A Look Inside The Weight Room

Understand the important staff members behind Anderson’s weight room

Every day, hundreds of students go in and out of Anderson High School’s weight room, but none really understand the amount of effort that goes on behind the scenes. From complicated spreadsheets to hours spent after school, countless Anderson teachers dedicate themselves to bettering the high school's athletic program. 

The main face behind Anderson's lifting program is Mr. Szabo. Szabo is a math teacher at Anderson; however, outside of school, he focuses on improving students' success in the weight room.

He is in charge of making sure every athletic team in the school gets its own time in the weight room, as well as customizing each workout so each team can focus on what they need to improve.

“A lot of times the schedule and the workouts are just sheer logistics,” Szabo said.

Szabo creates a spreadsheet (available to see on the Raptors Strength and Conditioning Schoology course) where he carefully plans each day, and notes which teams will be in the weight room and when. He begins by listing each team's game schedule on the calendar, then lists each team's practice schedule, and from that, he determines what days work best for a lift. 

“We just have to figure out how many kids are going to be in [the weight room], what time they’re going to be in there, and can we have enough room for all of them in there at the same time,” Szabo said.

In order to smoothly run a weight room, it requires many other staff members who all are willing to dedicate themselves to the program. Anderson currently has five other members who all work to achieve the same goal: success. These include English teacher Mr. Lunn, science teachers Mr. Brandon and Mr. Granger, health and physical education teacher Mrs. Morency, and Spanish teacher Mr. Cottingim.

As the newest member of the program, Cottingim elaborates on the amount of training it takes to be able to coach younger student athletes.

“Mr. Szabo and I spent two hours [on the warm-up routine], going through each motion, and he [also] had me go through the workouts,” Cottingim said.

Besides one on one training, Cottingim also mentions necessary lessons online that the coaching staff must complete. 

There has been a noticeable change in the weight room culture with these new logistics in place. 

“Every athlete is expected to not only go to off-season [workouts], but also to go to their in-season [workouts],”  Morency said. 

Off-season workouts are designed specifically for athletes who are not actively participating in a sport. It is intended to keep athletes in shape so they are prepared when their season does roll around. In-season workouts are for athletes who are currently playing their sport; the workouts are created so each team can maintain their strength, but can also be able to perform to their best ability.

Morency explains how in recent years, athletes are more determined to get better, which, thanks to the staff, is a goal that has been instilled in them from the second they stepped foot into the weight room.

“That’s the number one thing [we tell athletes], just get better,” Szabo said.