Following the start of the new school year, the newly built student-athlete development room opened its doors for football players. Shared with both the lacrosse and wrestling teams, the space serves as a useful addition to locker rooms for analyzing film as well as simply creating a space for teammates to gather together. 

The new space was donated by Jody Arena ‘81 and Barbara Arena in loving memory of their three sons, Scott Arena ‘76, Harry Arena, and especially Chip Arena ‘67. With a rich history of attending the Hill school, the Arena family is deeply connected with athletics, specifically lacrosse, football, and wrestling. Their generous funding of the student athlete development room as well as dozens of new lockers hopes to benefit varsity-level participants in those sports. 

In terms of the location, the convenience of the space further allows for more flexibility and convenience in utilizing it. Equipped with an advanced screen that also serves as a whiteboard, teams can conduct meetings and reviews in the room. Along with the new space, the Arena family’s donation helped build enough new lockers to allow the entire rosters of the football, wrestling, and lacrosse teams to have increased storage space. Hence, empty space was available for a dance changing room, which allowed participants to have a dedicated area instead of using the cramped bathrooms. These additional features, which  stemmed from the athlete development room funding, benefited those beyond the three sports teams.  

After using the touch screen for the past couple of weeks, the football coaches shared their thoughts and opinions on the space. Michael Brody, assistant coach of the boys varsity football team, has ambitions for the new space to serve as a place for careful analysis of game technique and general film reviews. Brody viewed the space as “wonderful because it allows for team unity, a space that is ours.” In addition to learning, the team will be able to hang out there due to the vastness of the space. 

Similarly, David Hoffman, head coach of the wrestling team, envisioned the new development room to serve as a beneficial resource for its members. Hoffman hoped the space will be one for them to “get together as a team to conduct film breakdown review as well as technique evaluation.” Along with the improvements in the wrestling room itself, the wrestling team prepares to use their new resources to advance their performance.  

With the new addition of the athlete room, Seth Eilberg claims it is “mindful of the inequality due to the inherent disparity in the fact that since 1851 of male alumnus and 1999 of female alumnus”. In the future, there will hopefully be additional equipment and spaces dedicated to the improvement of sports for both genders.