Greetings Lincoln Meadows parents and students!
We are so excited in the PE department to see all of the LM students' familiar faces and smiles again, while welcoming all of the new ones as well. We are looking forward to Springing forward with PE here at LM!
Coaches Corner-
Mr. Hand-This is my 8th year at American Academy, and I enjoy it more each year it seems. I have coached every sport we offer, and was the Athletic Director at CP one year, and MB the following year. I love seeing student-athletes accomplish something challenging, and this course is designed to hopefully spark their interest in either a sport or another type of healthy exercise. Finding something active that they really enjoy is paramount. I play a lot of golf and basketball in my spare time, and love all things active in the mountains. This year I was the assistant Cross Country coach at MB and the head Boys Basketball coach as well. The LM middle school students are such a fantastic group, and I am really looking forward to all the fun we will be having in PE this Spring!
Mrs. Hanchett: As the mother of four active boys, I found some of my most rewarding experiences with them were when I coached their sports teams. I loved watching each team evolve from a random group of kids to one unified in purpose to growth. By practicing skills and good sportsmanship, they discovered confidence by gaining pride in themselves and our team. After coaching middle school basketball and volleyball at American Academy for three years, I was invited to join as a teacher. This was an absolute blessing, and I've enjoyed transferring my coaching skills to the classroom. I look forward to another year teaching and coaching this great group of students.
Check out the updates below to see what we are doing each week. As always, please let either of us know if you have any questions or need anything. Thank you so much, and it is great to finally be back to at Lincoln!
2/23/26-3/6/26-
Coach Hand and Coach Hanchett
Syllabus and Pre-Assessments
After a quick welcome back, orientation and syllabus presentation, students are fully immersed in pre-assessments in the coming week. To become more consistent and to be able to analyze data even more thoroughly this year, we are largely using FitnessGram (a national and standardized PE website) to conduct all of our pre and post assessments. Assessments include a mile run, the pacer test, jump rope, the push-up test, and the plank test which measures core strength. Each student's results and data will be available for review by students and parents alike.
3/9/26-4/3/26
Coach Hand and Hanchett
Volleyball and Basketball
As we return to Spring, we have the luxury of having the whole gym to ourselves for the next four weeks. As a result, we are 'tipping off' our basketball and volleyball units-two of our most popular classic team sports.
Basketball-March Madness and the NBA season are in full-swing! The college tournament rarely fails to deliver thrilling upsets and high quality, 'buzzer-beater' type basketball, and this year has been no exception. Students will develop fundamental skills including dribbling, passing, and shooting. They will not only become familiar with the rules of the game, but also offensive and defensive strategies. Students will participate in full-speed scrimmages, partake in a proficiency assessment, and be quizzed on their knowledge of general basketball rules, gameplay and fundamentals. We hope to see a few of these student-athletes participating in March Madness someday!
Volleyball-Volleyball is a popular indoor unit that will certainly raise excitement levels as temperatures begin to rise outside. Students will receive instruction and practice time to develop their bumps, sets, spikes/tips, and serving skill sets. They will also learn the general rules and serving rotation. Effective teamwork, sportsmanship, and communication are also a focus. This unit will culminate with students demonstrating their progressive development during full speed scrimmages as they complete a proficiency assessment and brief quiz.
Potential Upcoming Units this trimester
Handball
Handball-How fitting it is that Mr. Hand's and Ms. Hanchett's PE classes start the year off with Handball? This Team Sport is extremely popular in France, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and is actually a Summer Olympic Sport. Students will continue to develop their throwing, catching, and accurate/timely passing. Spatial awareness, teamwork, and switching from offense to defense quickly are all focused on as well. Of course, we have tweaked the rules a bit to perfectly accommodate our needs and space.
Pickleball
Pickleball is a paddle ball sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton, and ping pong. The sport shares features of other racquet sports: the dimensions and layout of a badminton court and a net and rules somewhat similar to tennis, with several modifications. Pickleball was invented in the mid 1960s, and is the fastest growing sport in the US today. This unit includes a short quiz on the main rules and gameplay that make pickleball unique.
Soccer
Soccer, or Futbol, is the world's most popular team sport by far. It is an ideal sport to develop spatial awareness, teamwork, offensive strategy, dexterity, footwork, and cardio endurance. We will explore some of the unique rules such as goal kicks, corner kicks, and overhand throw-ins. The fundamental skills of dribbling, passing, and shooting are crucially similar to other sports as well. With all the hype around Colorado's new professional women's soccer team, the Denver Summit FC, and the World Cup being hosted right here in North America this summer, this is definitely a buzzy unit right now!
Flag Football-Our athletics' flag football just started, and flag football is going to be in the Summer Olympics for the first time in 1.5 years in LA so we definitely are looking forward to this unit this Spring!
Coming Soon!
Post-Assessments-Mid-May
Students will also be completing the PE post-assessments during these last couple weeks. Assessments include a mile run, the pacer test, jump rope, the push-up test, and the plank test which measures core strength. Each student's results and data will be available for review by students and parents alike upon request.
A Special Semiquincentennial Anniversary-themed Field Day
Please help us make this one the most memorable ever by volunteering. Check back here for a SignUp Genius volunteer signup sheet a little closer to our 5/18/26 LM Middle School Field Day date. Thanks everyone!