By David Oluwole

Staff Writer

This year brought many new changes to the athletic department. With the various new recruits, broken records, and winning team records it’s easy to forget the new changes regarding fitness. A significant change that has been reinforced is the sign-in policy for fitness. Students are now on a binded schedule, in which they need to attend at least 4 days a week.

In the past students were able to sign their names on a sign-in sheet and potentially leave without doing any physical activity. This year there is a teacher who students need to check in with before and after their workout.

After talking to Athletic Trainer Eric Ball,  he said that there has been an increase in weight room activity, ever since the new implementation of a teacher overviewing the sign-in process. “I worry less about the students who do that due to the teacher now in the weight room. “

This new implementation has lifted a weight off Ball’s shoulders.  While, in the past he had to pay attention to both demonstrating the workout, as well as monitoring the check-in system. This year he’s able to solely focus on the physical activity from the students and ensure that students are doing activities correctly and safely.

Another new implementation to the fitness system is a fitness test at the end of each season, which will test how fit each student is. This test is also another indication of how much work each student put into the daily fitness. With this students are able to display their commitment and set goals in order to pass this test.

Students usually do the workout that Ball organizes, but students are allowed to stray off and set up their own workout. With the new fitness test, students who slack during workouts are exposed.

After talking to student-athlete Antonio Fernandez, he spoke about how he is better focused on a more serious PE class. When asked about the new sign-in process he said: “ I think that It’s helped me be able to focus on my workouts, due to the focused environment that wasn’t present in the past”.

Another student Constantine Alexos believes that students will now be able to get more from fitness. “ With these new implementations, students will not only feel healthier but will begin to enjoy the workouts”

This new implementation is a positive step in overall fitness for Lake Forest Academy. Our community is greatly impacted by this rejeuvenating step for fitness.