Coach returns home to Reagan

Sep. 3—Starting his 43rd year in education, Michael Neiman is back where he feels most comfortable — PE teacher at Reagan Elementary School.

This is the start of his second year at Reagan. He's also been at Odessa College, in athletics administration for Ector County ISD and at First Odessa Christian Academy.

Of all of them, the PE job at Reagan is his favorite and he's gotten to do it twice. In the last 10 years, it has opened up four times. Neiman got a chance to go back to Reagan when he attended a retirement party for one of the teachers and someone asked him if he was going to apply for the PE position.

Principal Jennifer Bizzell said he should come in and visit about it so he went back home and realized he wanted to put his hat in the ring. Before he knew it, he was signing papers.

"I just love that job," Neiman said. "There's no place in town like this in the district; there just isn't. It's perfect. It's a great place to teach."

He sees every single prekindergarten through fifth grade student at Reagan every day.

"Six classes a day and they're 45 minutes apiece, except for the pre-k. It's 30 minutes so there's not much time in the day for anything else. I enjoy it as much as the kids do; maybe more," Neiman said.

At the start of school, they have class indoors because it's still hot outside. For the next six weeks they go outside, which takes them through October and then they come inside for November through February and back outside for March through May.

The first unit is gymnastics.

"It's part of our after-school program. The kids are training for their upcoming meets, so it's just a good time to do it and it's so hot out there," Neiman said.

He has backup lessons for all the units just in case.

"Some things work better outside — football, soccer, T-ball. We can still play games inside that still use those skills," Neiman said.

All the units have a progressional list of skills. Everything they do is based on that. He has put them online, as well. Students may find things they like better than the unit being offered, but they have to do the lesson first before they can do what they like.

"Once the lesson gets started, that's when things start moving around. The kids are on all different levels, so they can go check where they're at and move on to the next one. If they need help, they can ask somebody ... Our goal is to have every single kid active the whole 45 minutes. It doesn't always work out, but that's kind of our goal," he said.

Playing with the kids and watching them improve is what Neiman said he enjoys most about his job. He was inspired to go into the field from a teacher he had growing up in Minnesota.

"With this broken down progression of skills list, there are very, very small increments between each skill so a kid can come to class and have numerous successes because all they have to do is match this real small little skill; then the next skill is just a little bit different, a little addition to it, which they can easily get ... so they can leave here having multiple successes," he added.

This is a way to keep students engaged, so they stay interested and can't wait to come back the next day. He also lets the students choose what they want to do after they finish the lesson. He may have a basketball unit, but add things like yo-yos, tops and badminton activities.

"I can get 100 percent participation here because I believe they have so many choices. ... They've got to learn it all, but there are times toward the end where they get to play what they want and they just love that," Neiman said.

When he's not at school in the summer, he likes to build things out of wood, run and bike. He finished a pavilion this summer in his back yard.

"I'm a fidgeter. I like to do things with my hands. I have a little shop I can just mess around in," Neiman said.

Neiman and his wife, Leslie, a reading specialist at Midland Classical Academy, had two sons, one of whom passed away in 2018.

A native of Park Rapids, Minn., Neiman earned a bachelor's degree from Moorhead State in Moorhead, Minn. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Moorhead State athletics in 2018 as a men's track/cross country runner. He was inspired to go into PE by his own teacher Andy McCarty, who he said was "phenomenal."

Neiman's motto is, "You're only as young as you play."

"I tell the kids that all the time. You should be playing your whole life. Find something you like to do. It doesn't have to be a competitive sport. Go out and play. My goal is to get them to want to play the rest of their lives," Neiman said.

Bizzell said Coach Neiman brings back a tradition of excellence for Reagan.

"He creates centers that meet all students' needs. Students, staff and parents really respect him. To get students' attention, all he has to do is take a knee and they follow. We are so fortunate that he chose to come back," she said.