Physical Education coach Mrs. Renard always aspires to make exercise for her students as enjoyable as possible. I wanted to learn more about her, and the inspiration she brings to her students. Here’s five minutes with Mrs. Renard.
What originally inspired you to become a PE coach?
“I used to be a student at Van Nuys High School. I was in dance, and my dance teacher suggested that I do cheerleading. So I tried out, and I loved it and I did cheerleading for three and a half years. Then in my last year, I got to coach our junior varsity team — I did their choreography, worked with them and for the first time in Van Nuys High our junior varsity qualified for the USA competition. And so I told my coach that I wanted to coach for a living. I went to college and got my degree, then got hired as a PE teacher. Now that I’m teaching PE, I’ve learned to love it because I never took PE in my life. I always learned dance, and I actually learned about PE in college. So that’s how I became a teacher, and now I’m coaching.”
If you had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be, and why those specific words?
“I would say kind, funny and fun. I like to help people, you know, whenever I can. I help as much as I can without expecting anything in return. It just brings me joy to be able to help somebody when I can. I love to joke around a lot and have fun. I love to dance and work out. I like to go to dinner, go hiking and go camping. I love to do fun stuff, even at my age.”
What is one moment from your coaching or teaching career that you will never forget?
“We were at a competition and my girls had the worst competition ever. They dropped a whole pyramid. I mean it was a disaster, it was embarrassing, it was horrible. It was just the worst competition routine we’ve ever performed on the mat. And the next competition after that one, it was the City Individual Finals (CIF) Nationals. We worked really hard for that to never happen again. We put in extra hours, and at the CIF competition we won the championship. We got rings, and that was something I will never forget — how we failed tremendously and we succeeded tremendously.
What do you enjoy doing outside of teaching and coaching?
“I love spending time with my kids. I have three kids. I like to salsa and love to take Zumba classes. I love mariachi, so once a week I go out with my friend and go see a mariachi band and have a nice dinner with her. I mean, I do have a life, besides coaching.”
What’s a life lesson you have learned outside of the classroom?
“I learned that no matter how difficult things can get, with prayer, I feel that things always work out the best. And that’s what happened my whole life. Things go bad, and even if I think nothing good is going to come out of it, something great always does.”
If you could instantly master any skill in the world, what would you choose?
“When I was in high school, I was a tumbler. I could do gymnastics and stuff. If I can master that again, I would definitely love that. If I can be able to do a back flip and stuff like that, yeah, those are skills.”
