Eastern football team takes part in step aerobics class with university president

When Shari McMahan was 23, her father died of cancer. A few years later, her mother died from heart disease. Losing both parents so early in her life, McMahan made it a point to prioritize physical and mental health.

"Without your health, you don't really have much," McMahan said.

During her first four years as Eastern Washington University's president, McMahan has placed a major emphasis on improving the morale and general well-being of students and staff on campus.

She began by creating a wellness task force that put together a list of institutional improvements that could be made to better overall health on campus.

McMahan has taught step aerobics classes for 25 years as a licensed instructor. During the COVID-19 pandemic, public gyms shut down, and the only place most people could workout was at home. As a result, McMahan decided to teach free fitness classes offered to students and staff about once a quarter.

"We just open it up to make sure that people know that I care about their well-being," McMahan said.

McMahan's forte is step aerobics, though she also leads other fitness classes, including Zumba.

A few weeks ago, one of her most unusual classes arrived at the doors of the university recreation center. Instead of faculty and students, the participants were members of Eastern Washington's football team.

Dozens of Eagles players and coaches traded helmets and whistles for aerobic steps June 3, as McMahan led them through a cardio workout. Due to the size of the team, McMahan separated them by offense and defense and taught two sessions for this particular Wellness Wednesday.

The idea came together after one of Eastern's football coaches attended a previous Wellness Wednesday class.

"One of the football coaches came, and I think he really enjoyed it," McMahan said. "He probably said to the other coaches, 'We're going to give our guys a really good cardio experience and see if we can set one up.' "

McMahan admitted she wasn't sure what to expect from a room full of football players.

"I didn't know how coordinated they were going to be, so I was trying to keep things pretty basic," she said. "I think I underestimated them. They were awesome."

She watched players pick up the choreography and keep pace through physically intense routines.

"There was no, 'I'm stepping on the wrong foot,' " McMahan said. "I was absolutely stunned."

The players' conditioning impressed her even more.

"They weren't cracking a sweat, not until the very end," McMahan said. "I had to do like seven sets before I could tire them out."

For senior linebacker Myles Mayovsky, the class represented an entirely new challenge.

"I'd never done it or even really heard of it," Mayovsky said. "I was curious. Is this going to be hard? Is this going to be easy?"

The answer came quickly.

"Oh, 100%," Mayovsky said when asked whether it was more difficult than expected. "It was tough to stick with her. She's good. She had all the moves down. It's fast-paced. Trying to keep up with her, you're like, 'Holy cow, she's moving fast.' "

While Mayovsky jokingly said he should probably stick to football, he had no shortage of teammates to nominate as the team's step aerobics stars.

"Nate Bell and Samarai Anderson," he said. "They were moving good. They got the moves for sure."

The class also offered something football practices don't always provide: a chance to try something completely different together.

"No one had a negative outlook on it," Mayovsky said. "Everyone was pretty positive about doing it."

McMahan said the coaching staff helped create that atmosphere.

"It was pretty fun because the coaches were there with them," she said. "The coaches were setting an example."

She said the coaches participated and had little trouble keeping up.

"You'd have thought that I'd been teaching it forever with them," McMahan said. "They were really good."

For Will Hall, a senior web developer who has attended Wellness Wednesday classes for several years, McMahan's willingness to participate alongside employees and students is what makes the program unique.

"I try and make it to each one," Hall said. "It's a side of her personality that you wouldn't ever see. She's super into it. She's always smiling and getting everybody amped up."

Part of the appeal is the workout itself. Hall said the classes provide a different kind of challenge than his usual fitness routine.

"I'm not a dancer or an aerobics person usually," Hall said. "I usually lift weights or go for a run ... It starts off kind of easy, and then it gently ramps up until at the end, you're just barely keeping up."

The football team wasn't the first group to participate. Cheerleaders, fraternities and sororities have taken part in previous sessions. McMahan said she hopes other athletic teams might be next.

The fitness classes are just one piece of a broader wellness effort at Eastern. McMahan pointed to resources such as the campus food pantry, fresh produce distributions and wellness-focused employee development programs as examples of the university's commitment to health.

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This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 8:02 AM.