Stone Brunton plays two sports throughout the year while maintaining a 4.0 gpa, spending time with family and friends, and doing activities he enjoys. He now has a 90 minute period during his school day to focus on his personal training for soccer in the fall and lacrosse in the spring. Athletes have the opportunity to clear up a lot of time to focus on the skill of the specific sport they participate in while accentuating a healthy lifestyle of an athlete.
Mr. Evans introduced a new class for the athletes to reach a higher level in their sport while also reducing the amount of injuries on the field or court. These athletes’ schedules have lightened up immensely because of an innovative gym class added to Greater Latrobe called Athletic Performance.
Athletes playing multiple sports or sports year-round have a tough schedule. Lifting and practice crammed into a week-day, along with homework and other responsibilities is not easy for anyone. By taking this class the student athletes can relieve some of the stress throughout their day while improving their game play, their recovery time, and healthy diet.
The athletes in this class have personalized training based on the sport and whether they are in season or off season. In season athletes work more on mobility and keeping their range of motion to reduce injuries that would likely stop them from playing in their sport for a while. Mr Evans said, “If they’re in season, we really focus on keeping them in the game.”
In-season athletes focus on strength maintenance throughout the season. On the day of a game, specialized lifts are provided to activate and warm up the muscles to perform successfully. If it’s a day after the game, the athletes do recovery to combat soreness and speed up recovery.
Off-season athletes work to gain strength in different areas based on individual sports. For example, lacrosse is a spring sport, so lacrosse players in the gym class are currently training for explosiveness and coordination while gaining strength for their upcoming season.
Since gym teachers are working with 21 different sports teams and 324 student athletes throughout the year, finding a way to keep track of all their progress was crucial. The coaches of each sport told the gym teachers what goals were important to the players, so from there, the gym teachers used an app called “Teambuildr” and assigned the workouts to meet those goals. The athletes can video their workout and submit it on the app so the teachers can check their form and see their workouts.
Improvements have already been made. “We’ve only been into the class now for three weeks, but we’ve already seen a reduction in injuries,” said Evans. Fewer kids are getting hurt and a lot less cramping and hydration problems this season. Stone Brunton, who is in season as a Varsity Boys Soccer player, said, “The game day activation and post game recovery has helped me to better prepare for upcoming games. By stretching out my muscles, they are ready to go for a game and I recover a lot faster.” The short amount of time that this class has been in session has already been productive based on this data.
The innovative course for teerangers also focuses on the nutrition side of being an athlete. An entire unit is taught to them about nutrition for sports. The gym teachers earned their sport nutrition certifications through the National Academy of Sports Medicine so they could give the athletes the correct information.
Klean Meals has also been added into the weight room. Students can purchase healthy and affordable meals after class. The original owner of R Klean Meals, Ricky Weiers, went to Greater Latrobe Senior High and Mr. Evans taught him back in 2000. Not only does it create opportunities for supporting a small business in Latrobe, it gives the teenagers an option to get all the nutrients they need to play successfully.
“I got the steak and potatoes a few times and it’s delicious. It’s also really good to know I am getting nutrients in and eating healthy,” said Brunton. Josie Lisbon, Weiers’ sister who currently runs the small organic business, “Our business fills a void for quick and easy healthy eating options in our local area. No one has the extra time to meal prep and it can be expensive to eat healthy, so that was something we wanted to fix and make available for everyone,” Lisbon explained. The company makes many different meals for people with different goals and dietary needs. Each meal is also labeled with all ingredients and macronutrients like carbs, protein, and fat. “All meals can be customized if you take advantage of our online ordering feature where you can build your own meals,” said Lisbon.
These meals are a great resource for the athletes so that they eat for personalized needs throughout the season. A cheerleader may not need the same amount of fuel as a linebacker so the portion customization is beneficial. Seeing the listed macros on the label will definitely help the athletes keep track of what they are eating and if they need more or less fuel. The meals are practical and save time which is important because the athletes don’t have extra time to prepare healthy meals for the week and weigh out all of their foods to count calories and macros.
Greater Latrobe Senior High has seen improvements in the student athletes game play and recovery time. This new class and R. Klean Meals system will continue to benefit the athletes and help them with the difficult time management of playing sports in high school.
