1999 Getting Started
pelinks4u began in October 1999 as a weekly online newsletter offering “news, views, and information you can use.” It was created and published by Dr. Steve Jefferies, a professor in the Physical Education Program at Central Washington University (CWU) as a way for him to share information appearing on the rapidly developing Internet with his students.
With “search” programs still in their infancy, Steve initially focused on gathering relevant teaching and professional information and compiling lists of links. He also began sharing instructional resources created by his physical education students. Almost immediately, Steve invited K-12 teachers and PETE educators to contribute teaching ideas for publication in pelinks4u. Elementary PE teachers Tom Winiecki and Gerry Cernicky, two of the original contributors continue to share their ideas today. GOPHER also began its long-standing site sponsorship to help support publication costs.
2000The Middle Years
In October 2000, pelinks4u took on a new look. Separate sections focused on different content areas. The first of these was “Elementary PE,” soon to be followed by “Health, Fitness, & Nutrition,” “Coaching & Sports,” “Adapted PE,” “Interdisciplinary PE,” “Secondary PE,” and “Technology in PE.”
Teachers nationwide volunteered taking turns to create sections and share ideas initially on a biweekly basis and then monthly. These separate sections continued until December 2007 and featured hundreds of inspirational and informational articles and links (still viewable through our “pelinks4u Archives”).
During this time, Central Washington University began supporting pelinks4u through its Foundation, provided computer hosting, and generously committed Terri Covey as part time webmaster. Many pelinks4u site sponsors including Phi Epsilon Kappa, New Lifestyles, and Speed Stacks also began their support for pelinks4u.
2008 2016 pelinks4u today and beyond…
Beginning January 2008, pelinks4u was published 10 times a year and included links, guest articles and essays, media reviews, a PE Store, and monthly news updates from the world of physical and health education, physical activity, play, sports, nutrition, and obesity. Additional companies and organizations joined in sponsoring pelinks4u something for which we continue to be very grateful.
In 2015, it was time to redesign the format of the publication. A reader survey guided format and content changes. We recognized that the once monthly publication schedule was outdated and that we could add and change content continuously. To help readers better locate information we decided to categorize essays and articles by topic and add an advanced site search feature. To encourage discussion we added comment sections after each article. We also became more social media friendly. The advent of advanced “Search” eliminated the need to provide teachers with links. Finally, we decided it was also time to update the name of our publication from pelinks4u to PHE America.
Today, PHE America strives to continue to be a favorite resource for teaching colleagues and others interested in physical and health education and sports. More than 17 years of published materials remain accessible through our archives.
