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Sports

Weightlifting at GHHS

Courtney Collier - November 18, 2011

An inside scoop on after school sports training.

From cardio to strength, and dumbbells to leg presses, the athletes of Grandview Heights High School do it all. The school year has started and that means sports of all seasons are hitting the weight room and training yet again. The sports that are currently using the weight room for season conditioning are football, volleyball, and basketball.

The football team, and the basketball team have always taken advantage of getting to use the weight room, but this is the first year that the volleyball team has been able to take part in conditioning. Karla Fairbanks is the head coach of the Grandview volleyball program. She wanted her players to take part in using the weight room to enhance their strength and improve their endurance

Tony Thivener is the one working with the girls in the weight room every Friday after school. He designed a workout program especially for the girls to improve their volleyball skills and abilities. It starts out with circling up to stretch.

Mr. Thivener says that stretching is very important because it releases all the tension in your muscles, and keeps you from getting injured. After that, he has one of the seniors lead the rest of the team in two laps around the gym, including up and down both stairways. Then when the girls are finished with that they do floor work.

The stations there include jump rope, burpees, wall squats, lunges, and push-up’s. Next, it’s time to hit the weights. Mr. Thivener usually has 9 to18 stations prepared for the team to do.

The stations include benching, sit-up’s, box jumps, and more. As coach Fairbanks says, “Pain is just weakness leaving the body. Get comfortable being uncomfortable, and compete to win.”

For football and basketball, training is a little more intense since they’ve been using the weight room for a while. The supervisors that condition the football team are their coaches Jason Peters and Bob Maupin. In pre-season, the boys use the weight room three times a week, but during the actual season they train once a week.

Some of their main exercises are: Bench pressing, squats, and dead lifting, with little things attached to each. They really focus on working their arms, legs, and core.

Now onto the basketball team. Matt Siegel and Ray Corbett are the JV and Varsity coaches of the boy’s basketball team. When off of the court, coach Siegel takes the boys up into the weight room Friday after the volleyball team is done with their workout.

They also lift on Mondays and Wednesdays. Their workout is very similar to the football program.

So that’s what the athletes of Grandview Heights High School are up to. What about the non-athletes, you ask? That’s right, any student of GHHS has the opportunity to use the weight room after school on Fridays, or they can take the lifting elective that was introduced this year.

The staff wasn’t sure how well it would catch on, but there were some students interested in taking the class. The class is instructed by Andy Disabato. Coach Disabato is the health and fitness teacher, so he was a good fit for teaching this class.

The class starts next semester. The students will lift three times a week, and condition twice a week. They’ll also watch exercise videos, and do some cardio work as well. He says that he hopes this class will bring athletes in that are busy after school. “Kids who are busy with work don’t always have time to lift, so it’s important that we provide them with the time to do so.”

Staying fit and active is important, especially for an athlete. The sports program has been doing a very good job of keeping their athletes in tip-top shape for each of the seasons. The athletes are ready and determined to face their opponents and to bring Grandview sports fans to their feet during games and placing multiple wins on their records.