P.E. Leadership lifts athletes’ competitive edge
By Austin Jackson
>[email protected]
“Y
ou really have
to want to lift
weights… hard,”
said Todd O’Neill,
physical education teacher.
This is the first year ever that
Omaha North has offered a weight
training class exclusively for student
athletes during the blocks of A1,
A5, and B2. The A5 block is for the
female athletes.
In past seasons, some athletes
have had problems getting to and
from workouts after school. With
these new classes, the athletes will
get the opportunity to work out and
lift weights without the hassle of
finding a ride.
“You get to practice during
school instead of having to figure
out how you’re going to work out
that day.” said Tyler Eddy, a senior
baseball player.
For the students in these classes,
a study hall is held every Wednesday. Along with lifting weights and
getting stronger, keeping up good
grades in classes is important. This
is because to even play a sport you
must have good grades and in turn
if you have bad grades there is no
reason to lift in these classes.
By having these athlete recommended classes, coaches and teachers try to close the gap between
North and the big teams to beat
such as Millard. In these classes,
to be seen as a higher competitive school, North student athletes
spend a lot of time on speed, agility,
and strength.
For every week of training there
is a workout plan for the percentage of strength for the reps and
sets each person should do, such
as 10 reps at 50% strength. This
is the same as when doing drills in
different sports. Yet, every athlete
is responsible for increasing or de-
creasing their own weight that they
will lift for the next class.
Along with lifting weights
and putting on max muscle these
athletes also take a break from the
weight racks and head into the MPC
Hall to work on their speed, agility,
and stamina. These different types
of workouts consist of jump roping
and running and focus on footwork,
mobility, reaction time, and flexibility. They are a break from the heavy
lifting and help the body adapt to
different situations.
For Adam Steinspring, a sophomore varsity football player who did
not get as much playing time during
the season as he wanted, evening
up the playing field for himself next
season is a main goal. Working out
every day Steinspring plans on gaining both mass and strength to size
up against the senior varsity players
next year.
Motivation is a key point in these
types of classes. Although, accord-
ing to O’Neill, that motivation is
already within the athletes. This is
shown by the way everyone pushes
each other to their max and to be
better. A clear example of this was
when Christopher Gunderson was
benching a heavy amount of weight
and 10 of his classmates gathered
around him to cheer him on. The
hoots and hollers of the athletes
filled the entire weight room leaving
everyone else as a spectator until
Gunderson finished his set.
“The energy in the room is
intense,” said Steinspring, “It makes
you want to do better, it drives you
forward.”
Compared to the regular weight
training classes the motivation
and focus is a lot higher. In regular classes the students are not all
athletes and are wound up in doing
their own thing whether that is lifting weights or socializing with their
friends.
In normal weight training classes,
Soccer players make goals early
By Nick Fly
>[email protected]
S
ome soccer players wait
until spring to play their
season, but at Omaha
North, about 20 students
take advantage by starting to play
and train in the winter. They all
signed up for a league at the Omaha
Sports Complex located at 14706
Giles Road in Omaha.
At the complex, there is an impact resistant field which the league
rents out to play games on. For
indoor soccer, there are two sessions
in the season, with eight games
played in each.
The rules to indoor soccer
are similar to what it would be to
outdoor soccer. Although originally
there would be 11 people playing
the field during an outdoor game,
only nine players are allowed on the
field inside.
“You may have less people on
the field, but the game goes by really fast and much higher scoring,”
senior Andrew Dinsmore said.
Also, teams can only win a game
by five points, no matter how many
goals a team makes because rankings
for the league are based off of goal
differentials.
Besides students from North,
students from other OPS, Millard,
Papillion, and Elkhorn schools are
in the league too.
Two years ago, the North squad
came in first place in the league and
both sessions last year they came in
second place.
This year in the first session,
North was in the championship
against the Skutt squad, but lost.
“Indoor soccer gives me the
ability to play even though its cold
outside, and it helps me to continue
to stay in shape,” senior Wyatt Waskowiak said.
The North Squad does not really
have much time to practice, but they
get the chance to practice a little bit
every Friday morning in the gym before school. Since it is such a short
practice, the team scrimmages every
time, to get time in for the actual
outdoor season to start. Ryan Koch
the North varsity soccer coach helps
the team practice, along with helping
them organize the money to setup
the league.
During the indoor soccer games,
no coaches are allowed on the field.
Since this is a rule, the teammates
for North agree with each other
who plays where and who sits out
at first. This process works for the
squad, although some players may
not get to play the position they
want.
“A few of our players don’t get
to play where they want all the time,
but at least they get to have equal
playing time and gain experience
with other positions,” Junior Brett
Craig said.
North feels as if they have an
advantage more than other teams.
They are very aggressive, and since
the game is played inside it becomes
a lot more physical with the field
being smaller and compact.
Besides that, the game has a
faster pace because play time is only
an hour due to the game starting
at 10 o’clock at night, making the
game more intense.
Even though North works as a
team to achieve wins, the individual
skills between players helps a lot.
When the players are not used to
playing certain positions or even
playing indoor, it takes previous
knowledge and techniques to muscle
through a game.
It may cost the players some
money each time they play in the
winter, but they would do whatever
it takes to improve their outdoor
season.
Junior Mohamed Mohamed attempts to head the ball. The
North Squad has come in second place in the league championships the last two sessions. Photo By Brett Craig
> Have something to say about this topic? Email the author or comment at ops.org/high/north/news.
Austin Jackson, Omaha North High Magnet School
such as the one in the B6 block,
there are two sets of students. Each
set has their own teacher. Roughly
only half the students are lifting
weights and half of those are hardly
putting any effort towards it. Along
with the lack of effort the two sets
of students intermingle with each
other listening to their iPods and
gossiping about who broke up with
who.
There is a lack of drive and
focus in the regular weight training
whereas in the athlete recommended classes there is an exceeding
amount.
To boost the motivation and
pride in the athletes even more,
every class period is ended with a
team huddle and chant “All in!” or
“Vikings!” leaving the goal to be
the best still in grasps.
19 Sports