Photo credit to Spartan Shield staff

Senior Elijah Knauls squats while Senior Justin Sehlin spots him.

In the state of Iowa it is required that students from kindergarten to 12 grade take some form of physical education. That means a student cannot graduate unless they take P.E. all four years of high school. But, at Pleasant Valley, there is an alternative class offered. Students are allowed to take weightlifting in replace of gym.

Weightlifting has a lot of positive benefits like improving mental and physical health, but that’s not the only reason people opt to take lifting over P.E. Senior Gui Pinho said, “I take lifting because it teaches you how to do it later on like in college and later in life.”

PV graduate, Brian Dayman, also agrees with Pinho’s opinion. After graduating from PV in 2018, Dayman went to the Southwest Minnesota State to continue his basketball career. Dayman describes the transition from PV lifting to college lifting as not that much different. Dayman said, “The high school’s weight program prepared me for college. Other freshmen and even upperclassmen I’ve noticed struggle with the lifts we do. The types of lifts we do are all very similar or even the exact same that I’ve already done before.”

Ryan Arnold, the head coach of the weightlifting program, specializes every weightlifting workout for each individual athlete. He has three different types of lifting classes based on skill level. There is a basic lifting, intermediate lifting and an advanced lifting, but all levels have the same mission statement. This statement declares that Pleasant Valley’s program is “Designed for all student athletes to maximize high school athletic potential and to minimize injuries”. The statement also says that the program will “Challenge all student athletes in aspects of leadership, work ethic, winning attitude, consistency, and the above average ability to follow instructions.”

Some students feel that the lifting program is quite challenging. They feel as though the lifting program pushes them beyond their limits. Arnold explained, “We push kids hard in the weight room so that they can mentally and physically handle their sports.  The lessons you’ll learn in the weight room go beyond sports and these lessons will teach you to be a better person, employer, husband, wife and overall a better person.”

In the end, many athletes are appreciative of the pressure put on them by coach Arnold. Dayman sums up his appreciation, “Without the lifting program I would not be where I am today. Coach Arnold helped me become a much better athlete. Not only did he help me become physically stronger, he also helped me become more mentally tough.”