The school’s sports performance program partnered with Nike to do a “Friday Night Lift Club,” where teams had a weight-training session with Nike trainers. The program had three sessions: girls volleyball and boys tennis on Feb. 6, boys and girls track and field on Feb. 20 and boys water polo and girls tennis on Mar. 6. Each session hosted about 30 athletes and ran them through a workout led by Nike. As part of the program, Nike gave each athlete who participated a pair of weightlifting shoes, a backpack and a shirt.

Director of Sports Performance Jeff Crelling said the sessions will be an enjoyable opportunity to give athletes experience lifting.

“Nike reached out to us, amongst other schools, and wanted to do a ‘Friday Night Lift Club,’” Crelling said. “They get athletes from one team, or various teams, with Nike trainers once every week to create a really fun environment and a great atmosphere for the kids to have a good experience in the weight room.”

Crelling said the session will allow the athletes to be trained by a new staff in a positive environment.

“[The athletes] get to learn and be coached by somebody different, so that variation of who they are hearing from and a different personality will be a good experience,” Crelling said. “There is good energy and the athletes get to be with their friends. It’s going to be somebody coaching them not from [the school], so there is no sort of pressure to perform a certain way.”

Volleyball player Ruby Sampson ’27 said the session brought her team together while receiving new types of coaching and getting prepared for next season.

“The event gave us the opportunity to experience a new type of training with new coaches,” Sampson said. “I think that ultimately brought our team closer together, as we are in the off-season, and lifting will make us stronger when we are in season.”

Sampson said the lift was difficult but beneficial.

“It was super hard, but it felt rewarding in the end,” Sampson said. “We were having a lot of fun with it.”

Track and Field athlete Lulu Aridi ’27 said the lift was a good balance between work and having fun, and the atmosphere and coaches were very positive.

“The session was really fun, and the coaches were very uplifting and inspiring. They were pushing us but not to a point where they were trying to ask too much of us,” said Aridi. “I think the community was really good, and the environment was really fun and healthy. My whole team definitely got a good time out of it.”