Promoting fitness and wellness to DLSU students

Most General Education (GE) courses in De La Salle University (DLSU) require students to take final exams or to submit a final course output by the end of the trimester to assess their learning for the entire course. But for DLSU’s Physical Education (PE) Department, exams and projects are not just the means of evaluating the students’ learning as they stage a culminating activity for the different PE courses before the term officially ends.

FITWELL: Stretch, jump, run

Physical Fitness and Wellness or FITWELL is one of the courses offered by the PE Department. FITWELL serves as the foundation of students for the succeeding PE courses as it teaches them the importance of basic exercises to become physically fit and healthy. Students under the course perform various exercise activities and physical fitness tests to measure their strength, speed, agility, and flexibility among others.

The PE Department hosts a culminating activity for all students taking the FITWELL course a few days before the official finals week of the University to serve as an alternative final exam. As a community, all students have to follow a fitness instructor on stage and perform basic exercise routines with the beat of the music. It is a non-stop activity that tires students easily when they do the exercises for quite sometime. However, it surely burns all their excess calories and gives them a lighter feeling at the end of the activity.

FTDANCE: Move to the groove

From the basic exercises in FITWELL, the PE Department also offers the FTDANCE course or Fitness and Wellness in Dance. Under FTDANCE, students are expected to learn and appreciate the beauty and health benefits brought by dancing. Professors of FTDANCE teach the students different kinds of dances ranging from ballroom to modern dances. One of the major requirements in the course is the culminating activity that features all enrolled students in FTDANCE performing a specific genre of dance.

In every production number, at least two or three sections have to showcase their talent in dancing and present a complete dance routine in front of the other FTDANCE professors and the other students. Students do not only prepare and practice for the dance itself but also groom and dress in their best outfits for the entire activity.

FTTEAMS: One for all, all for one

While FITWELL and FTTEAMS do not require a lot of strenuous work, Physical Fitness and Wellness in Team Sports or simply FTTEAMS surely demands more effort and energy from the students. The PE Department teaches team sports in the FTTEAMS course like basketball, volleyball and football or “futsal”. More than promoting good health, an active lifestyle, and teamwork to the students, FTTEAMS gives an opportunity for students to play and enjoy the sport they love or they wish to learn. Professors teach the basic lessons about the specific team sports such as its brief history, important terms, rules, and the proper way of playing.

As an application of all the lessons taught to the students since the first day of classes, students have to choose representatives or players from their own section that competes against the representatives or players of another section. At the end of the section tournaments, the standings accumulated by the different classes under the subject plays a big factor in determining the final grade of the students.

FTSPORT: Play and learn

Similar to the FTTEAMS course, FTSPORT or Fitness and Wellness in Individual and Dual Sports will encourage students to be active, fit, and healthy while enjoying a sport activity. Aside from the course’s aim for a better health and lifestyle for the students, FTSPORT offers several individual and dual sports activities like badminton, table tennis, judo, and arnis.

A culminating activity is also held a few days before the official finals week set by the University as an alternative form of a final exam for the course. Instead of the usual final written exams or reports, FTSPORT students have to compete against another student of the same sport. For those enrolled in Judo under DLSU Judo team head coach Sam Bernales, they will experience the intensity of competing against the varsity players of DLSU’s very own Judo team.