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Patrick Whalen, Marine Corps veteran, founding headmaster of St. Martin’s Academy, and founder of Iliad Athletics, makes the case that physical education is not peripheral to Catholic school mission but foundational to it. In this conversation with Dr. Jaime Madison Vasquez, Patrick explores why a student’s capacity for intellectual and spiritual formation depends on serious physical encounter with reality, how schools and families must work together to cultivate it, and what tools exist right now to help Catholic school leaders elevate their PE programs.
What You’ll Learn:
How to make the philosophical and practical case within your school community for treating PE as central to Catholic mission—not an add-on
What gamification and narrative techniques look like in a PE curriculum, and why they cultivate character more effectively than competition alone
How to structure PE differently for boys and girls at puberty in ways that are both philosophically grounded and practically appropriate
Why inviting parents into school physical activities strengthens the home-school partnership—and what that can look like concretely
Questions Addressed in the Q&A Segment:
“I live in Illinois - where nature can be very flat and unvaried terrain. We lived for many years in the city of Chicago and didn’t have grass in our yard. We would make concerted efforts to visit nearby forest preserves for hiking trips, but wondering about your recommendations for schools and families to incorporate nature when they don’t have as direct access in the daily routines.”
“If a leader realizes this is an area to grow in, what is the place to start that will be the most fruitful?”
“If you are looking ahead to next year’s budget and want to allocate additional resources to fitness, apart from the Iliad curriculum, what would be your recommendation for investment?”
“Parents on the sidelines can be a major liability for schools. What are your recommendations for instilling a charitable and partnership-oriented ethos among fans while still maintaining a commitment to excellence and competition?”
“What about kids who are not naturally gifted in athletics? Isn’t PE just going to make them feel bad?”
“How can PE contribute to overall school culture including spirituality, discipline, and even advancement?”
Resources:
Chapters:
00:00: Introduction and Patrick Whalen’s background
05:18: Why physical education? The philosophy behind Iliad Athletics
11:48: Tools for schools: curriculum, teacher training, and camps
14:43: Parents as primary educators—schools as collaborative parental agency
16:56: Body stewardship, family culture, and the screen time problem
19:22: Encouraging families who feel behind
24:21: Inviting parents into school PE activities
26:10: Gamification and narrative in the PE curriculum
31:28: Physical excellence and sex differences
38:53: Parents as models and encouragers—the Lenten parallel
41:26: Educator courses: Don Bosco, pedagogy, and teacher formation
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God bless!
Produced by Saint Kolbe Studios
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