Fitness, Self-efficacy and Hoop Me Rhonda

The alarm goes off before six, and the moments between deep sleep and jittery excitement lapse quickly.


This is the morning. This is when we’re going to test it out. I told them I’d be there, and soon! I begin my preparations…



The day before, my colleague Renee Cavaluzzi and I were enjoying teaching the first day of a two-day open enrollment workshop called Achieving Fitness, based on Project Adventure’s newest book Achieving Fitness : An Adventure Activity Guide.





We had perfect weather, exciting participants and a brand new bag of tricks that are really effective in improving health-related fitness. We played a game called Hoop Me Rhonda, from the Cardiovascular Health chapter. Essentially, Hoop Me Rhonda is a partner activity, where one partner (Lisa) runs past the other (Renee) and puts her hands together over her head, and shouts “Hoop Me Rhonda! ” Renee then throws the hoop and hopefully it lands over Lisa’s clasped hands. If it does, Renee runs past Lisa, and it becomes Lisa’s turn to throw. The challenge is to run a specified distance in this relay method, after a round of skill building.
Reflecting on the activity, the professionals attending the workshop were sharing thoughts that I now find typical when teaching this model: “I didn’t even realize I was working out!” “It was exciting to get skilled in it so quickly,” “I felt so encouraged by my partner.”
And then this: “Wouldn’t it be great if we could turn this into the (dreaded) MILE RUN!? ”
As a group we talked about what the mile run is like in the different cities represented in the workshop, and we all shared our own experiences (mostly negative) about having to perform it in high school.
One of the things I love about adventure, and about working at Project Adventure, in particular, is the opportunity to take a question that starts with “Wouldn’t it be great if…” and then turn it into “Let's do something exciting.” In that spirit, an invitation was issued for an early morning “Hoop Me Rhonda” mile the next day.



I talked with participants about the determinants for Physical Activity and we made connections between Adventure and fitness that are profound and exhilarating. Achieving Fitness describes the four determinants for physical activity as:
· Self Efficacy
· Perceived Barriers
· Social Support
· Enjoyment

In the moments between the deep sleep, the jittery excitement and the rendezvous at the starting line, in anticipation of the Hoop Me Rhonda mile, I actually experienced those determinants happening to me.
My self efficacy (in essence, my belief that I could do the Hoop Me Rhonda mile is as important as my actual ability to perform that task) was raised because I had early and frequent performance accomplishments while learning how to throw the hoop. I saw other people whom I regard as peers do well in the activity and I had appropriate cheering. (For a more detailed explanation, read the introduction to Achieving Fitness)
The perceived barriers that I usually have around physical activity were reduced because I had made a commitment to participants that I would be there, and I actually didn’t have any other engagements at 6 a.m. on that particular day.
Social support was a key factor here. In this group we had talked about Challenge by Choice and the Full Value Contract. I knew that we were in a positive group, that we were not going to laugh at each other, and that we had the right and responsibility to our own stretch zone.
And Enjoyment – the most essential determinant for physical activity. If it’s fun, we’ll do it and we’ll stick with it. We were about to try something for the first time, something wacky and something that would make for a good story. It was enjoyable just thinking about it.
I open the front door to the Moraine Farm conference center, and there they are – Joyce, Lauren and Barbara. Smiling! Laughing! We partner up and we go for it. By the half mile mark we’ve invented tricks – the 'no look pass,' the 'sprint by pass', the' two handed shot put throw'. And the mile is over in what seems like minutes. We all wish we had time to do it again! We talk about how different it was from a traditional mile run.
I run most mornings, but not since that morning, and hardly ever before, has it been so memorable. I wish I had an adventure activity, a fun group with established norms, a goal set, a new record to be made – I wish I had that every day. And I realize that the students who are taught with an adventure approach do.
Educators like you who have learned and are using the Achieving Fitness model and other adventure approaches are creating opportunities like this for students every day. You are creating those exciting moments that improve self efficacy, eliminate barriers, are socially supportive and are, most importantly, enjoyable and can put students on a path to life-long fitness.



Lisa Faulkingham Hunt is a runner, mother, PA traininer, Coordinator of our Physical Education, Health and Fitness Team and co-author of our Physical Education Curriculum Series and Achieveing Fitness. In just a few days, Lisa leaves for Bombay, India to do adventure training and credentialing work.