7 minute read
Athletics
The Robert T. Low Turf Field—featuring brand-new turf and lights—plays host to a field hockey game against KUA on October 8, 2021.
A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR HOLDERNESS ATHLETICS
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BY GREG KWASNIK
Cayla Liptak had only been on the Holderness School campus a few weeks this summer when she decided to jump into the Holderness 100, an annual 100-mile bike ride through the White Mountains.
“When I heard there was a 100-mile ride, I thought ‘What a way to see the neighborhood that was around me. Let’s give it a shot,’” says Cayla, the school’s new assistant athletics director and field hockey coach.
While Cayla saw a bit more of the neighborhood than she anticipated—her group took a wrong turn somewhere near Sanbornton and added 15 miles to the ride—her enthusiastic, let’s-give-it-a-shot attitude perfectly exemplifies the energy and new perspectives driving Holderness athletics this season. Led by new Athletics Director Jenna Simon, the department is busy implementing an athletics master plan that emphasizes a holistic approach to high school athletics, with a focus on encouraging lifelong fitness and a love of the outdoors. Throughout the process, Jenna has asked for significant input from her athletics staff—including newcomers like Cayla and Strength and Conditioning Coach Andrea Sweet.
THE PLAN
The school’s new athletics master plan has been several years in the making. In 2017, the school convened an Athletics Council to consider what the future of Holderness athletics could look like. The council decided athletics at Holderness should focus on five main areas: character development and athletic culture; strength and conditioning; nutrition;
Athletics Director Jenna Simon.
mental health; and coach development. During the 201920 school year, then-Athletics Director Rick Eccleston ’92 spent his Henderson Brewer van Otterloo Chair Year visiting schools and athletics facilities across the country to determine how to make the school’s vision a reality. His findings—based both on his chair year and long experience as a leader in Holderness athletics—were critical to formulating the new plan. “Rick laid really important groundwork over the past 10, 11, 12 years,” says Jenna, who served as interim athletics director during Rick’s chair year. Head of School Phil Peck agrees. “The work that Rick did during his chair year was pivotal in the five initiatives we are taking, and he did a lot of research around facilities that could support those exciting initiatives,” Phil says. “Rick Eccleston laid the foundation for the work moving forward.”
The ultimate goals of the athletics program moving forward, Jenna says, are twofold: to serve both the athletes who plan to compete at the collegiate level, and to teach all students healthy, lifelong habits for physical and emotional wellbeing. “Yes, many of our kids have goals to play something at the next level, but that’s not everyone,” Jenna says. “Just being outside, playing, having fun is an important part for almost everyone.”
THE PLAN, IN PRACTICE
Barely a week into the fall athletics season, it was clear that the new master plan had begun to take concrete form. A nutrition station had been set up in Bartsch, with healthy snacks for athletes on the go; coaches had professional development time built into their weekly schedules; and each team would spend several sessions that fall learning about mindfulness with Sports Counselor Ginger Comstock. For her part, Cayla was busy establishing two studentathlete-led groups: the Captains’ Council and the new Student Athlete Leadership Team. The first group, the Captains’ Council, would teach leadership skills to the school’s captains and help them become better team leaders. The second group, the Student Athlete Leadership Team (SALT), would give voice to students who aren’t captains but still want to guide the school’s athletic culture. This group will act as an advisory board to the athletic department and serve as the voice of student-athletes at Holderness.
Helping to launch these new initiatives—and being part of a new athletics team—was an exciting opportunity for Cayla, who worked as a physical education teacher and lacrosse coach at The Bishop’s School in San Diego before coming to Holderness. “To have Jenna be in her first full year, myself, and Andrea, it feels like the chance to really build some momentum and think about ways we want to enrich the athletic experience as well as student life and the culture of Holderness,” Cayla says. In the future, Cayla hopes to help establish more programs like O-Hike and Mountain Day, where students can learn, explore, and challenge themselves in the outdoors. “I’m hoping to build some more programs that have to do with that outdoor education element—and that sense of wow, who we are is because of where we are,” Cayla says.
Assistant Athletics Director Cayla Liptak (right) coaches a student-athlete.
For her part, Jenna is eager to see what Cayla can accomplish. “She has unbelievable energy,” Jenna says. “If you’re having a hard day, it would be impossible to not have that day flipped around. It’s energy that we need all around campus, that everyone can benefit from.”
FINDING STRENGTH
Jenna is just as excited by Andrea Sweet, the school’s new strength and conditioning coach. Andrea comes to Holderness from Phillips Exeter Academy, where she developed the school’s first-ever strength and conditioning program, worked with 45 athletic teams each year, and played a critical role in the design and completion of the school’s 9,000 square-foot fitness center. Earlier in her career, she even worked as the head strength coach for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA.
Holderness is lucky to have her on staff. “It's great having a person that understands and wants to work side-by-side with our coaching staff to make our student-athlete experience the best it can be," Jenna says. "And have them be the most prepared starting with safety and injury prevention.”
This fall, Andrea spent much of her time holding weekly strength and conditioning sessions with each of the school’s athletics teams. For high school athletes, these sessions will pay dividends down the line in terms of injury prevention and healthy habits. “I really enjoy working with high school athletes because for a lot of them this is the introduction to strength and conditioning,” Andrea says. “At this point, you can really teach the foundational aspects of strength and conditioning and hopefully create good habits around that from a really young age.”
Andrea also worked on strength and conditioning with the school’s mountain biking and rock climbing teams. In fact, it was the school’s enthusiasm for adventure sports like these—and its strong connection to the outdoors—that drew Andrea to Holderness. A veteran hiker with thruhikes of the John Muir Trail and Long Trail to her credit, in 2020 Andrea earned a Master of Outdoor Adventure and Expedition Leadership from Southern Oregon University. For her thesis, which examined women’s solo experiences in the outdoors, Andrea interviewed a number of female hikers and adventurers. “One of the biggest things that I heard from the women that I interviewed was that it was super empowering for them to go out and do these solo hikes and just have the confidence in themselves—to gain that confidence in themselves,” Andrea says. It’s an important finding—and it’s especially relevant at Holderness, where all juniors embark on a three-day solo during Out Back. Ultimately, though, Andrea hopes to serve as a role model for students of all genders. “Strength and conditioning is a very male-dominated career field, so I think it’s awesome to be a role model for all students—not just the female students—having a female strength coach,” Andrea says.
The work that Jenna, Andrea, Cayla, and others are doing to revitalize Holderness athletics is coming at just the right time. Thanks to a transformational $6 million gift, the school’s athletic facilities are undergoing a rapid expansion. This fall, the school’s soccer and field hockey teams played on the new, lighted Robert T. Low Turf Field, and there are plans to build a second turf field, grass field, and softball field along Mount Prospect Road. The school is also harnessing its programmatic vision to consider what sort of facilities may best support student-athletes in the future. In a way, the work Jenna and her team are doing right now is building the foundation for those facilities—and laying the groundwork to make Holderness a model in high school athletics.
“There’s so much going on to have our facilities be the best out there, and super competitive in the NEPSAC,” Jenna says. “And then making sure our programming leads that—that we’re doing the best that we can to prepare our students, and then have our facilities echo that goal.” n
Strength and Conditioning Coach Andrea Sweet leads a practice in the weight room.
Students climb at Rumney Rocks, a world-class climbing destination minutes from campus. In addition to traditional team sports, Holderness has seen increased participation in adventure sports like rock climbing, mountain biking, and whitewater kayaking.
