Aiming to continue to encourage improvement in fitness, Greenhill athletics has introduced initiatives to promote student involvement, and expand physical education instruction and individual fitness programs.

T-shirts will now be awarded to students who complete various athletic goals such as perfect attendance or speed, strength, and endurance-based challenges. Director of Sports Performance Jessen Houston says he has already seen higher attendance at the High-Performance Center (HPC).

“We had good numbers over the summer, and since we’ve started giving out T-shirts we’re getting a whole lot more buzz and excitement in students,” said Houston.

Beyond workouts, Houston says the Athletics department hopes to place additional emphasis on physical literacy through the Foundations of Fitness course offered to Upper School students, and by implementing elements of the course into team workouts.

“We want to improve their literacy around components of fitness, how to prevent chronic disease, how to be athletic, and how to enhance their sports performance,” said Houston.

Foundations of Fitness, which was created last year, will expand its curriculum to include more information about the basics of fitness. The scope of the course will also include information about nutrition and illness prevention. The class now has an additional instructor, Haley Brown, who joined the Sports Performance team this year.

“We feel that if we introduce and challenge kids to have a good understanding of why we make them do what they do,” said Houston, “they will not only understand and have a higher compliance, but they’ll carry that over into their lives.”

Students further interested in individual fitness practices also have access to the Workout Challenge program, which is now available at any period during the day. Those who sign up for the course follow workouts including cardio, strength, core, and flexibility training designed by HPC staff.

In the future, Houston said they are hoping for a new option for students to independently design a program tailored to their goals and work towards them over a semester. As of now, the course would most likely be open only to those who have completed Foundations of Fitness and taken the Workout Challenge once or twice.

Alongside curriculum expansion, there are also plans to create a bigger space for athletics within the next few years. A new athletics building is in the early stages of development and is planned to be at least twice the size of the current HPC, which will be located alongside Brinkman Field and the track.

“There’s always a plan to keep moving forward and adding more,” said Houston.