NYS AHPERD 2009

Thursday, November 19, 2009 was day one at The 72nd Annual Conference at the Turning Stone Resort and Convention center was absolutely incredible.
Upon attending the conference I was nervous because of all the powerful figures in our field in attendance. Walking into the Casino Richard Esposito and myself needed to find where the registration table was. We found it right away, we just followed the signs, the individuals at the registration desk handed us this great booklet with all of the information needed for the state conference. When looking through the packet we planed out our day with which events we wanted to attend. The first session that caught both of our eyes was the "Thriller...Dance with a Modern Inner City Twist". Before this event started I had twenty minutes so I decided to check out the what vendors were available. The first vendor I attended was a vendor about bowling, and bowling equipment that can be purchased for use in the gymnasium setting. While talking to the vendor she gave me a CD-ROM with ever thing needed for teaching a bowling unit, this would have been very helpful to have a week before since I taught bowling Lab D. Through out the exhibitor time I made my was to many different types of vendors from rugby to rock climbing to fitness monopoly. Each vendor was very egar to talk to future professionals, such as myself, to share their experiences, and talk about what they provided. The vendors provided pamphlets, CD-Roms, booklets, and business cards. It was an experience in it self to see the ideas and games created to make a statement in the teaching field. Next Richard Esposito and I ventured over to the session on "Professional Growth: What's Your Game Plan?" This was an outstanding presentation, presented by SUNY Cortland's own Dr. Jeff Walkuski. The idea behind his presentation was to get future professionals to think about their professional development, and how to make themselves more marketable, competent, and involved. This presentation concluded my first day of the 2009 conference and I already learned so much information. I thought to myself " What can Friday hold", I was excited I could hardly sleep.
Friday, November 20, 2009 was upon us, this was day to and I was ready to learn.
I began Friday at the conference attending a presentation by Rose Gelrod(Harlem Day Charter School) called "Maximum Fun, Minimum Equipment: Great K-3 Games". The games that were presented were not just created for kids, they were kid tested. These use minimal to no equipment and create maximal fun all while getting the students to meet the National Standards for Physical Education. Next it was time to go the the Keynote Presentation, presented by Brian Luke Seaward. His presentation was a heart touching presentation called "Essential Keys to Wellness: Recreating Life's Vitality. At this session I meet up with Jack Murphy and Mike Koral and many other Cortland colleges were in attendance. Dr. Seaward's presentation was just outstanding, it made me open my eyes and think. One of his quotes was "to know and not do, is not to know". This was the best presentation that I have ever been to, after walking out of the presentation I felt like a new person and I was ready to take on the world. All of this happened before 11 AM, that's the point I decided I will always be in attendance to all of these conferences. Directly after this presentation we all hurried upstairs to the session "Future Professionals Section Business Meeting and Luncheon." The reason we went to this session was because Cortland's own Ryan Ingalls was elected Section President. This was a very exciting for exciting moment for Ryan and a proud moment for all of SUNY Cortland for him to become the Section President. The next session I attended was outstanding because it was presented by Laura Peterson-Shaw the 2009 Elementary Teacher of the year. The session was titled "Great Games and Activities for Elementary Physical Education classes. " She did such a great job presenting new ideas for the classroom and she presented great games. She asked for volunteers so myself, Jack Murphy and Mike Koral all participated during the entire presentation. She incorporated other class subjects as well such as science, math, English, and even history. I learned so much, plus I had a great time with the activates and games. Next on my agenda was to attend "Fitness Frenzy/Fueling For Performance~Movers and Groovers." This session was presented by Helen Robinson, Sharon McGuire and Stephen Spink. This session was great because it got everyone in attendance moving and grooving to music all while performing aerobic movements. "Who knew Penguins Could Fly?" was the next session I attended. This was presented by three students form Roberts Wesleyan College, this is the second year this college has offered Physical Education as a major, and I think that these students represented their college very well. When they began they asked for volunteers and of course I can not turn down anything that involves activities and movement, so once again I was moving around. They presented games for elementary students with a winter themed output. The games they presented were fantastic, I can not wait to use some of them in my student observation this winter at Franklin Central School . It was time for the last session of the the day and John Modena and I decided to attend "Best of the West" which was presented by Lori Potter and Jenn Bell. We learned a lot of exciting and interesting games. They stared with putting a course of dome comes on the ground and had us walk across them, this was a progression for rock climbing.
Before the Jay B. Nash Dinner I was sitting in my hotel room reflecting on the past two days, thinking to myself "Where am I going to save all of this information and games I just learned." For some reason an image of a toolbox entered my mind, I was excited because this made sense I can have a toolbox of ideas. Before the dinner SUNY Cortland held a social for its future professionals, professionals and alumni. This was a great time to get my name out there and I started talking to alumni and professors about any and everything. I left the social with ten different businesses cards. The Jay B. Nash Dinner was great it was nice to see how many people were in attendance at the conference. I must say that Cortland was the school that was best represented with our one hundred plus students in attendance. All I have to say about that is WOW! After the dinner it was time to cut loose and hang out with the professional educators at the conference in a social setting. At the evening social there was a live band and everyone was on the dance floor, future professionals and professionals it was great. It gave everyone time to wind down and enjoy themselves. This social concluded the long amazing day.
Unfortunately I was unable to attend the sessions on Saturday. I really wanted to attend the session, "Spice up your Warm Up" because Jack Murphy was presenting and I knew Jack had a few tricks up his sleeve to make it memorable. I recommend to every future professional and professional to attend this conference every year because it is simply amazing. If you attend you will learn more during the conference than imaginable. I know I plan on attending every NYS AHPERD conference from here on out.