WILLISTON, S.C. () Teacher Dalton Mundy has spent a good part of his career being Coach Dalton Mundy. He’s worked with Williston-Elko High School’s football and baseball teams.
These days he’s all about Physical Education at Kelly Edwards Middle School. When we stopped by, his 2nd graders got to select their focus for the day.

“We teach different skills amongst different sports,” Dalton says. “And a day like today, we get to experience by choice. So, basketball may be something that I want to work on, or something I just love. So I want to do basketball. So I gravitate toward that skill for today. Hula hoops, moving in space, that may be my choice, I’m doing that.”

Mundy is a lifelong athlete. He knows that physical fitness can lead to success in so many areas outside of sports.

“Such as, handling loss. Lots of times in sports the focus is on the wins. What we focus on looks at how to handle the loss. Because throughout life, you’re going to lose some things. So maybe this gym class can prepare them for that because I’ve already dealt with loss in my kickball game this morning.”

And Mr. Mundy knows that none of this would be possible without the strong support of the close-knit Blue Devil community and his close family. That includes his 2nd grade teacher wife, and the whole team at Kelly Edwards.

“The entire school. We credit ourselves as a family,” he says. “We have support wherever we need it. We’re always picking each other up. It doesn’t matter if, hey she’s second grade, somebody in fifth grade may need this, we all help lift each other up.”