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“Hustle Up!” a physical educationteacher calls out
PhysicalEducation teacher Christine Hosoda began playing sports when she was nine. “Mybrother was involved in athletics so it was natural for my parents to have metag along,” Hosoda said. Her brother played basketball, baseball and bowling.As for a practice buddy, “he was all I had,” she said.
Hosoda continuedto play some basketball in middle school and a bit of softball and volleyball,then started badminton and tennis at Lowell. “I was probably not your typicalLowell student,” Hosoda said, “I didn’t dive into the whole spirit and cultureof Lowell.” Describing herself as “a pretty timid student,” she said, “I wasn’tready for all that was available.”
Aftergraduating from Lowell, Hosoda studied at City College of San Francisco for twoyears before transferring to University of California Davis to study threeyears for her Exercise Science degree.
Hosodafurthered her education by attending St. Mary’s College to obtain her mastersin physical education. While studying, Hosoda gained work experience and cashworking in a Japanese dry goods export-import business. “I liked workingthere,” Hosoda remembers, “There wasn’t much stress and the people there were easyto work with.”
She stayed withthe job for five years. “It was when I wasn't really sure what to do, atransition period after college.” From this work experience, Hosoda realizedthat she didn’t want a desk job where she would be sitting for most of the day.“Having students around stimulates your mind because you must be on-task at alltimes,” Hosoda said.
After obtainingher masters, Hosoda returned to her alma mater to coach the JV girl’sbasketball team, helping them earn the championship title in 2005. Hosoda lefther coaching position to attend the University of San Francisco to get hercredential in physical education. “At that point in my life, I finally decidedwhat I wanted to do. Teaching is my calling,” Hosoda said.
Hosodabegan her teaching experience at Wallenberg, then landed a job at Lowell,filling in the vacancy left by retired P.E. teacher Jerilyn Janks. “Theteaching challenge is different here, it’s a nice change,” Hosoda said. “Thechallenge at Lowell is to get the students to critically think in terms ofPhysical Education. The challenge at Wallenberg was how to keep studentsengaged with the limited resources available.”
Besidesteaching P.E., Hosoda is also coaches the girls’ badminton team. “Coaching isjust like teaching,” she said. “You’re breaking down a process and you try tosimplify things and work with different abilities,” she said. “You’re trying tobring them to a similar level.”
Among the manysports she has coached, her favorite is basketball, “It’s more of a teamsport,” she said. “We have to get people to work together as one unit.” Hosodakeeps up her exercise with playing sports like basketball, softball andvolleyball in recreational leagues during the weekends. “For tennis, I just gohit with some friends,” Hosoda said.
Hosoda often getsinspiration for coaching from books written by great coaches, such as PatSummit and John Wooden. “From Wooden, it’s learning how to motivate yourstudent player or athlete,” Hosoda said, “I learn tidbits about things you coulduse in your coaching.” Among her other favorite reads are what Hosoda describesas “cheesy romance novels” like those by Nora Roberts, Nicholas Sparks and JaneGreen.
Likemost coaches, Hosoda finds hearing ‘thank you’ from players gratifying. “When Icoached a sixth grade basketball team, years later when I saw them in highschool, a couple of the players came to thank me for teaching them about lifeand basketball,” she said,“Itfelt rewarding.”
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