The evolution of Field Day in Colorado: Why elementary school rite of spring shifted away from ribbons and competition

Amid a new era Doug Bierzychudek is one of the last champions of the ribbon The -year Jeffco Masses Schools physical schooling professor who officially retired last week is a Field Day diehard And until the very end he awarded placement ribbons each spring He ran a day-long competition for students at Blue Heron Elementary in Littleton The morning was formatted like a track meet Events like the -meter dash hurdles three-legged race high jump and sport stacking featured five competitors per heat with a blue ribbon given to the winner and a different colored ribbon for each of the other places Then in the afternoon Bierzychudek staged non-competitive events that hewed toward what Field Day has become a celebration of teamwork sportsmanship and ensuring that kids of all abilities feel valued when exercising Over the last couple decades there was a push to not being competitive at Field Day Bierzychudek explained Everything competitive was dummied down Everyone gets a ribbon everyone wins everyone feels good That notion hit the whole country except for my classes and my Field Day I just couldn t let the true competition die My Field Day presented real-life situations Winning and losing Welcome to the real silly world that we live in Bierzychudek did adjust to the change in philosophy but he long remained in the minority of gym teachers who recognize winners individually He believes that even with ribbons he accomplished the same goal that s now the national standard Joe Deutsch the president of the Society of Soundness and Physical Educators and a professor in strength nutrition and exercise sciences at North Dakota State explained that the shift is a reflection of the holistic change in physical coaching as a whole Thirty forty years ago the focus in P E was on growing athletes or growing elite physical human beings Deutsch declared Therefore Field Day was an identification of that And that is not at all what Field Day should be now Children laugh together under a parachute during Field Day at Ashley Elementary School in Denver on Friday May Eli Imadali Special to The Denver Post It s fun competition now like your family playing fun games in the backyard We don t have to give out ribbons and establish dominance in the process Our focus in physical coaching is and should be in helping people discover their passion for lifelong physical activity and Field Day is supposed to be an opportunity for a fun reflection of that Related Articles Exercise boosts survival rates in colon cancer patients analysis shows Kickboxing studio blames landlord fetid odors for Uptown closure That new approach could be seen in the afternoon portion of Bierzychudek s Field Day a period filled with games like squirt tag the big clothes relay and the parachute topped off by popsicles But the morning That more closely resembled what the annual elementary school rite of spring once was A track-and-field competition that rewarded athleticism and winning The hybrid affair reflected a localized philosophy by school districts that gives P E teachers the power to conduct their Field Day as they best see fit It s all about what each school wants to do listening to the values of their school and what they ve done over the years and what the atmosphere of the school is to determine what their Field Day looks like reported Douglas County School District specials coordinator Laurie LaComb I think that is the occurrence with the majority Colorado districts New-age Field Day lessons Of the eight P E teachers across four districts that The Post spoke to for this story Bierzychudek was the only one who gave out ribbons The rest put on events similar to the one at Powderhorn Elementary P E facilitator Owen Plyler describes it as a blend of medical and fitness programs team-building and cooperation pursuits and a scarce competitive races with no reward for winning Plyler who also serves as Dakota Ridge s varsity boys soccer coach described his childhood self as a blue-ribbon fella but believes that it s fine that we ve largely moved on from the pin-the-ribbon-on-the-kid days I m not one to say it has to be either way Plyler disclosed I just want everyone to get out and have a great workout Have a few competition but not let winning drive our behavior and attitude At Ashley Elementary in Denver seventh-year P E coach Kelly Donnelly says the philosophy of her Field Day is to demonstrate safety cooperation and good sportsmanship by following rules staying with the group working with various classmates and encouraging others to achieve objectives of the challenge Physical tuition tutor Kelly Donnelly and students gather during Field Day at Ashley Elementary School in Denver on Friday May Eli Imadali Special to The Denver Post Ashley s Field Day this past Friday had a couple traditional events such as tug-of-war and the potato sack race but it was a ribbonless day heavy on out-of-the-box team-building games There were leaky pipes where students in a line passed a PVC pipe filled with water over their heads There was the sponge relay which consisted of students passing a soaked sponge over their heads to transfer water to an empty bucket And there were the tallest tumbling towers where groups worked together to build the highest viable towers using mega cups Donnelly says the sportsmanship and cooperation pieces of Field Day are heavily emphasized throughout the year She even hands out good winner and good loser awards to reinforce the concepts during P E class What I dependably ask the students is What is more central The people or the battle ' Donnelly stated And they all know the people are more pivotal If they win they re not going to boast If they lose they re not going to pout they re going to tell the other band good job and look at their own teammates and say We ll do better next time ' A gang of students work together to build the highest tower practicable in a encounter of Tumbling Towers during Field Day at Ashley Elementary School in Denver on Friday May Eli Imadali Special to The Denver Post Over at Trevista at Horace Mann Elementary Donnelly s Denver General Schools counterpart Aric Pelafas has also embraced the new style of Field Day The eighth-year P E lecturer installed a unique wrinkle in his Field Day where instead of kids moving in groups from station to station in timed increments he allowed partnered students to freely choose whatever event they desired to do whenever they needed to do it If a pair of students sought to spend the whole minutes at the dunk tank obstacle relay or home run hitter competition Pelafas was all for it Pelafas doesn t do ribbons at his Field Day but he puts on a school race in the fall where the top three boys and girls placers in each grade get a medal New practice is doing small-grouped exercises with as a great number of kids moving as accomplishable as opposed to large games large relays where you might have five kids waiting in line and one kid moving at a time Pelafas revealed Since we ve got about stations to choose from now it s more of a laid-back atmosphere And since there s not giant crew or group pursuits there s less hype around winning and more hype around just having fun and moving their bodies Ribbons of nostalgia Still Donnelly and Pelafas both products of hyper-competitive Field Days as children acknowledged there s a lingering nostalgia for the old days I ve heard conversations among parents at Field Days like Remember when they used to give out the ribbons And then usually there s a laugh after like How ridiculous were we for sometimes making kids feel less than if they didn t win ' Donnelly reported So there s a nostalgia for those of us who went through that era but I ve never heard a parent say Why are we doing these other games now ' Almost HOPE Online Learning Academy Co-Op students from across Colorado attended a field day event at CU Denver Field at the Auraria Campus on Friday afternoon Sept Photo by Patrick Traylor The Denver Post Grandview football coach Tom Doherty longs for the blue-ribbon days Bierzychudek refused to give up He believes moments like the one he experienced in fifth grade at Shrine of St Anne Catholic School in Arvada are part of what shaped him as a person I remember thinking about Field Day for weeks ahead of time Doherty stated At St Anne I could never beat my friend Dean Benallo in anything I definitively beat him in the shoe kick got a blue ribbon and Field Day is etched in my brain forever On the flip side Deutsch believes that what Field Day has become is not sport nor should it be Rather its current form is aimed at the violin contestant and other kids who might not see themselves as an athlete and so not as physical guidance ' Club and expedition sports are crazy in the present day in comparison to what they were even years ago and so there s plenty of opportunities for kids to establish their dominance in sports through those outlets that they re participating in outside of school Deutsch explained Bennett Moreland a -year-old fourth grader at Cherokee Trail Elementary in Parker sees both sides Moreland is a standout athlete and wishes his Field Day came with ribbons to commemorate his wins But he also wants positive vibes for all of his classmates I m a competitive person and I like winning Moreland declared It d just be cool to have a ribbon for events I ve won But I also get why they don t give them out because a few of the kids who aren t as athletic I wouldn t want them feeling bad for losing Bierzychudek s longtime district P E coordinator David Yonkie believes the ribbons were not as significant for the students as it was for the parents Bierzychudek respectfully disagrees It s why Bierzychudek also lamented the demise of the Presidential Physical Fitness Test which ended in and ceased the blue red and white patches that came with it The blue patch was given to kids who scored at or above of the national percentile on the test s five aspects endurance run shuttle run sit-ups sit-and-reach and pull-ups or push-ups As he packed up his office to head into retirement Bierzychudek vowed that his approach to incentive-driven athletic expansion of young people would continue even after he walked out the door Kids they miss the real competition They thrive on it Bierzychudek stated During all my Field Days I saw how kids would wear those ribbons with pride All blues one of every color it didn t matter Wearing the ribbons was fundamental And as for the Presidential Physical Fitness Awards I ve got a drawer full of them and I m taking them with me All of my grandkids are going to have to earn their Presidential Physical Fitness Award like I did when I was their age Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter