Houston ISD coach keeps his students moving with virtual P.E.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Between reading, math, science and social studies, there's a lot to keep up with if you are homeschooling your kids. It can be easy to forget about another class that is part of your student's regular school routine: physical education.

Coach Austin Obeng of Houston ISD is keeping his students and athletes moving with virtual P.E.

Coach Obeng teaches physical education and coaches at Black Middle School and Waltrip High School. During the shut down, instead of using a whistle and a clipboard, he's now using a keyboard.

"In the beginning, it was kind of difficult to wrap my mind around, because I'm used to doing things hands-on," he said.

He posts exercise assignments every morning and has his students check in online after their workouts. He keeps his routines simple with little challenges added in.

"A lot of the workouts that I am doing are free body weight and things that we have been doing from day one," he said.

What he finds most rewarding is the feedback he gets from his students.

"We want to thank Coach Obeng for sending the workouts," swimmer Brianna Simmons said in a recent video she shared with Houston ISD.

"Just seeing the smiles on their faces while they do the workouts. They message me [with] what their new maxes with pushups are [and] their new times for running," he said.

He believes physical performance will help boost academic performance.

"You want to educate the mind, and you want to stretch the body so the body can grow," he said. "I think they go hand in hand."

His lessons are ones we could all use.

"You want to be a better person than you were when this started," he advised.

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