Prior to him becoming a teacher, he was a personal trainer. Most of his clients at the time were 25 to 45 years old, and were just realizing how important their health and fitness is.

He has a lesson planned every day to meet Florida standards, he said. Each class consists of a workout, a sport and the delivery of information pertaining to either sports or fitness.

In addition, he said he creates assignments that help students to improve their reading comprehension and writing proficiency.

The most important part of his job is to keep the students interested and motivate them to push themselves physically, Mr. Fritz said.

“The best part of my job is being able to witness student success. Most students think I just like torturing them, but I just want to see my students improve. Whether it is weight loss, strength gain, or improving at a skill, I feel proud that they were able to achieve something.”

To get to where he is today, he said, he had to overcome many health issues. As a child he had severe asthma that resulted in repeated hospitalizations.

Throughout his elementary years, he said, he had chronic bronchitis and suffered from pneumonia every year for several years.

Due to the severity of his asthma, he was not permitted to take part in physical education classes for most of his childhood, he said.

He began to exercise regularly when he was placed in a weight training class in high school. By the time he graduated, he no longer had any asthma symptoms.

“Exercise can resolve many health issues that we have,” Mr. Fritz said, “and I credit that weight training class with my current healthy lifestyle.”

Mr. Fritz said he was born in Pennsylvania, but spent most of his life in South Florida. After graduating high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army as an Infantry soldier.

“During my enlistment, I spent 14 months in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom 5.”

“I would not change a thing about my past because every moment leads me to where I am today.”