By Whitley Sway
In the 2024-2025 school year a new addition of hands-on elective classes were offered to McNicholas students. Sports performance director Mr. Peter Collopy teaches strength and conditioning classes, levels 1-4, during each semester. These classes are available to sophomores and above and allows students to have their workout implemented into their academic day.
“It is going to end up being more beneficial from a routine standpoint every day,” Collopy said. Signing up for this class allows a student to have a workout planned three times a week into their school schedule, which then allows students to have more time outside of school. By students lifting during school instead of after school, there are fewer students in the weight room after school, which makes the use of the space more efficient for both groups of students.
“We cut sets/reps in half or do more, depending on the needs of the athlete,” Collopy said. Students who are in season for a sport are also able to take this course and sub this training into school rather than after.
“It’s about getting as many opportunities as we can,” Collopy added. With 85-minute bells, students are typically working out for about an hour while the rest of the bell is used to learn about human anatomy, physiology, and any topics they are interested in learning.
Any student, sophomore and above, whether they are in a sport or not, is allowed to take this class. No gym experience is needed and students will learn the fundamentals on how to use different equipment. This allows students to be less nervous if they are wanting to try this outside of school but don’t know where to start, and it provides resources that students might not have had otherwise because of busy schedules.
The McNicholas Milestone 