SHS Proposal. Weight Room at Veterans Memorial Rink 2019 — File 207346

Proposal for weight room at Veterans Memorial Ice Rink 1 Honorable Members of the Board, Somerville High School hosts a variety of activities in the weight room and fitness rooms. Currently both rooms are displaced for renovations in the new building. The weight room runs programs with a strength and conditioning coach from 2:30-4:30PM Monday through Friday and occasional weekends. During this time you will traditionally find the space filled with football and hockey athletes. Many other teams and programs wish to use this space, however the size of current the space does not allow for large groups and/or after school use at the same time. There are times SHS run programs later at night for teams interested; however, it is not conductive to the student’s schedules. There are times teams will come into the weight room at 7 or 8 pm to run workouts. This of course takes a toll on our student athletes and their academic course loads. The current fitness room is open 4 days a week with a PE teacher monitoring the space for 1 hour before and after school. That space is traditionally not used during the morning school day, except for make-up PE classes. You could find students of all abilities in this space but traditionally not team oriented. Currently, both rooms service about 130 students a day, not counting the PE classes. We have many sports programs that want access to the space, however equity is an issue and providing programming at a quality hour is an issue. There are about 150 athletes left out of programming on a consistent basis. Building a weight room space at the Veteran’s ice rink will offer an additional space for quality programming that cannot fit at the high school. Additionally, the space will allow for training that is more functional with lower weight for those teams that are not interested in “bulking” up or doing Olympic style lifts. Currently the dimension Veteran’s room designated for this weight room approximately 20 x 26.5. The former weight lifting space – 24x48, former fitness room space 34 x45. The environment and layout of the space is more conductive to smaller groups that want to train and will allow for varying activities, such as kettle bell, rope workouts and TRX. Additionally this space can be utilized summer fitness programming with agility training on the founders turf or Conway Park. Parks & Recreation would provide overall management of the weight room located at the Veteran’s ice rink. If equipment is approved the school athletic department would have access during the school day and after school for their interscholastic athletic programs. For non-school related use the space will be programed by Parks & Recreation. All programs would be required to have a certified trainer facilitating programs. Programs could include but not limited too; adult boot camps, adult fitness classes, senior fit classes, youth strength and conditioning, body sculpt, etc. All programs would go through our Parks &

Proposal for weight room at Veterans Memorial Ice Rink 2 Recreation registration process which includes liability forms. The options for athletes and the community youth programs are vast and are very much needed. Currently, the layout of the space provides for functional training and some Olympic lifting. The quote includes warm up bikes that can be rolled out and used outside the room, nearest the doors. Other equipment that can be used in the space outside the doors are the power plyo and pro skater. Both the power plyo and pro skater are items we already have. All of these items can be stored back in the gym when not in use or potential can be stored in the corner area of the rink, which is currently used for storage. It is imperative that the layout of the space provides storage pieces that help in keep items off the ground to provide for more functional training space. As an athletic department, we feel there is a great need for an injury prevention program in which our current PE staff member is versed in teaching. This program will be offered to all programs, but currently we feel a great need for female athletes to participate as we have a higher rate of knee and hip injuries with this population. This space is perfect for those types of activities. Lastly, we can explore the option to use the weight room space at the rink as a temporary PE space when the gyms are shut down at the high school. Currently there are 130 students participating in strength and conditioning courses. Thank you for your time and consideration. Attached is the layout of the proposed weight room at Veterans Memorial Ice Rink. Nicole Viele, Director of Athletics, Somerville High School Jill Lathan, Director of Parks & Recreation