WESTFIELD – The WTA basketball players in the weight room on Dec. 12 were eager to talk about what a difference having the new equipment in the school has made to them and their team, and how their coach Kyle Dulude made it happen.
The weight room, which was most recently a storage room and formerly a weight room with old unusable equipment, is connected to the gymnasium by a door.
Dulude said after being at WTA for 20 years, he had recently left for a few years. He came back post-COVID to find that everything had been tossed in the room for storage.
He spoke to the administration, and told them that the students work hard and often make it to the championships, where they compete against students that are faster and stronger. He said Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski agreed to provide funding for the weight room in part from the athletic budget.
Dulude then worked with Jim Murray, a representative from Gronk Fitness, a Rob Gronkowski company, who came out and measured the room, and recommended equipment. He said he was happy to be able to get the All-in-One, a G15 Force that was being replaced by G16 models. The weight room opened in September.
“It’s good for education,” Dulude said, pointing to diagrams of the different muscle groups that can be worked on with the All-in-One. He said all told, there is about $30,000 of equipment in the room. Dulude installed the $6,000 athletic flooring himself, saving an additional $10,000 for the installation.
Besides the All-in-One, the equipment includes a bench press, incline bench press, treadmill, bikes, rowing machine and a pulldown, the only original piece from the old weight room.
“It’s for every kid in the school. We come in as a team for our slots, but it is open to every kid, although they must have an adult with them.” Dulude said some students have used the weight room as an alternate assignment for physical education – “some kids that don’t play sports, but are into fitness.”
Victoria Camp, who also teaches physical education and coaches sports in the school, came by during the team workout. “It’s going to help all of our sports teams,” said Camp. “There’s a huge difference in what they can do in phys ed compared to what they could do before”
“It’s a multi-purpose room for the kids,” Dulude said. He said staff members do use it, including Camp, but they mostly use the bikes. There is a sign-in to track hours for the warranty that is on all of the equipment.
“It’s very good for us to get stronger, faster and have more stamina to compete with the bigger schools,” said sophomore Jose Millan, who was spotting one of his teammates on the bench press.
“The main reason it happened is Coach spent his time during the summer, putting in the flooring and painting,” said sophomore Zachary Cook, who was doing pullups on the All-in-One.
“I spent every day of my vacation in here,” Dulude admitted. He said some of the students offered to help, but he wasn’t able to figure out how to let them. The students did vote on the colors for the walls, which are WTA purple on one side, gold on the other, and black on both ends. He hopes to have a WTA Tiger painted on one of the walls.
Other wishes to complete the room include signage, a clock, bigger mirrors, better lighting and new ceiling tiles – the one part of the room which wasn’t redone and is in a bit of rough shape.
Throwing it out to the team, the athletes said they would also like to get a fridge or cooler for water bottles, and a snack bar with fruit and protein bars. Donations are welcome, they said.
The students said the soccer team used the old medicine balls in the fall, but more are needed, along with new dumbbells. “They made us faster, carrying them outside in all weather,” said Cook, who also played soccer in the fall.
Basketball captains Josiah Rodriguez and Dominiq Perez were preparing the team for the first game scheduled for that evening, Dec. 12, against the Chinese Immersion School.
“I think we’re going to be pretty good,” said Rodriguez, who will be sidelined for a couple of weeks with a soft cast. “We have a good coach.”
“We strive to be the best,” said Millan.
Dulude said the team, all juniors and sophomores, is close knit. Besides practicing and working out together, they do other activities as a team, such as going to a UMASS basketball game.
They will also be competing in the fundraising tournament “Box Out Cancer” in January.
Rodriguez said every year, they pick one person as an inspiration, whose name is put on customized jerseys for the tournament. This year the team chose WTA student Malia Juscyk for the second year. Sadly, Juscyk passed away last year.
The team will be raising money for forkidssakefoundation.org, a charity established in Juscyk’s name by her family.
