Once, children played pickup games of baseball and basketball on neighborhood streets or country fields. Now video games, less time for recess and dwindling funds for physical education make it more difficult for kids to get the activity they need.

One Wake County program wants to fix that by helping kids learn how to play.

PEPI, or Physical Education Pupil Instructor, is a yearlong class for high school upperclassmen. They team up in pairs to work with teach basic physical education skills to elementary or developmentally disabled high school students. The PEPI program is offered at Apex, Athens Drive, Cary, Fuquay-Varina, Green Hope, Holly Springs and Middle Creek high schools.

Noelle Simmons said in her four years teaching the PEPI program at Cary High School, she has been surprised by the skills many younger students lack. Elementary schools in the area typically offer P.E. once every six days.

"When we do sports with the kids, we find they know nothing. They haven't done the kinds of repetitive practicing many of these skills require. Hand-eye coordination is often lacking, and even when we do 'free play,' students often don't know how to organize teams or how to referee differences in opinion."

Enter the high school students, who visit roughly five or six elementary schools weekly for 30 minutes each. For the younger students, the PEPI team works on throwing or kicking skills or simply getting kids' heart rate up. In the later elementary years, PEPI students explain strategy and sports skills for games such as tennis, football, floor hockey or kickball.

"As much as the [elementary] students look up to the PEPI kids, the atmosphere is more casual than if an adult were teaching the same skills," said Farmington Woods P.E. teacher Don Eller. "Recess is great, but the kids need more structure. Once they learn how to play a game, it provides a reference point, and they can play the same game again."

Ryan Phelps, who teaches PEPI at Apex High School, said the feedback has been nothing but positive.

"We are giving the elementary students an outlet, which is so beneficial," Phelps said. "But by the same token, the PEPI students learn that teaching others is more difficult than they imagined, and that they must be flexible and plan appropriate lessons for the age and development of the students. By the end of the year, the relationships they have formed with the students in their classes are very rewarding."

Apex senior Brittany Pettengill, a YMCA afterschool and summer camp counselor, is taking the PEPI course this year to get some hands-on experience with students. "I get to work with first-, third- and fifth-graders as well as two autistic classes, which has really opened the doors to what I could do after college," said Pettengill, who wants to become a teacher.

"You have to be very prepared and very organized," she said. "Often you need to alter the lesson because of the students' ages or abilities."

At Holly Springs High School, Tamara Cole's PEPIs work with a elementary school students but also ID (Intellectually Disabled) Moderate students at Holly Springs High. "My students learn to develop more leadership qualities in themselves by gaining a broad teaching experience. They attend special events and run stations of competitions," she said. Their big goal is participation in the Special Olympics in the spring.

"All year, we train for the Special Olympics, from track and field to bowling, relay races and long jump to shot put and softball throw," said Kim Perks who teaches the ID Moderate class.

Perks said everyone benefits from the experience. "My students get to interact with typical peers while also learning a skill. As a teacher, I can sit back and watch, inserting little bits of intervention. By the time we get to the Special Olympics, the PEPI students are cheering at the finish line or even running the last lap of the track with the students they worked with."

The PEPI program allows the students and teachers in the program to get excited and gain something, Phelps said.

Simmons agreed, "We want to see everyone's heart rate getting up; we feel it's a success if the students get exercise."

Cole added, "My students are willing to help and participate because they are not sitting back and letting someone else do it. They are excited about teaching and having fun doing it."