Strength and conditioning and varsity P.E. both help students to stay healthy and fit when student athletes are out of season. On a daily basis both classes do their set workouts for the day. Some say the classes are basically the same; others say that they are different. Strength and conditioning is for people who want more than just a gym class: They want to do an intense workout on a daily basis to keep themselves fit. In VPE, students who are on a varsity team do specific workouts designed for their sport on and off season.
Both classes do high intensity workouts on a daily basis and focus on certain muscles for their specific workouts; however, some days the teachers combine the classes and let them have a free day of playing sports such as basketball or softball.
“A strength and conditioning class is more structured based on the workouts we do because they force us to do a high intensity workout and not as intense in a VPE class,” senior Vanessa Ruvalcaba said.
According to students, a controversy arose between the classes because the strength and conditioning students believed that VPE students did not do as much work as them. Teachers of both classes were able to see that this statement was true and made changes.
“The coaches were able to create a curriculum that individualizes every single sport, for example if you are in tennis you have an exact workout, if you’re a footballer the same, or a pommer and all the way down the line. Motivation is a factor, and they are tested once a month to see how they improved,” director of physical welfare Joaquin Stephenson said.
In VPE, the class is focused on doing workouts based on their varsity sport. However, when out of season, students didn’t see a reason for them to try hard in gym class.
“No one ever did workouts in class but now the teacher forces us all to do high intensity workouts. They want the students to be accountable for their own work but no was trying,” senior Atorena Michael said.
Senior VPE student Jordyn Glotzer explained a reason why varsity athletes didn’t give their best efforts.
“Because it’s just gym. No one wants to be sweaty for their next class,” she said. “It’s different to work out in front of your coaches during practice to try to impress them versus trying to impress your gym teachers.”
Physical Education teachers said they love seeing their students’ successes and pushing them to limits that the student themselves wouldn’t think they can do.
“In class, we do squats, bench, it basically depends on the sport they participate in. I like to see my students push themselves and try to let them do independent work,” said strength and conditioning teacher Chris Vivone, was a personal trainer prior to teaching at Niles West.
Video by Lisa Jahjah
Additional reporting by Andre Eramia
