When Isabel Peine Coaches, Every Kid Belongs

Isabel Peine's background is impressive. She earned degrees in biomedical engineering and mathematics while competing as an NCAA Division I cheerleader.

But at NTegrity Athletics in Goddard, Peine uses those talents in a different way. She uses her critical-thinking skills to help kids who have disabilities or other differences take tumbling lessons, and she uses her welcoming personality to make all kids feel like they belong.

In this episode of Let's Get Personal, hear how this STUNT and ninja warrior coach is making her corner of the world a little brighter for kids.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:02

Hi, I'm Olivia, and I'm Kristen. Through our work at Learning Lab, which talks, we get a front road speed to innovation and personalized kindergarten through 12th grade learning. On this podcast, we share stories of how educators and parents are helping kids discover their passions. So you can do the same for a child you love. Let's get personal. Hi everyone, and welcome to Let's Get Personal Real Talk About Reimagining Education. Today, Kristen and I are so excited to welcome Isabel Piney with Integrity Gym. Um, Kristen's gotten to chat with Isabel before, but I haven't. So I can't wait to ask you all the questions. But thanks for joining.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

Of course. Thanks for having me. Of course. Yeah, Isabel came through on a tour, and I was just really intrigued with her story about specifically about how she works with students that have disabilities or learning differences in through tumbling. And so, and I feel like Isabel is. Can I ask how old you are? Is that rude? I'm 22. Yeah. So she's just like pretty young, which I always say Lydia's young, but you're quite a bit younger than Lydia. Um and just like your interest in helping um those kind of kids um is really cool. And so I got excited about it. And plus, I don't know, I think coaches have like a great influence on kids. Um we talk all the time about helping kids explore their talents and interests. Um and it's in my opinion, it's you know, we say it so they can self-actualize or become the best version of themselves. But it it has a lot to do with like self-esteem. If you have something that you feel like you love to do and you're good at it, then it helps you be successful in other areas. So that's kind of what you're doing as a coach.

SPEAKER_04 2:02

But anyway. Yeah, yeah. Well, so just tell us I want to learn a little bit about you. Um yeah, so wherever you want to start with that.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Sure. So I grew up tumbling and dancing. And I'm sorry, are you from here? No, I'm from Hayes. Okay, all right, great. Okay. So came here for Wichita State and went to college there. But grew up dancing. I was a competitive dancer, then decided I wanted to cheer, so got all my tumbling back and figured that world out. Um, and then I coached when I was young. It was kind of like a mentee to my coach, kind of. Um and learned how to coach. He also just used me as kind of like a demo for younger kids, and that's kind of how I learned how to coach people. But then when I got to Wichita State, I coached at a gym for a little bit, my like freshman and sophomore year. Then I graduated from Wichita State and then coach at integrity now. So talk about integrity a little bit. What's it like? Yeah. Sure. So they do tumbling, stunt, and ninja warrior, and then they also have a couple like one-off classes. They do like an acro class, and then we some of us coaches do privates. So tumbling is non-competitive through that gym. It's just a rec kind of fun, which is one reason I love it because the kids get to just learn, and it doesn't matter if they're like great at it or if they've never done it, they're intermixed in classes, and so we just have a lot of fun there. Um, stunts competitive. This is their second season doing it. It's grown a lot, so that's really cool. And then Ninja Warriors just chaos and fun and all the things.

SPEAKER_04 3:37

Okay, so I've learned a lot from Kristen because her daughter does these some of these things. But can't you? There's gotta be a difference between stunt, tumbling, acro, gymnastics. I don't know. You guys are you guys use words and they all I know that they mean something. Stunt does the new sports.

SPEAKER_03 3:54

I don't really understand it either.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

So tell is it like a college sport now? Yes. So they do it in college, and then they've now have these younger leagues. So integrity does like an 8U, 11U, 14U, and then 18U. Then from there you go on to college. Most of the colleges do like clubs, is what they are, but it's a new sport and basically take all the stunts in cheerleading. Okay. And then take away like game day. So they're not cheering at games, they're not doing anything like that. And they're set up, they're called games. So you go to a game, like a basketball game, and you have two teams, and you go out on the mat, and the referee calls. Well, actually, the other teams call. So I would say we want to do routine one, and then both teams like face off and do it at the exact same time. Then the judges are like picking out every little thing you did wrong. Basically. Is it count-based? Like, do they count it out?

SPEAKER_03 4:53

And so you're like one, two, three, four. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

So there's like a song in the background, but it's very heavily counts, like everything hits on a count. It's like extremely sharp stunts.

SPEAKER_04 5:04

But these are two opposing teams. So you're competing, but they would both know the same routine. Yes. Okay. So like you're getting the choreography at the beginning of a season, and then it's like, okay. Isn't it dancing though?

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Isn't it mostly like stunting? It's yeah, just stunting so there's quarters. It's like just stunting, and then there's one quarter that's tumbling. Okay. And then quarter four, you like put it all together. So you do like stunt, tumble, pyramid, and it's like all together. Interesting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

Do all the girls do stunting and tumbling? Are there some girls that specialize?

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Yeah, there's some that do like you could have an 18 U and they can't all do standing tucks, but if you have like three, then you'll see them do the standing tuck in like all the routines. But they might not do the stunt in the routines or something like that. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:52

And so I don't know if our audience cares about this, but I'm just curious about how is that different from acrobatics and tumbling? Do you know very much? I mean, I know acrobatics and tumbling is similar. I they don't, I don't think they go simultaneously, right? So it'll be like they'll call, and I think it goes in this, it's not like they'll just call it a minute, like they'll go in an order and it will be like the tumbling, like synchronous tumbling event, and then they'll go, but then the other team goes after them. So it's not like at the same time. So I think maybe that's different.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

I don't know, but they yeah, stunt is very like there's a lot of strategy to it. And so if you're you call like I might call routine four because the other team might not do routine four. So like if routine four is the highest routine and your group can do it really well, but maybe you've watched the other team warm up and they can't hit the skills, you would call that.

SPEAKER_03 6:47

That's so interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. And so you kind of learned, like, obviously, you understood the skills that go into it because it's like cheerleading skills. Yeah. But you had to learn the sport after college.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Yeah. Yep. I actually learned it. I coached. I wasn't supposed to coach this first season, but we had a girl have a baby. So I actually got thrown in like several months after they started. And I had to learn like 18 routines and figure out how to help the girls. But it was fun.

SPEAKER_04 7:19

That's really impressive. Okay. So you went to Witch State. You got a degree in biomedical engineering and mathematics, and now you teach full time at this gym. Is that what you do? So I coach and then I actually substitute teach right now.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Okay, nice. Great. Haven't found my That's okay.

SPEAKER_03 7:36

We might still have some jobs for you. We're very yeah, that's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_04 7:41

Um yeah, I'm just seems like a very big or just very different pathways. That's what I have.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

So kind of rewind a little bit. So you decided you wanted to cheer when you were in high school and you really worked on like tumbling all the skills you needed to get, and then you had to come try out for Wichita State's cheer team. How was that?

SPEAKER_00 8:02

It was so I got lucky because it was during COVID. So it was video tryouts, which is like a blessing in disguise because you can shouldn't say this, but you can put the video together to make you look the best where you want to look. So I actually tried out at a lot of schools. They were all video. I didn't have to try out in person for any of them. Wow. So yeah, that'd be fun kind of.

SPEAKER_03 8:23

You could like try out for more teams.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Yeah, I did. I just sent videos like everywhere. Because it was easy. So it was great. And then I ended up, I actually was not gonna go to Wichita State. That was like my last choice because I wanted to go further from home. But last minute I made the team and they have a great engineering program. So I just yeah, decided to do it.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

Yeah. How so how did you know you wanted to be an engineer?

SPEAKER_00 8:48

So my dad's an engineer, and I kind of grew up my dad can do everything, fix everything. Anytime my mom wants something, he just builds it, like very stereotypical engineer. So that was my dad. Yeah. My dad was an engineer too. So I kind of just like grew up doing those things and like always with my dad solving problems. And then I was good at math and science. Those were like my natural subjects that I was good at. And then I started Science Fair when I was in middle school with my dad, and we did some crazy projects and had a lot of fun with it. And so I just did engineering. I don't know. Can you remember? Like, can you give us an example of a science project that you did? Yeah. My very first one that I made to nationals with was cool. This was like seventh grade, so it was very easy projects, but it was popcorn. And like if I cook all these brands of popcorn for like two minutes in the microwave, which one has the most like popped kernel scoops?

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

So that was my first one. Then after that, my dad really got into it. So we did all kinds of stuff. But he works in ethanol. And my oh, maybe my sophomore year in high school, we did like an ethanol project, and so like E15 versus E30 versus E whatever. Burned those and then caught the pollution on like coffee filters. Oh my gosh. And that one I actually won state with and very cool. My dad was so into it.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

I feel like that's such good memories with your dad, but it also also obviously influenced like what you went on to want to do.

SPEAKER_04 10:27

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you're so you from that education experience, right? Like what did you what did you learn about yourself that maybe like pairs with your athletic experience? Or like how did the two how do the two like mesh together or overlap in your mind?

SPEAKER_00 10:44

So biomedical is very focused on like the body, but also like devices. So pacemakers, all that kind of stuff. My junior year, I took a class that was called like accessible design. And it was all on making, so we had like 10 different people from the community, then we were all put in groups to make like a product for that person. So they qualify for this program essentially by they need help with something, but their insurance can't cover it, or they've tried everything on the market and it's not working. So I got paired with a lady who needed a knee brace and she had like a skin graft on her knee and had like so many issues with her legs. So the ones on the market weren't working. Right, right. Um, so I we built her a knee brace, 3D printed it, all that. After that class, I was like, wow, like accessible design would be something that I would love to do, like come up with things for people that they can't find it, whatever. Sure. So then the honest answer is when I graduated, I couldn't get a job. I've applied for hundreds of jobs, and it's just girl, not working.

SPEAKER_03 11:52

You're such a gym, like I feel like they need to meet you. Like if you would just get an interview, they would hire you. It's just, yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

It's I've tried to take it as a sign that it's not. Maybe it's not like what I'm supposed to be doing. But I so I was coaching and then I got a call one day. Well, they called the gym, and it was a young girl with she's has autism, is non-verbal, hard of hearing. And her mom called the gym and was like, We would love to do something like this. Do you have somebody that could do it? And the owner just pulled me aside and was like, Here, answer this phone call. And I was like, Okay. So I talked to her, and really without even thinking, I just said yes. Like, I was like, sure, I can make something work. And so this is kind of where the bridge, like, I enjoy it because with her, she can't, she's not as coordinated or certain things like that. But I get to come up with solutions or like make drills different to work for her. So that kind of bridges my like problem-solving brain with really interesting a sport that I love.

SPEAKER_04 12:54

So yeah. You saying that makes me think there's a book called Um The End of Average by Todd Rose. Have you read it?

unknown 13:00

Have you read it?

SPEAKER_04 13:01

No. Um but he talks about how our society is designed for the average person, which means it inevitably doesn't fit most of the people that so like knee braces. I mean, like I just think that's so true for all of those. You were able to like really personalize and tailor something to that person. And now at the gym, sounds like you're able to do that for the kids that come into the space. So talk a little bit more about yeah, talk about the gym, talk about what you do with the kids. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

I guess we just I don't know, I focus on fun with the kids. Like I just focus on literally, if you watch me coach, like if the kids are screaming, I'm screaming. If the other day, like the kids had the wiggles and wanted to have a dance party, so we stopped class and literally just like danced for a few minutes. But that's what I focus on. We're not competitive and tumbling, so my worry is not like, oh, you need the skill. Yeah, that's not the point of what we're doing. Um, and so I try to do the same thing when I'm working with kids that have differences or whatever they may be facing, and just yeah, making it work for them the best that it can and coming up with ways. Gymnastics, tumbling, it's not an accessible sport. Like the sport is your body. So if you have a body that is not working in a certain way, then the sport is really difficult. Like there's just no w not no way, but there's nothing built for you to make the sport work. So I've really tried to come up just with my own drills and my own like I'll just go home and think of ways. Like, how could I help this person, you know, do a forward role, but not in the conventional way that I normally would teach other children to do a forward roll or something like that. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

You know, when you reached out to us, I mean, that's what you you have all these things that you're teaching, but you specifically referenced the the kids that maybe have a difference. And so I it seems like you really enjoy that part of it. Like you kind of have a passion for helping these kids that maybe wouldn't have these opportunities otherwise. What do you think that's about?

SPEAKER_00 15:13

I don't know. I think, well, I one is I like that I'm challenged to like come up with things. And Ninja Warrior serves well in that area too, because we build courses. So I get to just like go in there and I bet they love having you do that. Put it together. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:30

Let's not assume that everybody knows what Ninja Warrior is. I do. I watch the TV show. But talk about like, yeah, describe that because that's a very specific experience.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

So we just have a bunch of obstacles, or what we call them. So we have like a rig, which is monkey bars and like rings and different types of things that they hold on to. We have nets that they climb up and down. We have the warp wall, the iconic like run up it, try to catch the top. And then the rest of it is just like um, like we have these lily pad things that you walk across, but they like tip over. So we, if you don't step right in the right spot, you just like fall off. And then we have just things like that, things you crawl under, thing like the angled steps that you run back and forth between. So we build, I'm the head coach of it. So I show up early and you build the course. Yeah, we time them. And we've just recently gotten them on the trampoline too, learning how to do flips, but it's kind of more like parkour flips, not super like we don't teach a ton of technical, not technical, but it's just like run and flip. Yeah. And then we actually are doing our first competition in June. Oh fun.

SPEAKER_03 16:36

So that'd be really cool. Where is that? Where do where do they have Ninja Warrior competition? It's gonna be in our gym. We're at school.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

So you're inviting other teams. I think I don't know a ton. The owners are kind of doing it, and they've told me like this is the course we need. I'm like, okay, I got it. Super fun.

SPEAKER_04 16:55

And during COVID, I um I worked at Empowered or the agency that we were working with. One of the guys' sons was doing an American Ninja Warrior camp like during COVID. It was just like what he was doing. And I was like, that's so cool. Which like which taw does I have? Anything like that. And so it's really fun that here we are. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

And it's a great sport for kids that are like I love the kids I work with, but they're just not the most like graceful. Yeah. They just don't have to be a ballet dancer. No. And it's great for them. Like they can just run and fall and wipe out, and they don't care, they're not hurt, and it's like they just have a blast. I love it. It's a great sport.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

It makes me think you saying that makes me think about um, like, so going back, I think we were talking about this, but maybe I was thinking about it yesterday. I I think kids, especially with like learning differences or differences in abilities in general, every kid, let's just say all kids and all people need to feel like they have small wins, right? Like, like I need to win consistently to like build my self-esteem and build my confidence and understand how I can contribute to the world and my community. And so I just think what you're what you're doing in the gym, it sounds silly to be like, no, you can do it a you can do a ninja warrior course. Why? Because you can succeed. And so um, there's a framework that talks about um like knowledge and skills is one axis, and the other axis is enthusiasm. So it sounds like the kids that you have come in and are like, let's freaking go. And then you're building their knowledge and skills and abilities along the way, but you're giving them like the small wins to keep them motivated because if you just fail at something constantly, you're not gonna wanna keep going and come back. And so I think that's really that's really cool. That's really fun. I think I know some kids that would benefit from an American or a Ninja Warrior course at Learning Lab.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

I think so too, for sure. Um is this causing you to like dream? Like, I feel like you could be an inventor.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

I don't know. I do, I have thought about like going back to kids that don't can't fit right in the I don't know, traditional way of tumbling, right? I've thought like, hmm, what what mats could I make for them, or what you know, curriculum almost could you make for them to where it's more not even structured, but just so they have more access is really the only thing. But yeah, I think about sometimes. I don't know. My dad's very inventor at heart too. So sometimes we get on the phone and we're just like rambling ideas. But if it ever happens, I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:41

I mean, I we talk about building and launching schools or learning environments a lot. And so that's where my brain goes is what would a what would a ninja school look like? Or what would a a like there's gotta be because we see it with our wrestlers, the wrestling club that's in here, like those kids that are getting that output before they're learning. It's just they come in and their energy is different. And we talk a lot about like kids need to learn through the language that they speak. And so for some of your kids, right? Like it is that physical movement can't be under my my son goes to a play-based, nature-based school. Like he has to have physical output for him to want to engage in learning. And so I just think there's I think you should start a school. That's that's my there.

SPEAKER_03 20:28

You go. That's all you've got it.

SPEAKER_04 20:30

I don't think it has to be you, but I mean, I think that's where like you have such like the the design and like the physical output.

SPEAKER_03 20:37

Like you partner with somebody for the academic side, but I like the thought of having all these different activities accessible to kids that maybe wouldn't try it for whatever reason. I mean, you have kids that maybe they just don't feel like they're athletically inclined or they have some kind of a physical disability, or they have the autism. Yeah, you know. Um, but so since that first phone call, have you had other kids in that have some kind of differences?

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Yeah, I've had a few. Um, even just kids that are, you know, like ADHD and they struggle to like be in a class, it's very like, uh-huh. We're gonna do this sense.

SPEAKER_04 21:20

That's what I'm saying for our kids here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

No, I know some I know some can't do it's a no, and it's like honestly, those kids too, like when they just do a like a private lesson or they're in a smaller group, I'm totally okay with letting them like we'll work on a skill and then they can go jumble and trampoline for five minutes and just like do what they want to do. Then we come back and visit a skill. I really just base it off what the kid needs and how things work. So yeah, I've had some interest and I've reached out to other people to try to get more interest because it is something it's really rewarding for me because I do a lot of privates and I love all the kids I do privates with, but you know, you have kids that Come in that their parents want them to be great at the sport.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

And they're giving me the money to do the private, which of course I'm grateful for. But it's like I the kids just don't necessarily want to be there sometimes, or like they're not that driven and they're easy to work with, and it's great. And we get these skills. But for me as a coach, that's not as rewarding as a kid coming in that's never got to do this. And like, for instance, last week, the girl that my first phone call, she walked on the bounce beam for the first time by herself last week, and her mom was just like ecstatic about it. Yeah. She has never done it. And so it's so much more rewarding when that's the output instead of just like, I want my kid to be number one at best at this, so we're gonna come to these private lessons all the time. So yeah, it's been I'm trying to grow more interest because I think it's something that I would love to do.

SPEAKER_03 22:51

Do you think are all of these like privates, or would you ever do like a small class of these type of kids? Yeah, I would do a small class. I just haven't had it. I feel like if the word gets out in the right community, and I we talk about school, which is a little different, but we always hear that there's a need for a school not necessarily filled with kids with learning differences, but just um that accommodates them and understands how they learn. I mean, there's not a lot of alternative or private school options, but I do think like think about if you had even a gym, but okay, a school, and you had all of these different types of activities. You had Ninjaware, you had tumbling, I mean, you could add other stuff and just allowing kids that typically wouldn't make it through. You know, I'm it's reminding me of my daughter, Violet. She's almost 17 and she helps teach um like little kids at her gymnastic studio. But like I it just makes me think you must have like a special quality, like a patience or like a kindness, and not if Violet's super kind. I mean, she really is. But she just comes home and is like frustrated by basically like the ADHD behaviors. And I don't I think that she gets a lot of heat from her coach of like you're not controlling the kids, and she's like, these kids are controlled. But I feel like the fact that you like both understand some of these like mechanical processes and you have the patience to like invest in these kids, it's like kind of a rare combination.

SPEAKER_04 24:43

Yeah, yeah. What do you feel like are because you mentioned fun earlier? So like I think my husband is currently coaching a for helping coach our my son's first grade baseball team. So with Connor's very he was a college basketball coach, but he is very gotta give him credit, that he wants the kids to have fun and to love the sport. Like that's and and he wants them to get better because he knows again, like if kids don't have small wins, they don't, then the sport isn't fun. Yeah. So sounds like fun is one of the values that you hold very highly when you're to Kristen's point, like when you're engaging with these kids, like what are the other values that are your like, this is what I want them to feel, this is or whatever that might be.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

Yeah, there's a lot of things. I so fun, I'm trying to just help the kids like learn. That's the thing. And I want it to be fun, and I want I kind of to what you were saying, if they're not having fun, they're not gonna progress. That's kind of how it works. Like the kids that love it are the ones that progress because they keep trying and they keep, they ask questions and all of that. I also focus on touching with every kid, every class. Like I was a kid who was good at a lot of things that I tried, but I was really quiet and really timid. And sometimes the coaches reach out or say good job to the kids who are misbehaved, and then they have one great class and they're like, way to go, you know. And those kids that are really great or good at certain things consistently get pushed to the back. And I notice that even when I'm coaching, sometimes I'll have a child who's really good and they're well behaved and they are just like the perfect kid, and you find yourself just being like, Oh yeah, like she's doing great. But so one of my points also is to like touch with every kid on something every single class, whether it's a good job or like anything. All the coaches at the gym will tell you I am the most like obnoxious, honestly, with the kids, but that's just they respond well to that. Like I'm giving out high fives, jumping on the trampoline with them, like doing all the fun things. And sometimes my class probably does look out of control, but it's like controlled chaos. Yeah. And it's super fun. And I also really believe in if you want children to do a drill for tumbling, there's a lot of drills, or if you want them to learn, you should be able to do the drill also for the most part. I'm not saying the owners who are super, you know, they're older than me, but at my age, when I'm coaching these kids, I should not be able to say, like, you need to do this drill like this, and then them have no demo. So that's another. I still tumble myself. I still do the drills so that the kids can learn like visually, and that's also something important to me. Like, I can't ask you to do this if I can't do this, right? That's true. At least until I get to a certain age. Yeah. So my back really hurts. Exactly. While I'm young. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:44

It reminds me of I worked out of school where you the kids were not allowed to have beverages other than water. And there were teachers that would have their like big quick trip drinks. And I'd be like, that is like not really a good critical.

SPEAKER_04 27:56

Yeah. I coached girls' soccer um when I was teaching too. And I that was my same rule too. Like every condition, like every conditioning moment, especially, I was like, I will do this with you because I think it's important that you know that. I mean, you mentioned it earlier, but like sports and a lot of activities, but sports give that that quick failure loop and like productive struggle and like you can get through something. And so for them to also see like a grown-up whose opinion they value and respect also struggle or like you know, also perhaps fail, I think is really important. So I love that.

SPEAKER_03 28:34

I also really love what you said about controlled chaos because it just makes us think of our space. Our space is it doesn't look like your traditional elementary school classroom. Kids are not sitting in desks in rows, yeah. And if they've been like inundated in like a system of like structure, then they come in and they're like, and we're like, well, these kids are learning and these kids are happy. Yeah. Yeah. So I feel like you must be doing it right.

SPEAKER_04 29:06

And I mean, and it's okay, like that's not gonna be for everyone. I mean, have you had parents and families who've been like, you know what?

SPEAKER_00 29:13

Never mind. Honestly, no, but like you'll see in the gym in my classes, I'll have like a group that's kind of more reserved and structured, and they kind of become friends with each other, and then I have my wild kids and they become friends with each other. And honestly, it works well together. And I don't know, we don't really have any.

SPEAKER_04 29:32

I do appreciate that you that you make an effort to recognize every kid because that's Chris and I were both teachers. Like that was something I know. I look back and wish I had done a better job on was acknowledging the kids who were doing the things right and you know, all of all of those things. So I think that's really awesome.

SPEAKER_03 29:53

Um do you think do you love working with kids? I mean, it seems like you do. So do you feel like I'm gonna train to like plan your future on this podcast, but do you feel like you might be interested in teaching or doing something like that?

SPEAKER_00 30:09

Yeah, I don't know. I so I substitute teach right now. How's that? Talk about substitute teaching.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

Yeah, like in in public schools. Yeah. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

Yeah. So I'm in some of the smaller schools. Um I'm in the Renwick district. So it's like Andale, College, those smaller schools. And I do mostly younger kids there too. I like like kindergarten to fourth grade about. And then I get to middle school and I do do middle school, but they they're just they're hard. But I love it. I have a ton of fun with it. I think one thing I do like as a substitute teacher is like I get to go and teach them and have fun for the day. And then at the end of the day, it's like you have to be like just on the hand and be like a go back.

SPEAKER_03 30:52

Well, and you don't have all that planning. I mean, yeah, for better. I liked creating activities, like I liked that part of it, but I really did not like evaluating kids and like trying to keep up with standards and all of that, like it's almost like clerical work. Yeah, I did not enjoy that part of it. And that I never got like after 12 years, I was like, okay, clearly, like, I'm never gonna like this. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

And so I don't know if I would like ever teach in a public school. Like, I don't think I would become a teacher like at a public school, just like like that. But I do really enjoy teaching and have a lot of fun. And my kind of I kind of hold the same standards at the school. Like, we have a lot of fun. The class that I'm in is typically really loud, but I just shut the door and then like we're gonna do what she wants what your teacher wants us to do, but we're also gonna just have fun why I'm here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:46

Makes your life easier.

SPEAKER_03 31:48

Yeah. Does that make you think about like your school?

SPEAKER_00 31:52

So you went to a private school, yeah. I so I went to public school, private school, and then I lived in Australia, so I've been to school in Australia. That's interesting. Tell us about that. Yeah. So we moved to Australia when I was 11, I want to say. And it was for my dad's work. And we just went on a work visa. We were there for a year. Um I that was my favorite, besides college, that was my favorite format of schooling, was how they did school in Australia. Um but yeah, it was interesting. They are like age-wise, like a year ahead of us. I don't know if they still are. When we went, that's how they ran it. But curriculum-wise, they're a little bit behind. So when I went there, I went to I think it was fifth grade, maybe four fourth grade. But I like genuinely had a worksheet that I had done in the United States, the exact same worksheet, but I was a year ahead of what I was doing in America. And it was the same, it was a math worksheet, same exact worksheet, except it was in their metric unit and not in like what we used. Yeah. It was yeah, it was fun.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

So why like what made it be your favorite?

SPEAKER_00 33:04

They are just so much more focused on like living life, and they have a much slower role of life. And I in the United States as a student, I was very like, had to get everything right. I wanted great grades, I wanted to like you put pressure on yourself. And in Australia, they just don't really do that to any kid. It's just like, okay, we're gonna we would do something in the morning, then we'd go out for like a morning break, then we'd go back in and do like one subject, back outside. Go back in, have lunch, have a break, go back outside. Like everything we were outside all the time. The hallways are outside, which obviously you can't do in some of the states here, but like it's just so relaxed. You would could miss days and days of school. They don't really care. Like, they don't send you home with textbooks and homework, and they're just not.

SPEAKER_03 33:59

Do you feel like I mean, what what our really driven parents would ask is do you feel like the kids are keeping up? Are they learning?

SPEAKER_00 34:07

Yeah, they were like I never my both of my or all of my siblings are also fairly intelligent. And we were all still, we came back to the states, went right back into school. We went to the next grade, and we were just fine picking up where not that every kid would be. I don't I guess I don't know, but yeah, I never felt like they were behind. They just teach really efficiently and kind of quickly, and it's just like here's what we're doing, let's learn it together as a class. Okay, we got it. Let's go outside. Very just like just like less.

SPEAKER_04 34:41

It sounds like it was less volume and more concise. Interesting. I love it. I'm all about it. Well, that's it sounds like cruise life. Yeah, yeah. My son at his school, he gets to be outside like six hours a day. Um, but they it's like 15-minute chunks of learning, a lot of small groups. Um, so same sort of thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:03

I was reading an article last night. It was a news article that over the last I think 13 years, how we've our test scores have like dropped and like we've regressed and all that. And they were blaming it on um the fact that No Child Left Behind was rescinded, which is like a piece of legislation that mandated a lot of testing. Yeah. And I just got so mad reading that article because it was written in a factual way. And I was like, I don't know. I just still you cannot convince me that teaching to a test means that our kids are doing better. And it goes back to the idea of like, is test score the only metric that we're gonna use to see how successful our kids are. Right. But it's just interesting, like in a different country. Yeah, you know, like if you are in China, they probably do like really focus on test scores and care about being number one in math or whatever. But um, it's just interesting who's happier, who's more successful at age 35 or whatever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:07

Well, and I think that goes back to like, I mean, all of these places have their own value system within a culture. And so, yeah, Australia is it sounds like, for good reason, it's a seems like a lovely place. They're valuing being outside more and and and doing things slower. And in the United States, we just we don't. We just have always been, I think for a very long time, driven by output. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:31

Well, and then we have like terrible mental health because we're just like we don't get a break, we're not enjoying what we're yeah, contributing. Yeah. It's really interesting. So then you went back to you went to a Catholic school, yeah. High school was high school. Okay, yeah. Uh-huh. And how's that experience? My girls went to Cape In here in town or go. Went go. That's why she's like, I don't know what to say anymore. Um, but it capin and TMP might have been different. Um, but Cape In was very traditional and it worked well for my girls. It was a very rigorous academic experience. Um, they were both in the honors program, but I just wondered, I I always think there are some kids who maybe wouldn't do well in that environment. Um, what was your experience?

SPEAKER_00 37:20

For me, it was pretty positive. I'm very structured routine in my daily life, so it was pretty. They're not super, super strict, but I mean, for me it was great. But there were kids in my class that we had, so junior year at TNP is like the year of crap.

SPEAKER_04 37:38

What's TNP?

SPEAKER_00 37:39

Oh, sorry. It's the Catholic school in Hayes. They're high school.

SPEAKER_04 37:42

Thomas More Prep. Oh, okay, yes. Yes. I played soccer against Thomas More Prep. Yeah. Uh growing up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

So junior year is like the bad year. We you do the classes that are like the hardest. And without failure, every class that goes through TMP gets to junior year, and there's a huge chunk of students that go to the public school.

SPEAKER_03 38:04

Oh, that's kind of sad.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

Yeah, and I think it's just because that's when it gets more rigorous and like they kind of hound down on some things, and some kids just don't do well with that. For me, I wanted to do really good in academics, and I like structure and I like that stuff, so it was fine for me.

SPEAKER_04 38:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

But I did have some negative, like, we had a lot of homework, it was really homework heavy. And I would go to school and then go to a sports practice and then do homework till like midnight almost every night. And so that was heavy. And for somebody that does, I had one class that was like the hardest class at TMP, and he would write these exams and the answer would be straight from the book. And so we would memorize the book literally hours and hours. We would sit together and just like memorize these chapters, and we would take the tests and it'd be fill in the blank and we'd put the answer, then he would tell us it was wrong, and it was an answer he wanted, even though we could find it in the book. Oh, yeah, that's frustrating. So that was a hard year, and I even like went to him, and because there was kids in the class who weren't as academically strong, and they would get to erase their answer and put the right answer in for some of those. And some of us other kids that were more academically strong, like we would get it wrong. And then we would be down to like a 60%, which for me was like gutter. Yeah, I couldn't do it. I had gone to him, went to the school, and we struggled with that. And I so there was is a little bit of double standard happening sometimes. I feel like at those more rigorous schools. Like they see kids that are struggling and then they get help on certain things.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

And then the academically strong kids don't get help, even though like mentally in that class, I was like, it was a whole lot of between like challenging somebody, a kid that needs a little bit of extra like challenge versus um, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 40:06

Yeah. Um I don't know what you're saying. It's like um, what is it called? Engulf, a handicap. It's almost like they're giving like you're giving like the teacher, and I get, I mean, I I get it from both sides, really. Um having had a lot of kids that struggle, yeah. But um no, it doesn't make it fair. And and that's that's we don't have to go on this rant because Kristen and I can go on this rant. That's why tests are nonsense, right? Like, what do you actually want? What is the objective of the learning?

SPEAKER_03 40:39

Is it so that you can memorize and fill in the blank and then well that's what I would also say if you don't remember anything you memorize from that textbook now? Like, did you learn?

SPEAKER_00 40:47

No, that's probably like my biggest complaint about going through school is that I wanted to get such good grades and I wanted to do so well, and my parents had a standard for me. I I did not learn stuff, I memorized stuff all the time. I would just sit in my bedroom and memorize everything, even like math. I I'm great, I'm still good at math, but I memorized the formulas and never actually knew like why I was using that or what it meant. Just because I was good at it doesn't mean like I still like I still know them, but I could not tell you what it means. Yeah, why I'm using that. What does that mean in actual practicality?

SPEAKER_04 41:21

Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 41:24

Well, and so that's why offering kids different ways to demonstrate their learning other than just taking exams, I think is important in school, but that's a whole that's a whole different thing.

SPEAKER_04 41:38

Well, and and so like and Kristen and I kind of had a similar education experience. Valedictorian, high ACT score, full ride to college, could memorize anything. Yeah. Did I actually so I went to school to be an investment banker and have a minor in economics? That's when she worked here. Yeah, that doesn't it make for that's why I'm like, wait a second, you'd work at Tim Tumbling and do Ninja Warrior, but you have a biomedical degree. Um, but like that's that's my argument is the point of education is to to what Kristen said earlier, should be about helping kids discover, develop, and apply their talents and gifts so that they can contribute. If all I'm doing is matching somebody else's expectation, I'm not actually learning anything about myself and what I value. Now, what I could learn, and you could probably say the same thing for your or reflect on it for yourself. I learned why was I interested in business and finance and economics? Because I like seeing ideas come to reality. How do we then get somebody interested in engaging in a product or a service? How does this whole society wrap its way around the way that we consume things? Like that's really interesting to me. But that's not what, like I that's not what I picked apart as the layers during my education experience. And knowing that, no, I value making an impact on my world, being good to my community. Like that's what the conversation should have been, not getting really high touched.

SPEAKER_03 43:11

I feel like you're at kind of like an exciting place in your life. I'm sure it doesn't feel exciting when you're applying for like a hundred jobs. But yeah, it's true. But it's like you just, you know, Lydia and I both like went into one field and completely our job doesn't really have anything to do with what we study in college, other than just learning to be a human, you know. Yeah, yeah. But um, it is exciting that you are gonna have like all kinds of experiences that you had no idea. I always think about this job of like we work in this brand new concept that if somebody would have like like if if I'm like thinking about what job would I want in Wichita, I kind of have dreamed this up. So it's like you have so many exciting possibilities. Ahead of you that you have no idea are gonna happen.

SPEAKER_04 44:02

So it's very exciting. It is very exciting. I like to ask people, which I've already picked apart some of yours. Um I always like to ask people like what your non-negotiables are. So, like you as a person or in your profession, what are the things like the hills that you will die on? Now, I'm not gonna fill in the blank for you. You've given me a couple, but when I ask that question, don't look at my notes. Um what are your non-negotiable things you won't compromise on? And you can think about it specifically, maybe with the kids at the gym. Like, what are the things that you're not gonna compromise on? That's a good question. People have trouble with those questions.

SPEAKER_00 44:42

We could probably warn people, but we don't non-negotiables. Um this is hard. I think one thing that I've really learned in college and have carried, and it kind of came when I cheered at Wichita State, it kind of started opening my brain to the so I in high school was not like a popular by all means. I had moved so much that we moved to Hayes and it was kind of like we didn't have a ton of friends. We were kind of had each other as siblings and were my family's super close because of it. But when I got to Wichita State, I was uh all still pretty quiet and didn't make friends super quick. I'm good at making friends because we have moved so much, but they're just like surface level friends and not like actual really meaningful relationships. And yeah, from that, I when I chaired at Wichita State, and now when I substitute teach and coach, kind of like I said, touching with everyone, I still I'm helping coach Witchhaw State this year, and it's always always my goal to like be a constant for everyone else. Like when I was on the team, I talked to every single person on the team. Like we had different groups, we had, you know, people had their own friends, but I always tried to like talk to everyone, include everyone. Even like I just try to get along with everyone. I don't know. I don't see a ton of value in like being like, no, I don't like you. We're not friends, we're not talking. Like life is just not serious enough to be doing that to people. And so now when I sub, I try to talk to all the kids and even the kids that test my patience or are like the trouble-making kids. I try to meet them wherever they are and find something in common with them, or you know, just chat with them. I do that with coaching. So I think that's something, you know, it's important to do that.

SPEAKER_03 46:39

I think that's a unique quality. I mean, I don't it shouldn't be, you know. And I mean, you are speaking my language.

SPEAKER_04 46:46

I was gonna say one of Kristen's core values. Well, I just inclusiveness, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:51

And so I can't like it drives me crazy to be in a room where I feel like either there's like a clique dominating the atmosphere or there are people that don't have a buddy.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

Yeah. Yeah. And I yeah, I still tend to be someone like when I go home, I don't have a ton of like deep friendships. I have a couple really close friends. So even when you are somebody that includes everyone else, that doesn't always necessarily like serve you back, which I think some people struggle with. Like, I have friends that are like, well, you know, they cut people off or they don't want to be friends with them anymore because they serve them, but they don't serve back, if that makes sense. And while sometimes I might be like, oh, I wish I had more friends, in all honesty, I just like hope that when I'm with other people, they feel like, oh, I could talk to Izzy or I could, you know, do they call you Izzy? Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, just like being present with everyone. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:50

Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that's really important.

unknown 47:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:53

Um, I mean, you said it earlier, but I would add to your list of non-negotiables if you want an addition. It seems like fun. Yeah. And like enjoying life is really important to you. And it sounds and sound and being present, you just said that, like like being present, having fun is another like non-negotiable for you.

SPEAKER_00 48:12

Yeah, that's something I definitely grew into also. We growing up, we were my dad didn't live with us at some points because he was working in different states. And I love my dad. But when we were young, he missed a lot of important things that we had going, just like baseball games or whatever. And when I was young, I never even really thought about it. But as I grew up, he way like tapered off of that and became so much more present. And that's when I would have been in like middle school and high school, I was like, life is really not that deep. Like, I don't need to be working my whole life. And like he would be writing emails while we were driving and like calling constantly, which is the American way. Yeah, yeah. He grew up in a more like a poor family, and so it was like his goal to build. And he is super successful now, but he's also really successful during his job, and then he comes home and is like he can separate the two, yeah. So that's when I learned more about like, okay, fucking. What do you want to join? Right, yeah. And yeah, like I I studied engineering, but now when I apply to jobs and I read it, and it's like in the office from nine to five, and you're doing this, this, and this. I'm like, yeah, maybe I can do it. It's hard. Yeah, it's hard.

SPEAKER_04 49:31

Yeah, that we have a great program here that the kids um we one of our partners is find your grind. And I think that's what it's a career exploration platform, but it really focuses a lot on like what's the life you want to lead. And like that's where they start the conversation. Do you want to be in an office? I'm not gonna lie. When I left teaching, I was really excited to work in an office because I was like, no, I'm gonna know what to expect. I get to leave at a certain point. I mean, but that's what was valuable to me at that time. Yeah. Um, and so I we just talk about it. That's part of our point of education revolutionizing too, is like, no, like help kids understand what they want their life to look like. And I love that your dad was able to get to that point so that he could be there for you guys. It's a it's a big difference.

SPEAKER_03 50:16

So well, Isabel, like I would like to help you fill these private lessons. So if we have you to start a school, we have different witches in this room. I mean you gotta start. Um we can talk more about the school and then just I'm not gonna put that on you.

SPEAKER_04 50:39

Do not put that in your brain as a unless you want to. Unless you're not gonna know you had yes.

SPEAKER_03 50:45

But anyway, if we have families that we're in touch with that would like to explore these classes or lessons, do they just reach out to the gym? How do they get a hold of you?

SPEAKER_00 50:58

If they get on integrity athletics, the website, and they scroll down to the well, they can either look at classes on the website. Um, but if they're interested in like privates or different things, scroll to the bottom. And then there's coaches that do privates and my name and like sign up is at the bottom.

SPEAKER_03 51:14

So right on the website, they can find you. And is there a spot for them to say, like, my daughter's is introverted or whatever?

SPEAKER_00 51:23

They can, or I also have on there like just my phone number. A lot of people just reach out through. They don't actually sign up, they'll just text me and then we work it out and figure it out from there. Perfect.

SPEAKER_03 51:32

Yeah, well, I think the word's gonna get out. I feel like families with kids with differences are looking for options.

SPEAKER_04 51:42

This is probably not realistic, but are they are can you do mobile classes? Like if like can you take the equipment anywhere to where if a group because we work with a lot of out-of-system unconventional models that don't have like a formal PE class, or like I feel like this is just one of those gaps that they have because they are not in a bigger struct infrastructure system.

SPEAKER_03 52:07

But you'd be interested in like traveling tumbling classes.

SPEAKER_00 52:10

Yeah, I don't so I would right now obviously She'd have to invent something. It's not my gym, so like the mats aren't mine right now. But I mean, it is something that I would be interested in.

SPEAKER_03 52:22

Yeah, let's I still think there are places that have mats. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:27

Yeah, I was just curious. I didn't know if there was what the equipment was and whether or not it can be.

SPEAKER_00 52:32

And it all depends on like like the one of the kids I work with, right? They we're just using very, we're just working coordination balance life skills, honestly. So I'm using the mats, but I'm using very generic mats and just like you know, different things. And then obviously when you get further in the tumbling, you need different mats. So it just depends on kind of what your what skills you're doing or what the goal is.

SPEAKER_04 52:57

Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. Okay, thanks for answering my random question.

SPEAKER_03 53:02

Well, thanks so much. It was so fun having you on. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 53:06

You're amazing work, definitely. Kids need you, kids do need you. Thanks, Isabel. Thank you.