Crowd All Sweaty at Southdown Fitness Night

A crowd of more than 125 students and parents turned out for Southdown Primary School’s fun-filled Fitness Night. They all got a good physical and intellectual workout.

Hosted by Southdown physical education teachers John Romano and Natalee Schaeffer, the evening featured two sessions. The first half hour saw kindergarteners and first graders in the gymnasium playing “planet ball” while second and third graders were in the cafeteria participating in various fitness games that utilized a deck of playing cards.

Halfway through the evening, the two groups switched activity stations and crossed the hallway.

“In the gymnasium, the parents and students were able to participate in a parents vs kids game of ‘planet ball,’ where the two teams worked together in throwing yarn balls to knock over the hula hoop made planets,” Mr. Romano explained. “Score was kept to determine a winner. At the end of the night the parents announced as the winners.”

Student and parents both headed home from Southdown’s Fitness Night all sweaty, but excited for next year’s event.

Mr. Romano has been a Huntington physical education teacher since September 2018. He earned an undergraduate degree in sports management at Dowling College in 2007 and obtained a graduate degree in physical education at Adelphi University in 2011.

Prior to coming to Huntington, Mr. Romano taught physical education at PS/MS 206 in New York City and at the Boys and Girls Club in Hempstead and was a leave replacement teacher, internal school suspension supervisor and permanent substitute in Kings Park.

Mr. Romano has coached boys’ cross country, boys’ tennis, boys’ and girls’ basketball, softball and baseball interscholastically.

Mrs. Schaeffer has been a Huntington physical education and health education teacher since September 2010. She obtained undergraduate and graduate degrees at SUNY Cortland in 2004 and 2006, respectively. She secured her school administrator certification through Stony Brook University.

Prior to coming to Huntington, Ms. Schaeffer worked for several years as a physical education and health teacher in West Islip and as a leave replacement in South Huntington. She has coached girls’ volleyball on the high school and middle school levels and middle school girls’ lacrosse.