Sometimes students need a break from the typical reading-heavy lecture class.

For these students, NIU has classes like bowling and aquatic fitness to break away from the norm.

“As far as the kinesiology and physical education department, there’s a wide array of classes you can take – whether it’s bowling or soccer – and bowling happens to be one of those,” said Chris Riddle , Huskies Den manager and bowling instructor. “It’s a class that gives you the opportunity to find out more of the essentials of bowling as far as scoring and form. While not an easy A, it is definitely an achievable A.”

Jeffry Royce, senior math and physics major and Huskie Den mechanic, took both Bowling I and Bowling II twice. During the beginning weeks of Bowling I, Riddle calls upon Royce to show students the anatomy of a bowling ball and to demonstrate his bowling style. Royce said Bowling I and II were “just fun.”

“It’s definitely an easy class,” Royce said. “It’s bowling, which is a game, so the instructor isn’t going to be too hard. I do know there are students who will fail.”

In the past, Riddle said learning about bowling history and demonstrating that knowledge in tests was a larger part of the class. Riddle teaches Bowling I and Bowling II, and said he grades based on attendance, test grades and in-class performance. Aquatic Fitness instructor Victoria Books said she grades her course based on tests and an end-of-the-semester project where students must lead the class in aquatic exercises. Throughout the course, students learn about the properties of water, how the human body reacts to being immersed in water and buoyancy, among other topics.

“The purpose of the class is to help the exercise science majors learn how to lead exercises in the pool,” Books said.

Aquatic Fitness students must be declared kinesiology or physical education majors or minors and have passed KNPE 217, Personal Health-Related Fitness Development. Bowling I, Yoga and Jogging don’t have prerequisites and are worth one credit. Bowling II is worth two credits, and participants must have taken and passed Bowling I.

“I certainly believe 90 percent want the opportunity to learn, and [bowling] is a class where they’re able to relax a bit,” Riddle said.

Other sports classes available are yoga, jogging, skin and scuba diving, horseback riding, tumbling and karate. All are worth two or less credits but feature various styles of grading and difficulty. More information these type of classes is available in the NIU class catalog, online through MyNIU.