Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
JOEY ROCCO, left, and Isaiah Aili move tools Friday in A.D. Johnston's old shop classroom to make room for the expansion of the school's weight room, needed to fit new exercise equipment.
By RICHARD JENKINS
Bessemer - Bessemer's athletes are going to have some more room to spread out after the school expanded the weight room Friday to make space for additional exercise equipment.
Members of Bessemer's junior varsity football team helped clear a portion of the shop classroom that adjoins the existing weight room to make room for the new equipment.
The district's booster club - along with an anonymous donor - raised around $8,500 to purchase some of the new equipment, A. D. Johnston Principal Dan VanderVelden said, with Northern Michigan University also donating equipment.
The new equipment is intended to help the district's "Build a Better Athlete" program, according to VanderVelden, which the district started in the spring of 2014.
"It's different workouts, different stations ... some of the stations work on quickness, foot and eye coordination, plyometrics," VanderVelden said, explaining the program. "And it's something where (the student athletes) can take these exercises home with them and work at home."
The goal is to add variety to the exercises and work on skills such as speed and agility that can't be developed through traditional weight training.
"It's about building a more complete athlete than one that is just made for football, it's about toning the kids up for track and basketball and football and volleyball and soccer. It's built for both boys and girls," VanderVelden said.
The shop room is primarily used by the Gogebic Range Woodcarvers,VanderVelden said, with the occasional use by district maintenance staff or students preparing for prom.
"Our existing weight room just isn't big enough to handle all the equipment, so instead of letting the equipment sit and gather dust, we're creating a space in the old wood shop," he said.
The portion of the room not occupied by the new equipment will remain accessible to the carvers, VanderVelden said, and will actually benefit the carvers more.
"Things were just getting in their way because we had no place to store equipment," VanderVelden said. "So now that we are getting this area organized, it's going to be a safer environment for them and a safer environment for the kids."
