It won’t be the first or last time we say this — Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Also, sometimes necessity is the mother of invention.
So it was at Ohio State when it comes to the strength and conditioning program. If you can imagine trying to fit able-bodied athletes into a training facility that is generally packed with weights, cardio, and other equipment, and you can probably guess how concerning that would be during a global pandemic.
You’re not the only one. When the pandemic hit in March, Ohio State senior director for sport performance, Heather Mason, was tasked by athletics director Gene Smith and athletics administration to find a way to train more than 1,000 student-athletes while adhering to the department’s stringent COVID guidelines. That came on the heels of seeing the need when she arrived on campus in 2017, and even after the opening of the state-of-the-art Schumaker Complex in December 2018.
“At the time, I was assessing all of the facilities and the weight room in French Field House had 676 student-athletes training out of a 3,816-square foot weight room,” Mason said. “We knew Schumaker wouldn’t cure all of our space problems so I created a proposed layout for St. John Arena to facilitate training our larger teams with a marketable increase of trainable space and square feet per student-athlete to help accommodate all of our sports.”
“Alignment, assignment and execution."
How the COVID-19 pandemic led to improving the strength and conditioning regimen for Buckeye student-athletes. 👇
— Ohio State Buckeyes 🌰 (@OhioStAthletics) October 5, 2020
What resulted was a training facility inside St. John Arena complete with equipment that was moved from other satellite training centers on campus. Known now as the SJA Powerhouse, it is a place that athletes can go to train while maintaining a safe space in line with COVID-19 protocols.
“It’s awesome how they turned the entire arena into a workout facility for us,” said swimmer Paul DeLakis in a statement. “Having so many separate racks, it’s a great chance to work out safely. I want to thank Gene Smith and everybody involved in making this possible. To be able to walk in there and get to work safely is awesome with everything going on during this pandemic.”
Who knows what St. John Arena has in store in the future beyond this, but for now, it’s playing an important role in creative ways to train safely and effectively while being mindful of the coronavirus pandemic.
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