Polar Heart Rate Monitors

Rick’s program is top of the line in terms of technology and its use of heart rate monitors and assessment equipment

Rick has twenty-six years of teaching experience in Iowa, 21 years in Grundy Center as an elementary Physical Education instructor. In 1993 he was honored as the Iowa Elemtary PE teacher of the year

Rick pushes for change in the physical education world. He recognizes the need for open-mindedness and innovation and has said this during a presentation “if we continue doing what we have done in the past we will continue to get what we have gotten in the past, to the point of being eliminated from the educational landscape.”



pe4life

PE4life Core PrinciplesWe believe a quality physical education program should:

• Offer a variety of fitness, sport, leisure, and adventure activities to all students

• Implement a K-12 standards-based curriculum

• Provide a safe and encouraging learning environment

• Utilize individual assessments 

• Incorporate current technology

• Extend PE beyond the walls of the gymnasium
• Ideally, be offered to every child every day

PE4life supports getting kids active and healthy by engaging them through fun and interaction. We invite implementation of technology into Physical Education classrooms by encouraging the use of interactive gaming, heart rate monitors, pedometers and other feedback tools. Enabling a student to monitor their heart rate allows them to observe the direct effect exercise has on the body. Whether they are using interactive gaming equipment or participating in sports, fitness or adventure activities, students learn how to maintain the appropriate intensity of activity to enhance their health. PE4life supports physical educators and connects them to appropriate resources to enhance the delivery and results of their program. Assessment is a key component to a successful program. PE4life advocates for the incorporation of assessment tools, which can help students and teachers track progress made towards achieving fitness goals. By using innovation and technology to evaluate, plan and monitor a student’s progress, programs incorporating PE4life’s Core Principles are having a positive impact on the health of children. PE4life understands the importance of nutrition. For this reason, we have partnered with the American Dietetic Association Foundation (ADAF) and the American Council for Fitness and Nutrition Foundation (ACFN Foundation) to form the Healthy Schools Partnership (HSP). Building upon an already successful program incorporating PE4life’s Core Principles, the HSP is an innovative school-based program designed to integrate nutrition education into physical education. The HSP teams a Registered Dietitian nutrition coach with the PE4life teacher, showing children that the calories they eat and the calories they expend must be in balance. HSP helps to create a wellness culture throughout the school by teaching how activity and diet matters to the wellness of the whole person.