The Online Reflector

Winter holidays at the University of Indianapolis are long and can be a difficult time to stay in shape,  especially  for  student-athletes.

Athletes must keep healthy and physically fit all year long, regardless of what sport they play.

Strength and Conditioning Coach Steve Barrick is in charge of weight training and speed and agility work for all UIndy athletes. He also is well aware of the challenges the athletes face.  However, the problem begins before the winter break starts, when the weather starts to get cold.

“When the weather gets cold you take away the ability to go outside on certain days,” Barrick said.  “But from a lifting standpoint, we are pretty much set [to workout indoors].”

The Athletics and Recreation Center helps the athletes who like to workout outdoors.  There is plenty of room to run and do any other type of conditioning that the students need. However, the ARC will soon be closed to students.

“It [the Super Bowl] is going to keep us from the support building and the ARC during that time,” Barrick said. “We’ll have to take advantage of Ruth Lilly and Nicoson Hall, if possible.”

The exercises that the athletes perform over break do not vary significantly from what they have already been doing.

“During the winter months, we try to keep them within the same process that we would if we were here any other time of the year in an organized setting,” Barrick said.  “We try to stay on the same cycle that we do all year round.”

Because there are no official practices, and the coaches cannot require anything, staying active is up to the athletes. However, Barrick releases a winter program that is similar to a guideline of what the athletes should be doing over break.

“I create programs for the majority of our teams, and then my assistant, [Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach] Adam Thackery, he has specific teams that he works with, and he will put together programs,” Barrick said.  “In these programs, I give them an information sheet on what expectations are and how to follow the program.

Barrick lists exercises and leaves room for the athletes to record their progress.  While he cannot require the athletes to bring the programs back, many will show it to him anyway.  Barrick also does what he can to keep the athletes motivated.

“My way of motivating them is by letting them know what they are in for when they come back on January 16.  When we come in, all of our teams, all of our athletes, are expected to be able to do a more complex type of training than what I have given them during the winter,” Barrick said.  “In order for them to come back and do what we’re asking them to do, they have to have followed the winter program, or at least done something on their own.”

For the athletes that do not go home, the facilities at UIndy will remain open throughout the winter holidays.

“While there are certain NCAA rules that don’t allow us to have organized activities, we can still be here to monitor and make sure that they [the athletes] are safe and help them with technique if need be,” Barrick said.  “I think coming in here where there are other people working out helps motivate them, as opposed to a person who has been working out with us for a long time and then they go to an LA Fitness or something. It will, motivationally, not be the same.  I think it is definitely easier for the athletes to stay in better shape if they stay around here.”

Angelique McNeal, a senior exercise science major who runs track and works as an intern under Barrick, has stayed on campus for breaks since her freshman year and has observed other students going home.

“People go home,especially the younger freshmen who haven’t been home and haven’t had a chance to stop—and it’s a long, long season for them. And it’s kind of hard to keep motivated when you’re at home with cookies,” McNeal said.

Barrick, however, is not too worried about what the athletes eat while they are on break, as long they also are doing what they are supposed to.

“Those that go home, the majority of them go home over Christmas. With that being the case, they’re going to eat mom’s home-cooked meals, which is fine with me,” Barrick said.

Barrick also works hard monitoring the diets of the athletes while they are at school. Although they are not on a diet plan, they keep a diet log that lets the coaches fix their diets for them.

McNeal works out with her training group, the sprinters, at the National Institute for Fitness and Sport downtown.

“We don’t have an indoor facility yet. They (NIFS) have an indoor track. Since we are doing sprint stuff, faster stuff, we usually have our spikes on and you can’t run up here [in Nicoson Hall] or in the dorm with spikes on,” McNeal said.

McNeal finds it important to stay active over break.

“The fact that we have such a long time off, because we start Labor Day weekend and we don’t compete until the middle of January;if you work all that semester and then sit on your butt for a month then you just lose it all,” McNeal said.

According to McNeal, staying on campus does help, as does finding a place that meets the needs of the type of training the athletes need to do.

“The other thing that helps is not doing it alone,” McNeal said.  In my opinion, if you have someone that is holding you accountable and they’re accountable to you, you’re both more likely to show up.  You’re more likely to work hard if someone is working hard next to you.”