Students get hopping to raise whopping $17,000 Fort Meigs bounces with enthusiasm

On the grassy field, it looked like a rainbow had leaked droplets. Round and large. Shimmering in the sunlight. Splashed with red, blue, yellow, green.

Then doors opened at the nearby Fort Meigs Elementary School and hundreds of children streamed toward Rivercrest Park in Perrysburg, where pools of color awaited.

These youngsters didn't have to be asked twice to grab a sphere and go. With excitement seldom seen during a gym class, or during a school fund-raiser in particular, the bouncing began.

Boing, boing, boing. Up and down, down and up.

"Is that cool or what?" third-grade teacher Sue Bernhardt asked as she watched a sea of bobbing kids participating in the school's first-ever Hop Ball Hop-a-Thon. "Everybody has been raving about this."

Just a few minutes into the bounce fest, people were saying, "We gotta do this again."

Let's go with the obvious … these kids were having a ball.

Some students bounced a few feet off the ground; others, a few inches.

No surprise here. More boys than girls pretended they were riding in a rodeo, swatting make-believe bucking broncos and twirling make-believe ropes. "Giddyup!" they yelled.

Some parents commented that sore leg muscles were likely. Facial muscles? Yep, those too. These kids couldn't stop grinning.

"This is really, really, really fun. I think everybody is loving it," said fourth-grader Clara Barned, who claimed for keeps a blue hop ball emblazoned with an elephant. Other balls featured red bulls and some were decorated with purple sunglasses.

Students wore white T-shirts printed with "I said a hip, hop, a hippie to the hippie to the hip hip hop. You don't stop."

Stopping? Not these kids. They were reluctant to stop bouncing even when someone yelled "freeze" during fast-paced Hop-a-Thon happenings.

"Parents would rather do this than sell magazines," said Kelly Frydenlund of Perrysburg, whose fourth-grade son, Brock, was there somewhere, bouncing.

Dylan Fritz, 8, had made friends with his bouncy ball, naming it "George." He was wild about the Hop-a-Thon. "Because it's fun. I just like bouncing around."

Second-grade teacher Joe Sarnes agreed. "I think this is awesome. It is a lot of fun, and it's a beautiful day."

A giant groan sounded a day earlier when school officials announced a rain delay for the long-awaited Hop-a-Thon. Mrs. Frydenlund said her son was devastated, but "when he looked outside this morning and saw it was sunny, he was happy."

Happy. Precisely. These kids looked happy. They were hopping around outdoors, learning about teamwork. The spirit of cooperation. Fair play.

And there wasn't a video game, cell phone, or text message in sight.

"This is great," Principal Scott Best said. "The idea for this fund-raiser got started with our parents' group. Parents talked about doing something more active for the kids and combining that activity with their fund-raising efforts, and the community supported that idea."

The event ties in with the school's physical ed standards, and "It's something different," Mr. Best said.

Amy Gerken, who organized last week's event, said she was pleased the school opted for a new fund-raiser. Fort Meigs' parent boosters bought 620 balls - one for each child, plus extras.

Proceeds will be used to set up activities such as book clubs at various grade levels and family-oriented programs, she said.

The oddball event was warmly embraced.

"The whole community rallied around it," said Mrs. Gerken whose children Elena, a kindergartner; Luke, third grade, and Jacob, fourth grade, eagerly looked forward to bouncing with their classmates around the park.

During the grand finale, students line-danced, in a sort of follow-the-bouncing-ball-style.

As opening notes to "YMCA" blared, it was obvious it wasn't the first time they had heard that tune (and if you think it's tough to form alphabet letters on the dance floor at a wedding reception, try it while bouncing around on a large ball.)

No way did this crowd need something to pump up the energy level, but as the music rocked, the youngsters rolled.

But then, it was over. Oh so reluctantly, plugs were pulled and hop balls went f-f-f-f-f-flat.

Then, in the last contest, teachers and student winners of earlier races competed.

Care to guess the winners?

Hands down or up, students were bunny-quick competitors, compared to tortoise-paced adults, including a few teachers seen carrying the colorful balls, rather than bouncing, bouncing, bouncing them, to the finish line.

Easily, the Hop-a-Thon was a winner when it came to raising dollars, netting at least $17,000, the principal said. Money was raised in part through the sales of the balls to the youngsters, and at the end of the afternoon, students were eager to take their hop balls home, deflated or not.