Keeping the ball rolling

By Shannon M

Being a P.E. teacher may seem simple—plan daily activities, supervise the students, track their progress and listen to their groans of anguish. One might think that the job would be relatively easy to get. But Jorge Salgado, P.E. teacher and girls’ varsity soccer coach of Yerba Buena High School, reveals that it’s not that straightforward.

In fact, it took Salgado years of following his passion and value in education for him to start applying, and even then, the process wasn’t easy. Yet, despite all of that, he’s been coaching for fifteen years, and it’s currently his ninth year teaching at YB.

Salgado’s involvement with sports and adolescence started all the way back to when he was in high school himself, when he refereed and coached for several youth programs as well as for a middle school. Then, while attending Fresno State, he rented out equipment to P.E. teachers as part of the kinesiology department. It was in this time that his interest in teaching P.E. emerged.

Salgado: “So I actually went into school to be a physical therapy major and unfortunately, it just wasn't what I thought it was going to be. I enjoyed science—I was very big into science in general—I enjoyed the movement of the body, which is what kinesiology is. But I wanted to go the sport aspect, meaning being in professional sports, either medicine or P.T. [physical therapy] in general.”

Unfortunately, Fresno’s single professional team had most of the other physical therapy majors aiming for a job there. So, with his coaching experience, Salgado decided to veer toward becoming a P.E. teacher instead.

After spending five and a half years studying in university, including a year and a half completing the teacher’s credential program, he returned here to the East Side, where he had grown up.

Salgado: “So, as far as teaching in the East Side, I wanted to come back—I graduated from the East Side so coming back to the East Side has always been kind of a want. The availability though has been very minimal. Usually for PE teachers, it’s pretty tough; once they get hired, you don’t usually leave.”

Not to mention, P.E. teachers are lower in demand, especially in comparison to STEM and Special-Ed teachers. Nonetheless, Salgado received two job opportunities—one at James Lick High School, the other at Yerba Buena. He attended both interviews on the same day and was offered the job by YB first. He accepted and has been a P.E. teacher here ever since.

Getting the job wasn’t the end of the battle though; starting out was also a rocky experience for Salgado, especially when teaching at the age of 24—not too much older than some of the students he was instructing. Because of this, he didn’t want his students to treat him as someone they didn’t have to take seriously. Salgado admitted that he acted a little too harshly in order to establish authority, but over time, he’s learned to balance between when to lay back and when to enforce his status as a teacher.

Salgado: “...you have to find that fine line and understand that I'm your teacher, I’m not your best friend. If you wanna have some communication, that's totally fine. If you need help, please come and see me. But we have to understand that we have a job that we have to do as well.”

Still, he loves to involve himself with his students and players, and to see their improvement from start to finish. He’s also got more room for variation as a P.E. teacher, as opposed to teaching in a classroom.

Salgado: “...everyday’s different. I mean, the weather’s different, kids’ attitudes are different—it just keeps me on my toes ‘cause we can have a good day, we can have a bad day. It continuously is something you can improve on where like, a lesson didn’t work out, that didn't work, so I have to switch that and change it next time.”

Salgado has dreams outside of teaching as well, including to be a parent someday and to develop an athletic program at a school. His ‘end goal,’ however, is to be an athletic director at a junior college.

Whether you’ve seen him around, been taught and/or coached by him, or have never heard of him, he’s out there to give his all. His advice to students is to stay healthy and young, and to not rush into doing everything adults do because it’s not as ‘glamorous’ as you may think. But also, push yourself out there, just as he did throughout his education, career, and life. There’s always the possibility of failure, but it shouldn’t deter your dedication.

Salgado: “Go out of your comfort zone, and don’t be afraid to fail. It’s okay to fail. Not necessarily saying it’s okay to fail classes, but it’s okay if you try something and it wasn't for you. But if you didn’t try it, you’ll never know if it’d be for you or not.”