball, soccer, or running exercises, then transitions into thirty minutes of weightlifting time. This allows for students to get in the recommended amount of movement in a day, sixty minutes, and allows them to burn off some steam and think about something other than their studies.

With Covid hitting in 2020, obesity has been on the rise especially in teens. A study from the CDC shows that of 432,302 children ages 2 to 19 years found the rate of their body mass index (BMI) increase has nearly doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the mandate to stay home compared to the pre-pandemic period where one could participate in sports or go to a local gym. With this in mind, it is more important than ever to encourage the youth to keep moving and have fun while doing it.

Mr. Frazer knows the importance of this class and wanted to “Allow you all an outlet to just be yourselves and enjoy working out instead of just being miserable throughout the whole class.” The class is for students to encourage, accept, and work on themselves and the people around them in a positive way and is a great way to keep in shape with upperclassmen’s busy schedules.