After 30 years of teaching Adapted Physical Education, Kathy Moretti reminisced on her experiences at Bakersfield College and her plans to retire at the end of this semester. Moretti started BC’s Adaptive PE program in 1984.
“The joys I get from teaching is seeing someone get stronger, and not always in a physical sense, but so much is mental and they build their self confidence,” Moretti said. “They go out in the world and now they don’t have the fear to go to another gym.”
She shared some of her experiences with working with disabled students to accomplish their goals.
One student who was wheelchair-bound due to paralysis had a dream of skydiving, which required him to build more upper body strength. By the end of the semester, the student was able to fulfill his dream.
Another student who suffered frequent seizures as a result of epilepsy wanted to build endurance, which would allow him to go on a bike ride without having a seizure. With a 50-mile goal, he started on the stationary cycles, beginning with five miles and increasing the distance with time until he was able to pedal a complete 50-mile ride.
“I try to work with people’s dreams and question them, ‘do you really want to do this?’” Moretti said, “Because my number one concern is safety.”
Ryan Cudd, who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident, said he really enjoys Moretti’s class.
“It has me exercising regularly and the benefit of this program is that it adapts to each student in a personal way depending on what the student needs,” he said. “It has also helped with my posture and core strength.”
Moretti has helped many students with different situations or challenges overcome obstacles.
She recalled a student that accomplished his goal of getting back on a surfboard through the help of Adaptive PE, despite having a bullet in his back, which is too dangerous to remove.
Moretti shared a story about a basketball team composed of young men in wheelchairs, the Rolling Chariots, which she helped by writing a curriculum that would allow them to take her class – wheelchair sports.
She explained that she wanted to bring the team to the attention of the public, so she came up with the idea of having BC’s basketball team play versus her class, which she said was successful in bringing attention to the community and media.
“The team had such long legs that it made it tough for them. They were unbalanced in the chairs and when they would try to throw, they would flip over backward,” she recalled, explaining the difficulty experienced by BC’s basketball team.
“On the day of the game, the lift for wheelchairs going up to the gym had broke down and the players from the Rolling Chariots had to scoot themselves up the stairs on their bottoms while I carried each chair up for them,” she said. “After the game, the BC team was able to just walk down to the showers while the Rolling Chariots players had to scoot themselves back down on their bottoms again, on the dirty steps.
“It was so disgraceful, and I was embarrassed for them, but they said it was OK and were cool with it.”
Moretti first came to BC in 1983 and taught tennis and swimming as a physical education teacher, which, at that time, BC did not have an adaptive program.
“I asked if the campus had an adaptive program, and they didn’t know what it was or couldn’t fathom the idea,” she said.
Walt Johnson, former department chair, allowed Moretti to write the curriculum for the program, and Disabled Students Programs & Services funded the new equipment.
She explained that she was familiar with adaptive physical education programs because there was a program at Cal Poly Pomona, which she graduated from, and she taught an Adaptive PE program at Mt. SAC prior to coming to BC, so she was aware of the program and believed it would benefit the school.
When the program began at BC, there was only one class consisting of six students, but Johnson let the class continue because he wanted to see if it would grow, according to Moretti. It started in a small room, which she referred to as “the closet.”
“We couldn’t stand to be in that little dark room for long periods, so it was nice to go out to the pool or down to the track,” she said.
According to Moretti, there is a group pushing for renovation of the entire gym, which has included discussions of relocating certain programs and classes, one of which would require Adaptive PE to move to the upper bleacher area of the gym with access through the huddle.
“Adaptive students shouldn’t be segregated from regular students. I believe in inclusion, not segregation,” she said. “It has always been in my heart that I felt it was important to have Adaptive PE in the gymnasium area with other students and shouldn’t be secluded to an area of campus to exercise where others don’t.”
She hopes that the money DSPS has put into gym 11 for mirrors and equipment will help keep the class right where it is.
Many students expressed that the program has been beneficial to them, and said they will miss her.
Moretti and her husband, BC math professor Michael Moretti, plan to retire together at the end of this semester.