My Two Whistles
By John Kruse
Have you ever thought about what the best whistle is for a physical educator? I can’t say I’ve tried them all, however, I have tried two of the more popular makes.
On my first day of student teaching I showed up without a whistle and my master teacher handed me “The ACME Thunderer” stating that it was the best whistle. Not knowing any better, I took his word for it and somehow managed to make it through my student teaching without giving the subject of whistles much thought.
Years later, I misplaced my whistle and discovered it was difficult to get through the day without one. After all, I’m at a really big middle school and have to deal with the noise of eight or nine other teachers’ students. In desperation, I drove to the local Sport Chalet near my house and discovered that they did not sell “The ACME Thunderer.” They did however, sell a whistle that many professional sports officials use called the “Fox 40 Classic.” At the time I can remember thinking that if it was good enough for the NBA, it had to be good enough for a physical education teacher.
The next day, I broke out the Fox 40 Classic and gave it a try. Wow! It had an ear piercing high pitch that could be heard across the blacktop. It was so loud that it kind of hurt my own ears. Students who were a few feet away would complain about the sound a grasp their ears like a toddler ignoring their parents command for bedtime.
Weeks later I found my Thunderer and decided it was time to compare the two. While the Fox 40 Classic was really loud and conspicuous, the Thunderer allowed for more of a custom sound. With a bit of practice, you could really vary the pitch, volume and “whirlyness.” In addition, students really didn’t complain about this whistle and it really didn’t bother my ears either.
To this day, I still carry around both whistles and decide to change it up a bit now and then. More often than not, I regret using the Fox 40 Classic when I do decide to use it.
My advice is this. If you are new to the profession or a veteran looking for a new toy, give the Thunderer a try. My master teacher was correct. In my eyes and ears, its the best. On the other hand, if I was lost in a the wild, I’d want my Fox 40.
Tags: ACME Thunderer, Fox40 Classic, product reveiw, whistles
Awesome, I’ve always wondered which whistle was the best. Since I’m more likely to be lost in the wilderness than to need the attention of 100 students, I’ll probably go with the Fox 40.