Oklahoma School for the Deaf receives cycling program grant for middle-school students

SULPHUR, Okla. – Oklahoma School for the Deaf Physical Education Teacher Angie Shelby received a grant from the Outride Foundation to encourage middle school students to ride bikes.

OSD received 12 bikes, 12 helmets and an air pump through the comprehensive youth cycling education program Riding for Focus.

Shelby attended the training during the summer in California.

She then used Riding for Focus physical education curriculum to teach OSD students how to do safety inspections, check and fit helmets properly and ride their bikes safely.

“I am very excited to provide our students to learn about cycling, gain experience and have fun,” Shelby said. “My next goal for this curriculum is to add a pump track in OSD’s back yard so they can stay involved in improving their health, increasing their self-esteem and being independently bike riders.”

A pump track is a circuit of rollers, banked turns and features designed to be ridden completely by riders pumping or generating momentum by up and down body movements, instead of pedaling or pushing.

Research by Outride, based in Morgan Hill, California, has measured brain activity of middle school students both during and after cycling in a controlled laboratory setting to prove that cycling positively impacts thought, feelings and behavior. The program uses cycling as a tool for students to achieve to achieve positive academic, health, and social success.