THE GRIZZLY GREATS STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING CENTER: A Sanctuary of Health

By: Tres Turner ’16

It has been one year since the opening of the Grizzly Great Strength and Conditioning Center, and it has made a major impact on the health of the entire Catholic High community. From middle school students to alumni, the Grizzly Great Center has opened up several opportunities for sports and exercise groups to form. The impact has reached outside of the facility itself, inspiring change in the nutritional health of the students.

The Grizzly Great Strength and Conditioning Center is a new workout facility, built between the Catholic High baseball field and track, and completed in February of 2021. As the Catholic High student population increased, the existing facility, the Gayle Hatch Strength and Conditioning Center, became inadequate to accommodate the number of sports teams that used it. With the demand for more workout space, Catholic High decided to build a new, top of the line strength and conditioning center.

With the help of the new head strength and conditioning coach, Matt Bruce ’01, Catholic High designed one the finest workout facilities in the state. Matt Bruce ’01 has competed in weightlifting for 17 years, qualifying for seven world teams, winning numerous national titles, and was an alternate for the olympics twice. Coach Bruce has been involved with strength and conditioning at Catholic High for four years and had a heavy hand in the design of the Grizzly Great Center. According to Coach Bruce, “in size and functionality, our strength and conditioning center is the best high school facility in the state of Louisiana, and I would put it in the top five best strength and conditioning facilities including colleges.”

This impressive facility has accommodated the need for sports teams at Catholic High to utilize, but it has also opened opportunities for new sports to form. For years, there has been an interest among Catholic High and St. Joseph’s Academy students to start a powerlifting team. Powerlifting is an LHSAA sport in which the athletes compete for the highest weight in a back squat, deadlift, and benchpress. Until the opening of the Grizzly Great Center, there would not have been space on campus to accommodate these two groups. After CHS student, McVay Stockwell ’21, entered and won a powerlifting competition on his own in 2019,

Coach Matt Shelton jumped on the opportunity to start the Catholic High powerlifting team. After the first year of CHS students competing, St. Joseph’s approached Coach Shelton about starting their own powerlifting team to train alongside Catholic High’s team. Everything fell into place as the Grizzly Great Center opened with enough space and equipment for both teams. “In our second year at CHS we have 75 boys on the team, and in the first year at SJA we have 45 girls. It has been wildly popular beyond our expectations,” says Coach Shelton. The success of these powerlifting teams could not have been possible without the space created by the Grizzly Great Center. According to Coach Shelton, “The Grizzly Great Center is the perfect facility for our needs. The room is designed perfectly for freedom of movement and the ability to work in stations. It is enormous so with our numbers this is the only way we could do it.”

In addition to a new sport at CHS, the Grizzly Great Center has provided the opportunity to develop fitness groups outside of sports. In the Fall semester of 2021, Coach Bruce and Aimee Turner, Director of Donor Relations at CHS, proposed a CrossFit Club at Club Week. With the help of Matt Bruce, Coach Turner moderates and helps program the workouts for the CrossFit Club. Aimee is a Level One certified CrossFit instructor. CrossFit is a workout program that encourages safe, effective exercise and sound nutrition for people of all ages. According to Coach Turner, “what makes CrossFit special is working toward common goals as a community.” CrossFit has thousands of affiliates across the world, creating a network of communities that students can participate in after they graduate. For Coach Turner, it is the holistic approach to health and fitness that makes CrossFit unique among other workout programs and promotes the same community-building ideals as Catholic High’s mission. The CrossFit Club has 20 members in its first year at Catholic High, and on January 8th, the club held its first mock competition at the Grizzly Great Strength and Conditioning Center.

The students competed in four workouts simulating a CrossFit competition, including running, weightlifting, and gymnastics. Brandon Luckett ’13, a three time competitor at the CrossFit Games, taught the students competition strategy and demonstrated proper movement in CrossFit workouts. The CrossFit Club encourages students to enjoy both the community-building side and the competitive side of health.

In keeping with CrossFit’s holistic approach to health and fitness, Coach Turner was inspired to improve the nutrition on campus. Soon after starting the CrossFit Club, she approached the coordinator for Turning Point Food Services, Katy Touchstone, to discuss healthier options at lunch. The request was immediately taken into consideration and more options were added to the menu. According to Touchstone, “We have healthy options available throughout the day. For breakfast, we offer traditional, hot items such as scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage along with additional lean proteins like pork chops or pulled pork. At lunch, you will find a rice bowl special that combines rice with a lean protein and fresh veggies. We also try to incorporate a lighter lunch plate every week.” Attention to health at Catholic High extends from good exercise to healthy eating. For Coach Turner, “If we wanted to fully embrace health and fitness at school, we needed to bring attention to all aspects of a healthy lifestyle, whether it be exercise, community building, or nutrition.”

THE GRIZZLY GREAT STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING CENTER IS THE PERFECT FACILITY FOR OUR NEEDS. THE ROOM IS DESIGNED PERFECTLY FOR FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND THE ABILITY TO WORK IN STATIONS. IT IS ENORMOUS SO WITH OUR NUMBERS THIS IS THE ONLY WAY WE COULD DO IT.

-Coach Matt Shelton

Along with Catholic High’s attention to its students’ health, the Grizzly Great Strength and Conditioning Center allows room for extended members of the CHS community to improve their health. Coach Bruce was able to start two new programs that could benefit from the new facilities, the Middle School Workout Group and the Alumni Power Hour. The Middle School Workout Group meets four to five days a week after school to learn the fundamentals of weightlifting and conditioning in a top-tier facility. “I’m teaching them everything they need to know from a strength and conditioning standpoint to be ready for high school,” says Coach Bruce. The Middle School Workout Group trains students from 5th grade through 8th grade. The