The sound of the weights slamming on the floor, and music blasting through the speakers, resonates throughout the hall around the room. Athletes of all different sports swarm the entrance to get to a squat rack first.
Except today, not much of that is happening at all.
The weight room is generally pretty quiet after school when sports teams are not taking advantage of its opportunities. There are a few frequent faces who show up just about every day, creating a small community of after-school lifters in West Chicago Community High School’s fitness center, from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.
While heading down to the weight room, one passes by the Fieldhouse. With no sports teams in the gym, the hallways are much quieter, and only a few groups of friends are seen meeting after the final bell of the day.
Walking through the halls once some fall sports programs have ended is always a little melancholic. With only a few small groups of friends meeting with each other after the final bell, it all seems so empty.
Near the entrance, one might expect to hear the music from inside the weight room blaring out into the hallways surrounding it, but today, the opposite occurs. The near silence is almost awkward, but the setting provides students with a relaxed and easygoing environment.
Inside, Special Education teacher James Karas observes a few students who come in to enjoy a more peaceful lifting experience. Karas has supervised the weight room for several months now.
“Coach Duszinski asked if I would be interested in covering the weight room during the fall because he had football, and I jumped at the opportunity,” Karas said.
The few students here tend to enjoy the quieter days where they can wear their headphones and do their own thing, without having to worry about being the first to the equipment they want to use, typically the cable machines and squat racks are fully occupied.
Some of the main reasons that the room is typically empty are “time, other commitments, membership at gyms, and being intimidated by the weight room,” Karas said.
Although the equipment is neatly organized, most of it never gets touched. Only a few spots are taken up at a time, leaving many dumbbells, machines, kettlebells, and medicine balls unutilized.
Senior and member of the wrestling team Daniel Guzman enjoys his time in the weight room, as the space offers a convenient place to spend his time after school. Getting a good workout in, many of the students take advantage of the free workouts with decent, complimentary equipment.
Old, rusted-out dumbbells are a staple of the WCCHS weight room, many of which go up to several dozen pounds. The colorful adjustable dumbbells only go up to 50 pounds, so some students will often resort to old-fashioned weights to get their workouts in.
Now that the day is finally over, the room is cleaned up by whomever else has stayed until the end, and of course, Karas. Until the next afternoon, the room is only seen again by zero-hour gym classes, or sports teams the next morning: both groups also taking advantage of a typically empty room.
