Taking healthto heart

JOHN HANCBYSpecial to Newsday

Stephen Virgilioemerges from thebasement of his EastWilliston home look-ing like a weekendwarrior on a shopping spree.Cradled in his arms are golfclubs, pickleball rackets, a Nerffootball, a kickball, pushuphandles and other equipment.

“Hi!” he says brightly to his10-year-old niece, Faith Vir-gilio, who comes boundinginto the backyard. “Ready tohave some fun?”

Faith smiles and shakes her

head up and down in vigorousassent as Uncle Steve arraysthe sporting gear on the grass.

They begin loosening up bytossing the football back and

forth. Virgilio gently gives hisniece, who lives in Sea Cliff,pointers. First, he shows herhow to use her legs to getmore oomph in her passes.

“Step and throw,” he says,fluidly demonstrating theprocess. Then he shows herthe proper grip. “Thumb to theside, then reach for the sky,” he

says, mimicking the overheadarc of a well-thrown forwardpass. “Want to try?”

“Yes!”Faith eagerly takes the ball

and, following her uncle’s tips,uncorks a perfect spiral.

“Good!” exclaims Virgiliowho, at 70 (a milestone he cele-brated on Nov. 8) is old enoughto be her grandfather. With thedeath of his younger brother,Nick — Faith’s dad — in March2019, he has been spending moretime with his niece.

“We’re going to take anactive role in her life,” he said.

See FITNESS on E30

TAKINGHEALTHTOHEART

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Stephen Virgilio exercises with his niece Faith Virgilio in his backyard in East Williston. Virgilio is literally taking a more active role in her life. \ Video: newsday.com/Act2

Professor dedicateshis life to promotingphysical fitness

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“Active” would be the opera-tive word here.

Virgilio has made physicalactivity for children — thestudy and teaching of it, theadvocacy for more of it — hislife’s work. He has a doctoratein physical education and hastaught at Adelphi Universitysince 1990.

Dr. Virgilio — as he’s knownto his students — has pub-lished more than 75 papersduring his academic careerand conducted more than 150presentations and workshops,mostly for K-12 physical educa-tion teachers. He is also theco-author of the Heart SmartProgram, a cardiovascularhealth intervention programused in hundreds of schoolsaround the country in the1980s and 1990s, as well aslead author of the Society forHealth and Physical Educa-tors’ Active Start guidelinesfor young children, widelyused by preschools nation-wide. He is also author ofseveral textbooks used byphysical education teachersinternationally.

FIT FOR LIFEVirgilio is teaching his last

class Dec. 18, with his retire-ment taking effect in August2021. And while he may begiving up teaching graduatestudents, he isn’t done teach-ing children how to be active.

As he shows with Faith, whohas now moved on from throw-ing a football to doing pushupsunder his tutelage — “don’tarch your back . . . very good!”he says encouragingly. Faith’seager participation in UncleSteve’s backyard play sessionreminds us that this is gener-ally not a hard sell to kids —even a generation growing upin front of screens.

“It’s indigenous in theirmakeup that children want tobe active and play,” he said.“That’s how they expressthemselves. If that behavior iscemented in an early age, thenas they get older, it’s naturalfor them to think about beingphysically active.”

“We’ve had more than a fewconversations over the yearsabout how to get young peopleto be active,” said Virgilio’slongtime colleague ChuckCorbin, professor emeritus at

Arizona State University and anationally recognized chil-dren’s fitness expert.

And, he emphasized, it’s notthe oft-derided idea of partici-pation trophies for all, or the

elimination of competitivesports in school curriculum.“There’s a place for competi-tive sports, and neither Steveand I would suggest they’renot important,” Corbin said.

“But physical education is nota competitive sport; it’s aneducational tool, with theoverarching goal of gettingchildren active and knowinghow be active.”

What may give Virgilioadded perspective in the na-tional debate over the properbalance between competitivesports and participatory physi-cal activities for youngsters isthe fact that he himself was anoutstanding athlete.

‘ALWAYS EXERCISING’Born in Brooklyn, Virgilio

moved with his family to NewHyde Park at the age of 10.Even in elementary school, herecalled, “I was always exercis-ing, always running, doingpushups.” He played basketballand baseball at Herricks HighSchool and was a starter on theschool’s 1967-68 varsity basket-ball team that compiled a 16-3

record; one of the best teamsin the school’s history, the’67-’68 record is memorializedon his basement wall in afaded poster of the team’sschedule, with the mostlywinning scores handwritten.

Even as he was sinking freethrows for the Herricks High-landers, though, Virgilio had acareer in mind. “I thoughtwhat a wonderful thing itwould be to coach,” he said, “towork with kids and help de-velop them.”

To that end, he pursued acareer in physical education,first at University of Tampa asan undergraduate, then Adelphifor his master’s and, finally, atFlorida State University for hisdoctorate. After an 11-year stintat University of New Orleans,he was hired at Adelphi in 1990as a professor of physical educa-tion, in the Department ofHealth and Sports Sciences. He

FITNESS from E29

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Stephen Virgilio, second row far right, in a photo with one of hischildhood baseball teams that hangs in the basement of his home.

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Making FITNESS a priority

Stephen Virgilio helps his niece Faith Virgilio stretch. “It’s indigenous in their makeup that children want to be active and play,” he says.

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Grandparents can help kids keep fit

became head of the graduate programin 2002, helping guide the educationand molding the philosophy of a genera-tion or two PE teachers.

“Steve was a great professor,” re-called one of those students, RorySherman, who earned his master’s inphysical education at Adelphi in 2003.“He was always there to listen andprovide all his knowledge,” addedSherman, now a physical educationteacher at Walt Whitman High Schoolwho also teaches in the Adelphi pro-gram. “He’s a very smart individual.”

And a proud father and grandfather:While dad was a good varsity athlete,his sons were even better. Stephen Jr.,now 40, was a star baseball player atthe Wheatley School who went on topitch at Providence College. Joe, 36,was All-County in basketball and base-ball at Wheatley, then played basketballat Hobart College, where he was teamcaptain. Their father is now excited tobe able to work — or should we sayplay? — with their children: Virgilioand his wife, Irene, have six grandchil-

dren, ages 2 months to 8 years — aswell as Faith, who Irene said, “is likeour grandchild.”

“It’s a beautiful thing,” said Faith’smom, Cathy, about their relationship asshe watches her daughter and UncleSteve, who have now moved on tovolleying with pickleball rackets.

Yet, even Virgilio — who stays inshape with 3.5-mile power-walks sixdays a week along with calisthenics —acknowledges that keeping up with a10-year-old is challenging.

“This is fun!” cries Faith, as Virgilioraces to his left to return a shot.

“Uncle Steve is getting a workouthere, too,” he says, feigning exhaustion.

But while he’s retiring from teaching,Virgilio hopes to keep disseminatinghis ideas to new audiences. After all,could someone who has devoted hiscareer to the study of activity reallystay inactive for long?

“I could see myself giving workshopsfor youth sports coaches,” he says.“Some of them need to be reminded ofthe real reason for team sports.”

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StephenVirgilio, whohas a basementfull of sportinggoods andexerciseequipment,takes time tostay fit. He willsoon retire fromAdelphiUniversity.

The national guidelines devel-oped by Adelphi UniversityProfessor Stephen Virgiliorecommend that young childrenshould accumulate at least 60 min-utes each of structured and unstruc-tured physical activity per day.

Can grandparents help achievethese goals? Yes, said Virgilio, him-self the grandfather of six. He offersthese suggestions for his peers onhow to help keep grandkids active:Engage them on their level: “Youcan’t have a catch with a 5-year-oldlike you might with a high schoolstudent,” he said. “If you’re going tothrow a ball around with a youngchild, make it a ball that’s comfort-able for them, something easy tocatch.” Virgilio recommends fluffy,soft yarn or Nerf-type balls. “If theyhit you in the nose, they don’t hurt,”he said.\ Add variety: “You have to mix itup with a younger child,” he said.“You need to change the activity.”That doesn’t require you to have a

basement full of sporting goods andfitness equipment geared for kids(as Virgilio does in his East Willis-ton home). Instead, you can justvary the activity so that after a fewminutes of tossing the ball back andforth with your grandchild, he said,“you can say, ‘let’s see if we can tossthe yarn ball into the waste paperbasket.’”\ No pressure! “Laugh a lot anddon’t put any pressure on them toperform,” Virgilio recommended. “Ifyou want to teach skills, that’s fine,just make sure you’re not puttingpressure on them to perform. Theprocess is more important than theproduct for children.”\ Grandparents don’t have to beathletic to help grandkids appreciatethe value of physical activity: “Evenjust walking the dog togethercounts,” he said. “The bond you’reestablishing with your grandchildwhile doing that is also so impor-tant.”

— JOHN HANC

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