Athletics inspired career path for Peg Rees
Competing in the Rose Bowl “is about reputation, excellence and a commitment to the whole range of experiences available as a Duck,” says Peg Rees, the UO’s associate director of physical education.
“When some of us win, we all win,” she says. “I am just as proud that our school is going to the bowl game as I am when a faculty member wins a great award -- like our Michael Posner winning the National Medal of Science earlier this year.”
Rees went to the UO’s Rose Bowl appearance in 1995, taking her then 11-year-old niece along to see her first college football game. It was a bonding experience, she says, that she will never forget.
Rees knows her way around UO athletics. She is the last female in Ducks history to compete in three sports: volleyball, basketball and softball. Her athletic prowess occurred from 1973 to 1977. In 2001, she won the Becky L. Sisley Award, given annually to a former UO women’s varsity athlete who has been out of school 20-25 years and has earned distinction for herself in her profession or community service.
“My participation as an athlete inspired my career path from the age of about 10 years, when I joined my first competitive teams in basketball and softball,” said Rees, who earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1977 and a master’s in international studies in 1991, both from the UO. “I found my passion early. I came to the UO knowing I’d be a physical education major, and I was equally excited to teach and coach at the high school level. It has been a happy accident that I have been able to pursue both my love for coaching and teaching at the university.”
Rees, whose home base is the department of physical education and recreation, says she’s well aware of the ever-present debate involving athletics vs. academics on college campuses. She says that participation in athletics can provide students “a huge boost to the way they approach their school work, homework, and everything that contributes to their success as a person.”
“I got more accomplished academically because I was an athlete. I learned to use my time wisely -- to stay up to date with assignments and class work -- because I had to,” she said. “I learned discipline, time management, teamwork, responsibility to self and others, and how to enjoy the present -- through sports. I also learned a great deal about making and maintaining good relationships.”
