If you ask Debbie Lindgren what makes her a great physical education teacher, she’d tell you it’s because she wants every child to be successful.

“If a child leaves my class and is not in love with PE, then that’s on me,” Lindgren said. “My goal is to reach every kid every day.”

That’s a lot coming from someone who was supposed to be a statistic, not a success. She endured a rocky childhood that included an alcoholic father and physical abuse.

“If you knew about my childhood, you’d be even more surprised that I’m not just a statistic,” said Lindgren. “I know what it’s like to be beaten by a parent, to be rejected, to be the underdog,” she said. “My goal as a teacher is to empower kids.”

Lindgren is the health and fitness teacher at Naval Avenue Early Learning Center. She was recently named the “2015 Northwest District Physical Education Teacher of the Year.” She will now compete with five other regional winners this coming spring and one of them will be named the National PE Teacher of the Year.

The contest is sponsored by SHAPE America, the governing body for physical education accreditation. She won state honors and then advanced to the regional where she was named the best in a six-state area.

The national competition will in the spring, where she will be interviewed by a panel of judges. She’s also had to submit videos of her teaching a lesson that combines a motor skill and a cognitive process.

“I taught the kids the overhand throw,” she said. “You know, mass times acceleration equals force.”

While she’s very honored at the opportunity to compete, what’s really important to her is that her students like her and learn from her.

“I had to be away for a few days last week,” she said. (She’s helping write the state standards for physical education.) “When I got back and the kids saw me, they just started cheering.”

They lovingly call her “Mrs. L.”

As a child growing up in southern California, she spent a lot of time outdoors playing. She was into basketball, volleyball, fast pitch, skateboarding and surfing.

Her father played football for USC and was an Air Force fighter pilot, but died when she was 10.

“I loved school because school was a safe place,” she said. “I think that’s why I became a teacher, because I know what it’s like to be that one kid in school that shouldn’t make it.”

She earned her undergraduate degree in physical education at Long Beach State and her master’s degree in PE and coaching from Ball State University in Indiana.

In 2010, she earned her National Board Certification for PE Teachers and since, has been a facilitator and scored tests for that organization.

“I call it my ‘lost year,'” she said. “I put in more than 400 hours studying to pass the national boards.”

When she and her husband, Jeff, began to raise a family in the late 1980s, they moved to Kitsap County where he was raised.

“We didn’t want to raise our children in southern California,” she said. “And Kitsap County had a lot to offer.”

Other than the years when her children were young, she’s been teaching physical education — even through two bouts with breast cancer. She was first diagnosed in 1992 and then again in 1994. Through the hard times, when again she could have become a statistic, she fought.

“It was the worst thing ever,” she said. “But I wouldn’t trade the lessons I learned for anything.”

She now has about 450 students at Naval Academy and sees each one two times a week for 30 minutes. For her, that’s not enough.

“The national standard is that each child should have PE 100 minutes each week,” she said. “That’s the point at which they are more likely to have good health habits and be active adults.”

Because many of her students are low income and can’t afford to join basketball leagues or live where it’s not safe to play outside, she’s found other ways to help them be more active.

She’s beginning a before-school program in the school’s gym where kids can come and exercise to videos, or dance. And she’s added “brain breaks” to their day.

“These are three- to five-minute activities that can be done in their classrooms with their teachers,” she said. “It helps get the wiggles out and brings oxygenated blood to their brains so they can think better.”

She also is trying to celebrate all cultures and recently brought in a friend who taught hip-hop dancing. Then, she arranged for students to perform at halftime at the first Kitsap Admirals basketball game. All the parents got free tickets to attend the game.

Besides teaching younger kids, she’s also the head basketball coach for the Bremerton High School girls’ basketball team.

With each student, she tries to find what they like about physical movement and allows them to focus on that.

She knows not all students enjoy competition and would rather set personal achievement goals.

“My passion is to give them a love for movement,” she said. “My goal is to see that every child has the chance to be successful.”