Weights fall against the floor as athletes crowd into the weightroom early in the morning for an extra gym session. Even though it was the winter off-season, athletes kept grinding their way to new goals. In the library, dozens of students write furiously just to get ahead or catch-up on their classes. The infamous Winter Arc had begun.
“In order to do this, my mind has to change, and you have to say, alright, this is always in the back of my head of how I did not play to my full potential,” Trainer Kevin Dilworth said. “I was at the place I needed to be. Now here is around about three months, 90 days, that I can get ready to fill those empty voids in which I had beforehand.”
Jack Shepro is a sophomore who is one of many student-athletes with the same mission: have a successful Winter Arc. Shepro is part of the St. Mark’s Rowing Team and strives to be a better, faster and stronger teammate that the program can benefit from.
“My training routine is already fairly strenuous, I usually train three times a day,” Shepro said. “However, the winter arc is the time where I increase the volume and intensity of my training. Every lift, every erg workout, everything I do I want to leave the gym knowing that I am fully spent.”
A Winter Arc is much more than a time to improve on sports; students utilize this time as a way to improve their habits and mindset for a new season. Students will also use this time to gain traction on their schoolwork and even to make one last push for grades before Christmas break.
“What happens when you talk about an arc, there has been an opportunity to realize that you’re somewhere that you don’t want to be and you want to change it,” Dilworth said.
Yet with a Winter Arc there can be many challenges and negative outcomes. For there to be a Winter Arc there has to be a significant amount of downfall during the Fall season that some students and athletes will do on purpose just to have a reason to have a Winter Arc.
“So you know that this winter arc exists, so I can somewhat self sabotage myself to get in a bad place,” Dilworth said.
Dilworth heavily spoke against laziness and slacking during the fall just because a student can have a Winter Arc. He heavily implied how important it is to strive for greatness every season.
“You have to look at that when one opportunity presents itself, you have to make sure that you dive in with everything that you have,” Dilworth said.
