KNPE professor to head new national association

by Mark McGowan

Connie Fox turns to glance outside her office window on the second floor of Anderson Hall, home to NIU's Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education.

Fox hopes to see the nearby tennis courts alive with friendly competition – after all, it's a gorgeous day, and the first in a long while without oppressive humidity and temperatures in the 90s – but finds them vacant.

Such inactivity on the part of Americans and the epidemic of obesity are the targets of the American Association for Physical Activity and Recreation, which Fox will lead the next two years as its first president.

“The downside of technology is that you can sit at your desk all day and be entertained and get some work done, but that doesn't get you out to be active,” Fox said. “There's an increasing level of obesity in children and adults, but we don't really eat so much. We're inactive. It's what we're not doing.”

Fox is the first president of AAPAR, a new 8,300-member group formed through the April merger of the American Association for Active Lifestyle and Fitness and the American Association for Leisure and Recreation. It combines school-focused and lifelong-focused work.

She and other AAPAR leaders plan a January national announcement in Washington , D.C. Their message also is spread through word of mouth, publications and advertising.

Among the group's missions:

• Greater physical activity in schools. “School P.E. programs are not enough. There's got to be physical activity time built into the school day,” Fox said. “It's a harder sell in Illinois, which is the only state to require daily P.E. from kindergarten through 12 th grade, but it's clear P.E. alone is not working. Students need more opportunities for quality and meaningful physical activity.”
• Playground safety. The group's Playground Safety Council provides children with the knowledge of how to participate safely in physical activity outside of school.
• Adapted physical activities for people with disabilities. The group's aquatics council offers accreditation for adapted aquatics programs, she said.
• Lifelong physical activity and meaningful activity for aging populations. The group's Council on Aging and Adult Development conducts workshops for exercise leaders in retirement centers and senior centers. NIU Professor Pamea “Pommy” Macfarlane, who leads many of the workshops, teaches NIU students how to lead exercise with seniors at the Oak Crest Retirement Center in DeKalb.
• Quality assessment. Members of the Measurement Council, which include Fox, research what tests best measure physical activity levels and how to accurately interpret the resulting data.
• Professional development. P.E. teachers can stay in touch with current thinking through seminars on best practices.

Despite her research work in measurement, Fox attributes her 21 years at NIU to another inspiration.

“My real passion is in teacher education,” she said. “I want to see kids in schools maximize their potential. I want to see kids in schools love physical activity and get the most out of their lives. My work at NIU with future P.E. teachers allows me to make a much bigger impact on the quality of daily P.E.”

A college athlete – basketball, volleyball, field hockey and “whatever was in season,” she said – Fox knew her career lie in physical activity when she realized “the only thing consistent is that I'm doing sports.”

Now more likely to play golf, walk, pedal a bike, lift weights or trail behind her big dog, she still seizes any opportunity for physical activity. “This is cool stuff,” she said. “Let's get people active. Let's get 'em up and doing something.”

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