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Bret Caslavka is not an ordinary physical education teacher. In fact, he’s technically not a PE teacher at all. The 53-year-old kinesiologist created a nonprofit program several years ago called Youth to the Core, which aims to help elementary, middle, and high schools, develop better physical education programs.
Caslavka’s program implements a wide variety of concepts ranging from how various parts of the body operate during physical exercise, to the proper way to move during those exercises in order to maximize results and minimize the risk of injury. Caslavka is a lifelong physical education enthusiast despite never having been a teacher himself. He has a master’s degree in Exercise Science and owns a personal training company in Southern California.
He says his passion, however, is helping young people learn proper exercise and understand why physical fitness is so important. He works with physical education teachers all over Southern California to implement better and more dynamic PE programs in their schools in an effort to fight childhood obesity and keep kids healthy. The focus, however, is really on movement and how to properly move the various parts of their bodies during specific exercises.
Caslavka works with PE teachers to implement quality, innovative supplementary concepts into physical education curricula that fit all grades and age groups within the schools.
In order to measure retention and gauge the students’ progress, the teachers administer a variety of tests that utilize writing, drawing, and even coloring that relate to the various lessons learned. There is also a fitness assessment that is administered to each student both at the beginning and at the end of each school year, in addition to being given body mass index (BMI) results.
Caslavka loves what he does and calls himself “the PE teacher’s PE teacher.”