Through the Fall and Winter sports seasons of the new strength and conditioning policy, MFS athletes have been generally pleased with the addition of the policy.
The MFS Athletics department implemented a new strength and conditioning policy for all sports teams in the fall of 2025, requiring all MFS sports teams to meet in the weight room once a week for 30 minutes, for a total of six weeks.
During the 2024-2025 school year, Athletic Director Isaiah Coleman noticed a large number of students on sports teams waiting around for two hours before their late practices started.
“We figured that we could fill that time with something productive like fitness training,” said Coleman.
Coleman wanted to make use of the students’ time by incorporating a way for them to stay in great physical condition throughout the season.
“It kind of morphed into how we can make sure students’ strength and power [are] maintained during the season and not lost through atrophy,” said Coleman.
During the program, students are grouped at seven or eight different exercise stations, rotating three times every 10 minutes. In those stations, students do various strength-building exercises. After three weeks, the exercises at each station switch.
Erick Cotter, PE Department Chair and leader of the strength and conditioning policy, said, “We try to incorporate a full-body workout with our teams over the course of a three-week process. We try to do upper-body, lower-body, and core workouts to better strengthen our athletes.”
“We are looking to support our athletes through maintaining their strength throughout the season, and we are trying to prevent injury by building on the muscle mass they already have,” said Cotter.
Both Coleman and Cotter test different exercises before incorporating them into the training sessions, ensuring that athletes are properly targeting every part of the body.
Student athletes at MFS have had positive reactions to the new program. Students have expressed some concerns about the little amount of time they get for strength and conditioning.
Isaiah Coleman stated, “I think the overall feeling or energy or vibe that I’m getting about the fitness and wellness program is good. It’s all positive for the most part”
Leo Male ’28 said, “I like how it’s promoting the right thing by trying to make everyone’s performance better in each of their respective sports.”
“I think it will help every athlete. It will help them perform at a higher level,” said Male.
Allan Wang ’26 said, “I think the idea behind strength and conditioning is great. Weightlifting can be very neglected in high school sports despite its importance for injury prevention.”
“However, I think the way it’s currently implemented is not that great, as one short session per week isn’t consistent or enough to be effective,” said Wang.
Coleman touched base upon these and other students’ comments, stating that the athletic department has plans to create more sessions. They plan on doing this by having two sessions per week, one early session and one late session, giving a team 10 total sessions instead of five.
Coleman said, “Having a session that runs from 3:30 to 4:15 time, and then having a team who goes out to practice from 3:30 to 4:45, they’re still able to their hour and 15 minutes of practice, and then come in and work out for the last 45 minutes.”
