LANCER ATHLETICS

from Lancer Magazine Winter/Spring 2021

OFFERING SUPPORT FOR THE LASALLIAN COMMUNITY

ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT CREATES PROGRAM TO HELP STUDENTS COPE WITH PANDEMIC

When the decision was made that La Salle students and faculty would not be returning to in-person learning in the fall, Athletic Director Brian Walsh realized there was a need and desire to offer all students an opportunity to be physically active. On September 14th, he and the Athletics department launched The Health & Wellness through Fitness Program. Walsh says, “The program was created in response to the pandemic and the resulting impact that it had on the high school sports calendar and the overall physical and mental health of our entire student body.”

The program was focused on various aspects of strength and conditioning, agility and skill development, speed training, core exercises, and dynamic stretching. Between 125-150 students participated in two to three workout sessions each week. The safety guidelines outlined by all public health agencies were implemented and followed including regular social distancing, mask-wearing, sanitization of equipment, stringent hydration procedures, and daily health screenings.

Walsh says, “This program benefited our students in multiple ways. The physical aspect allowed students to get out of the house, interact with other students and staff, and relieve some of the stress that we have all experienced over the past year. It played a significant role in the overall well-being of those students that chose to participate.”

Now that the School is open and sports have returned, Walsh says the program has been suspended because the majority of the students involved in the program have transitioned to their sport-specific activities. “We are currently running 20 athletic programs simultaneously, which is crazy to think about when normally a typical season of sports would have five to seven sports running simultaneously. I think all the work we put into creating and developing the Health & Wellness program played a role in our ability to pivot to the sport-specific activities when they became allowable,” he says. The constant communication amongst our head coaches leading up to the transition to sport-specific activities played a major role in our ability to do so successfully. The tremendous amount of success our teams have experienced in the first two months of our return can be attributed to our programming and preparation.