A basketball coach might have 12 players to keep track of. A softball coach could be responsible for 20 players. Coach Amy Martin has more than 600 players on her team.

Martin, the physical education teacher at Cook Elementary Fine Arts Magnet School, is tasked with keeping 668 kindergarten through fourth-graders active and involved on a daily basis.

A former varsity basketball and track coach at Amory and New Hope high schools, Martin moved to the Columbus Municipal School District in 1991. The Livingston University (now University of West Alabama) graduate in health, physical education and special education, has been recognized with multiple awards, including the Mississippi Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Teacher of the Year award in 2004, the Mississippi Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Pride In Teaching Award in 2002 and Cook Elementary's Employee of the Year award in 2004.

Not bad for an admitted former troublemaker.

“I used to stay in trouble. I used to pick fights just to fight,” said Martin of her high school years.

Appropriately, Martin credits athletics with changing her life. The scenario was a simple one: “If I got in trouble, I couldn’t play.”

As a high school basketball and softball player, Martin always knew coaching and PE were her callings. That much is evident to this day as the 27-year veteran still relishes getting out of bed in the morning to go to work.

“I love my job. I love my kids,” she says.

She continues to attend conferences to grow as a teacher, but Martin’s love of coaching took a devastating blow in 1990 when her mother, Pat Martin, passed away.

The loss of her mother, who was also one of her closest friends, didn’t sour Martin’s athletic spirit. She competed on an adult softball team that summer which went on to win its league’s national championship.

Martin dedicated the season to her mother, which went a long way toward helping her heal. She never returned to coaching, but continued with a prolific career teaching physical education and special education.

Last week she and her 200 of her participated in an nationwide effort to break the world record for the largest speed stacking event.

Being part of a world record attempt is just the latest step on Martin’s long journey to happiness through athletics.

What was the pressure like being a head coach?

I loved it. The camaraderie you have with the girls, you can’t beat that. I got out of coaching because Mom developed cancer and I needed to be with her, so I resigned my coaching duties. I stayed with her until she passed in 1990.

I played on a summer league softball team that summer and we won the national championship that year.

Did that impact your coaching philosophies?

Actually, I did not pick up my coaching duties again. I kind of had the wind knocked out of my sails.

It did impact me in how important playing can influence your life. Playing for my Mom was so special because there’s nothing like your mama. It was great to be able to do something in her honor.

Do you look at teaching PE like coaching?

It’s different in that you’re sharing everything with everybody. You don’t have your five best players on the floor. You’re teaching everyone in a way that they’re going to, I hope, always love to play.

I try not to do anything that’s threatening. We don’t do relay races or anything that’s going to call attention to someone who can’t do something.

Do you see it as politically correct that you don’t want any kid to be singled out for not being proficient at a sport?

I don’t consider it politically correct. I think it’s just the right thing to do. They’ll enjoy playing, hopefully, for the rest of their lives.

I always tell them, trying is great, messing up is great. It means you’re trying and you’re going to get better. When you tuck the ball under your arm and say, “I can’t do it,” you’re exactly right. You can’t.

I try to instill in them to try.

How important is it to make sure every kid has a positive physical experience?

That’s the most important thing. They love coming in the gym and I have something fun for them to do, so they don’t correlate “bad” with exercise.

How hard is it to get kids involved who look at exercise as negative?

I’ve never really had that problem.

No kids just want to sit on the sidelines and watch?

Maybe one or two. And that’s usually because they feel bad that day. I really don’t have anybody who likes to sit out. They like to stay in the game.

What about the obesity epidemic in Mississippi? What is your class doing to address that?

One thing that happened this year is my PE time has gotten cut. I only see the kids once every two weeks. They go to movement (dance) also, and that cuts in to me seeing them at least every week. They either come to me or go to movement each week.

I hate that I only see them that often because you can’t really be responsible for a child’s fitness if you only see them once or twice a week. All I can do is give them a good feeling about moving and exercise. I show them a bunch of different ways to get that done. You can play and have fun and not realize you’re exercising.

To what degree do you try to work in health education to supplement the exercise?

We do that in some games, but the responsibility for health education really is on the classroom teacher. They teach the health benchmarks.

We’ll talk about feeling your pulse when you’ve got your heart rate up and healthy food choices. Simple things like that.

Do you feel as though PE has been de-emphasized in recent years?

It has, but I think it’s on the rise. Our Legislature just enacted a 150-minute requirement for physical activity for elementary students.

The state organization MSAHPERD, which a I’m a member of, backed that legislation, even though we wanted to say 'physical education' rather than just 'activity.' Recess can be counted as physical activity even though you’ve got some kids just sitting around talking. But it was a start, so we went with that because it’s a step in the right direction.

So physical education doesn’t get the amount of time it should?

Most definitely. There’s a huge correlation between movement and learning and preparing your mind for learning through movement. Studies have shown the more fit a kid is, the better achievement in academics. Eighty-five percent of kids are kinesthetic learners.

Do you feel as though it’s too late? That the state and the country have gone too far toward getting out of shape?

Yeah, but again, I think (physical education) is on the rise. We’re getting more and more overweight kids, but the overweight kids still love to play.

I hope it’s not too late. I’m hoping in coming years the Legislature will enact more mandates for physical education taught by a PE teacher, and not recess.

What’s the importance of instruction vs. free time?

You’re leading the activity (students) are doing. So they’re not standing around talking, for one.

You’re showing them so many more avenues to stay fit, they can pick one. We do lots of sports skills and play fun little games they can play at recess or at home in the backyard.

What are some of your favorite activities to lead?

Basketball. We do basketball skills to music. The students even performed at half-time of a Mississippi State men’s basketball game. They rocked the house.

My next favorite would be tennis. We do pre-tennis skills.

Do you ever miss coaching?

I do. Again, it’s the camaraderie that you have with your team that I miss more than anything. I still have basketball players that call me. It makes you feel good.

Have you ever thought about going back to it?

It takes an awful lot of time. That’s what I found out after I got out of it. Gosh, how did I find the time to coach? At this age, probably not.

Tell me about speed stacking.

You have 12 cups stacked in pyramid formations. (Students stack the cups in pyramids, then break the stacks down as quickly as possible.)

The kid is using both hands, so it works both sides of their brain. When kids use both hands and both sides of the brain at the same time, they’re making those connections across, which makes them a better reader, better in math. They’re crossing the mid-line of their body.

We’re trying to help set the world record. We’re partnering with kids all over the world in cup stacking. We’re going to send in our verification form to see if we helped break the record.

Where were you exposed to speed stacking? Did you think it could be this cognitive or did you see it as mindless activity?

I got it from one of our conventions. My school’s real good about letting me go to conventions to stay up on the latest (physical education techniques).

I went to the Southern District Convention in Birmingham, Ala., and they gave us a presentation. I told my principal at the time, Edna McGill, 'We’ve got to get this!'

She watched the video and said 'We’ve got to get this!'

I said, 'I know!'

When we first introduced it to the kids, they said, 'Cup stacking?' And then they can’t stop. I’ve got these timing mats so they can time themselves and they’re like 'I’ve got to beat that time. Now, I’ve got to beat that time.'

It’s really motivational. Where you’ve got those kids that aren’t that athletic, they can be very good at cup stacking.

Then we put in several games, which adds a little physical activity. You can run up to your stack and stack it or you can be in push-up formation trying to stack it. So you’re adding in that physical fitness.