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Stillwater Area High School
5701 Stillwater Blvd. N.
Stillwater, MN 55082

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Bo Hopkins
Staff Reporter


Students of Stillwater Area High School have been taking Team
Sports for generations. In the past Team Sports fulfilled the
physical education requirement that was necessary for students to
graduate. But now Team Sports is not a physical education credit
but it provides lifelong experiences for students. Team Sports helps
 students learn and develop problem solving skills, decision making,
social skills and cooperation skills.

In Team Sports a participant gets to play sports for 50 minutes of
their day. Sports include softball, flag football, floor hockey,
basketball, volleyball, team handball, wiffleball, ultimate frisbee,
BK and soccer.

"My personal favorite game to play is called BK. Elmer got it from the east coast some time back in his career. BK is an eloquent combination of basketball and handball. In which the team that gets the most baskets wins the game. This is my favorite game because I think it is the most fun. But it is also a sport that shows how teamwork is essential," said junior Tony Nettleton.

Elmer has been teaching Team Sports for quite some time. But he was not the first, the previous teacher of Team Sports was Denny Bloom. Bloom was the original creator of the competitive All-American in Team Sports. The All-American is the individual participant who receives the most points throughout the semester of Team Sports. The All-American position is highly competitive.

"It is funny sometimes because some students care about the All-American more than their grade even though it has nothing to do with their grade. The more difficult thing is when we [our school] went from trimesters to semesters. When that happened we had to create more units [sports]. In that process we made some of the previous sports safer and that is a plus. A unit begins with a draft then a preseason followed by league play and finally a tournament. When it came to tournaments I just tried to make them more exciting," said Elmer.

Team Sports is a great class to take if one likes to stay fit and exercise in their daily schedule. Team Sports is also great for relieving the stresses that come with a difficult day of school. Team Sports is a nice break in the day for anyone that may need it.

"It is nice having Team Sports and also nice to have it first hour because my day does not really have to start until second hour," said junior Andy Frost.

Team Sports is said to be one of the favorite classes among electives at SAHS.

"Sometimes we will have those days where kids call in sick. But they will come to school when their hour of team sports begins, then go back home," added Elmer.