“chill its only gym class not the olympics.”

     “alright, calm down its gym class, not the olympics…”

     “dude, chill, it’s gym class not the olympics!”

     You’ve seen the Facebook pages like these.      You might even “Like” them, thinking it is an amusing, relatable situation. These pages show something about our teenage society (in addition to demonstrating the wonderful grammatical skills of our generation): trying in gym is not cool.

     Why is making an effort in gym such a bad thing? Some people enjoy it, and they shouldn’t be singled out for going all out doing something they love. For some sports-enthusiasts, gym class is the closest they will come to the Olympics.   Maybe they were cut from the school team.   Maybe they had to give up the sport in favor of another. Maybe they never had the chance to try a sport. This is their chance to develop their skills and have fun doing something they enjoy.   And they should not be criticized for it. 

     “I go all out,” said senior Colin Lyman. “It makes it a lot more fun and interesting.”

Lyman is a varsity baseball player, a gym leader, and a lifetime athlete. He doesn’t try in gym because he wants to show off or intimidate other people; he tries because he loves sports.

     “If you’ve got all the kids out there wanting to participate, the time just flies by and it’s just more fun,” said gym teacher Jennifer Heuck.

Illinois is the only state to require daily gym. Four years of gym is required to graduate. It’s unavoidable. Regardless of arguments of its academic merit, you have to do it. So might as well make it fun, right?

     But people still don’t try.

     “It’s gym, so they don’t think they have to take it seriously,” said senior Haleigh Greer.

Well, have fun explaining to the colleges you applied to why you failed gym, even though the majority of the grade is participation, not skill, based. Not participating will hurt your grade and your GPA, and conversely, participating can improve your GPA.

     “I think some kids don’t try because they aren’t very physical,” said Lyman.

With the exception of the one or two kids who play that unit’s sport and the kid who is good at every sport, everyone is pretty bad at gym sports. No one will blame you for not knowing how to play a sport. Giving it your best is the most anyone should expect from you.

“Some are embarrassed to try because they aren’t good. Like in kickball or baseball, going up to bat,” said Greer.

Some of the sports do single people out. Everyone watches the batter in softball. But no one will be upset with you if you strike out. If anyone says anything, the gym teacher will be quick to tell them to keep quiet. The athletes in the class will be upset, however, when you give no effort and then let your team down.

     The friends reason kids don’t try in gym is because it isn’t cool to care about gym. Right?

     The friend who think it’s not cool to care about grades or physical fitness or mental health (exercise is proven to relieve stress) aren’t really good friends. And if your boyfriend won’t love you if your hair is a little messy and your makeup isn’t perfect, maybe you should consider a guy who isn’t so shallow.

“It’s not uncool,” said Heuck. “It’s not cool to be the one who sits and is lazy.”

The one exception to the fun of participation in gym is fitness day. But suffer through the misery of jogging six laps around the track once a week to keep the grade up, and you can have fun the rest of the week.

Your gym teacher and your peers only expect you to put forward your best effort for 40 minutes every day. It’s not hard. It even gives you a chance to relax about that math test you’re cramming for and to just run around and burn calories. And, heck, you might even have fun doing it.

“I try to motivate people to try hard,” said Lyman of his gym class. “I notice them smiling and laughing and having fun when everyone participates.”