With the advancing school year here at Hill also comes various changes within our community. One of the biggest is our Strength and Conditioning program. The program has been completely revamped with the help of two new members, Assistant Director of Athletics for Sports Performance Elle O’Brien and Head Coach of Strength and Conditioning Bart Mestelle.

O’Brien and Mestelle both have helped to rehabilitate the strength program. Students and faculty alike have had raving reviews and nothing but positives about the changes. “I am really enjoying the new refresh being brought to the strength program. It has been super enjoyable and rewarding so far,” Anastasia Krafczek ’25 said.

Strength and conditioning is a great opportunity for students who are either in their off-season or enjoying strength training aside from athletics. It allows them to fill their afternoons with something positive but also something that will keep them busy and that is taken seriously. In addition to a great after school activity and pastime, the program offers several opportunities for student athletes to assist within The Hill community. This includes tasks such as volunteering as ball boys or girls at soccer games.

Currently at a capacity of 91 student athletes, each day consists of two 45-minute training sessions, which vary from weightlifting, speed and agility, metabolic conditioning, and yoga.  “One of the biggest highlights was ‘Fun Friday’. We all went into the field house to play a massive game of capture the flag. Sometimes, the best way to train speed and agility is to compete. Though, the greatest highlight has definitely been seeing student-athletes at Hill, work to advance their athletic and personal development through hard work and commitment every day”, O’Brien said. The strength program is an incredible resource equipped for student-athletes of all kinds. It is a fun-filled, optimistic group, always ready to give 100% to benefit themselves as well as their teammates, she continued.   

Many past beliefs regarding the strength and conditioning program at Hill were that it was a fallback activity and easy, but now more than ever, each program focuses on the athletic development of each student, training the fundamentals before adding weight and progressions.