Wii want to play!

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For South Philadelphia’s elementary and high school students, fall means outside competition becomes limited to football, golf and soccer. This year, however, Mother Nature’s seasonal lineup will not matter, as hundreds of local Catholic school children soon will enjoy modified versions of these sports, more than two dozen others and nearly a dozen fitness-related challenges at the Nintendo Wii Fitness Lab.

The new addition, located at Ss. Neumann-Goretti High School, 1736 S. 10th St., debuted last Thursday afternoon, making its host the first institution in the five-county Archdiocese of Philadelphia to integrate simulated athletic action into its curriculum.

Following a prayer and a tidy press conference, President John Murawski, a 1996 graduate of the former St. John Neumann High School, 26th and Moore streets, led the attendees to the facility. A tad to the left of the gymnasium, which, courtesy of the school’s basketball teams, has become a spot for intense duels, the 50-by-25-foot room entertained 14 students. All seeking victories and a good time, the learners also realized their fortunes in sampling the new technology.

“It’s a really good addition to our school,” Felicia Punzo, a senior, noted while helping Reenie Black, a sixth-grader from Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 2329 S. Third St., to take an imaginary bicycle ride through San Francisco.

Punzo, a resident of the Reserves at Packer Park and a varsity soccer player, had already enjoyed baseball, bowling and dancing before visiting the City by the Bay. Her most difficult endeavor, however, had been imagining she was hula hooping.

“That game killed my stomach!” she said of a special morning journey to the lab.

For her California trip, she and Black, from the 300 block of Tree Street, used a remote and a balance board. Both enable users to situate themselves in the worlds of the gaming console’s myriad of athletic and fitness choices.

“I like this,” Black said of being able to bicycle by the Golden Gate Bridge. “It’s really fun.”

Her sentiments dovetail perfectly with the administration’s goals to find new means to engage the 21st century’s students.

“The days of layup drills and climbing the rope are far gone in current physical education curricula,” Murawski said.

To make his school a leader in the fitness revolution, he teamed with Rosemarie Whelan, a health and physical education teacher, who brought him her plan. Their efforts have produced what Mary Rochford, the superintendent of schools, has deemed the first such lab in the Archdiocese’s collection of more than 200 elementary, secondary and special education schools.

Murawski said he knows nothing of any plans others may have for duplicating his school’s move, yet he noted that suburban school systems have begun to offer similar learning tools to bridge any gaps between staff and students.

“For us, this lab and talk of what we can do with it really has brought an added sense of spirit to our already spirited school,” he said.

Costing $50,000, the lab contains eight projectors that the Archdiocese provided. The remaining financial portion came through the school’s budget. The amount of projectors eventually will swell to 10 and be available most days until 3:30 p.m.

Before Murawski’s school merged with St. Maria Goretti in 2004, the lab served as a sewing room. The room was later converted into a fitness center.

According to a June financial report by Nintendo, consumers have bought nearly 74 million Wii units since the company launched the system November 19, ’06. Wii targets all age groups, a fact that led Vinnie Harvey, the youngest student breaking a sweat, to hit long drives as he golfed.

“I like hitting the ball far,” Harvey, a fifth grader at Mt. Carmel and a resident of Front and Wolf streets, said.

Black, Harvey and students from St. Richard’s, 19th and Pollock streets, attended and partook because of their involvement in the Saints in Training Program. The after-school group assimilates middle school students to what Murawski hopes will be their next educational stop. It devises introductory academic courses to facilitate the transition to high school and engages them in the activities Neumann-Goretti offers.

One of Murawski’s current charges, senior Dave Kinee, kept his heartbeat racing with baseball, bowling and tennis. To track the effects of his exertion, Kinee wore a Polar heart rate monitor. His pulse ranged from 91-110 beats per minute with the first two, rising slightly as he played tennis on a grass court.

The resident of the 2400 block of South 16th Street volunteered to wear the monitor as a preliminary way of helping teachers to gauge the games’ overall effectiveness.

“I’m a senior so I figured I’d take charge. I said ‘I’ll be the guy,’” Kinee said.

If he continues to work on his technique, Kinee could be the man when the school holds its Wii bowling championships in mid-December.

“It’s the talk of the student body,” Murawski said.

The school’s intramural program will include a bowling league and by February or March, Principal Patricia Sticco expects full integration of the lab into Whelan’s courses and teacher Dominic Rapino’s health classes.

The lab becomes the school’s latest technologically savvy move, joining two dozen smart boards and projectors, a media center and a net book lab. Plans to construct a new chemistry lab also have begun bubbling. All of the newness affirms Murawski’s goal to remind students of how fun education can be.

“The [Wii] lab especially speaks volumes to our commitment to connecting with the students of today. I feel the addition of the Wii lab will allow for more opportunities for our students to get involved with after-school activities that interest them,” he said.

For Punzo, the lab will not be an exclusive after-school treat.

“I approve of this technology. Jumping rope is old school. I have gym this year, so I am going to be a lucky senior who can use Wii. I am so excited,” she said. SPR

Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.

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