Coach Takeno

My brother noticed the announcement of the death of a long-term coach from my high school.

I also had Coach Takeno as a driving instructor, gym teacher, and also as a health teacher. I think everyone that went to that school had to pass through the vale of tears that was gym class with Coach Takeno.

I vaguely remember the push-up position that my brother talks about. What I remember most clearly is the thing where you put your body up against the wall and position your legs at 90 degree angles- sort of like you were sitting on a chair, without the chair. Your body is supported by your legs pushing your body against the wall.

Coach Takeno would line us all up on the wall of the bleachers and would make sure that our legs were all exactly 90 degrees. He'd yell "go" and start his stopwatch. I don't remember exactly how long we had to hold the position, but it felt like 3 hours. If anyone collapsed before his timer ran out, everyone would have to start again. This was an incredibly difficult challenge for me, due to my high body mass and long legs. The amount of force that my legs would have to maintain to keep my body up was similar to the amount of force the Hoover Dam uses to hold back Lake Mead.

Needless to say, I was usually the one that would collapse early. My numb and bloodless legs would slowly weaken until my body would crash to the ground. "Peterman*, get up!", he'd yell. "Everyone- thank Peterman* for making you start over!" I was not popular in that class.

Health Class with Coach Takeno was also interesting. He was strict and didn't allow any fooling around. I was messing around one time and as a punishment was assigned a 5 or 10 page paper on some obsure health topic. I knew that he would never read it, so I put a sentence in the middle of the paper asking him to tell me if he really did read through the paper. He didn't!

It is strange that for how much he tortured me through high school, I really have fond memories of him. I have a great respect for the man. Maybe it's some sort of Stockholm Syndrome, who knows.

*(Some names have been changed to protect the innocent)