Faith Academy weight room nears completion
Richard Zowie/The Highlander
Randy Denton, Faith Academy athletic director, said the new weight room has been a busy place this summer for the school’s athletes. It’s expected to be completed by the time basketball season begins to accomodate up to 30 athletes at a time.
By Richard Zowie
The Highlander
Little by little, Faith Academy is expanding its amenities.
Previously, the private Christian school housed a weight room for its athletes in a 10 feet-by-10 feet portable building that also doubled as its junior high locker room.
“We’ve gone from that to about 2,100 square feet for the new weight room, which is now in a permanent building behind the gym on the other side of campus,” said Randy Denton, Faith Academy athletic director. “We have a weight room on one side, and on the other side we have a girls’ locker room and bathroom, boys’ locker room and bathroom and a trainer’s room.”
The director added that the various teams (football, volleyball and basketball) have all been using the weight room this summer. In the old room, they could fit seven to 10 kids. Now, they can fit 30.
Construction began last November, and Denton said they’re looking to have the building completed by basketball season (they’re still working on the electricity).
Whereas the old weight room had a weight bench, squat rack and a few machines, the new one contains much more equipment that had been used in the past. It included machines donated from other schools, such as Jarrell Independent School District.
“[Football] Coach Pete Rhodes coached in public schools or 35 years and still has a lot of contacts,” Denton said. “We went out and bought a lot of equipment from Llano and other places. It turned out to be very nice, for our size school. It’s a true blessing and will be good for the kids.
Among the weight room’s more popular machines is a VertiMax that’s a leading piece of equipment for NBA teams.
“We designed the weight room around it and made sure we had enough room to use it,” Denton said. “We’ve been having two sessions: a morning one for 20-25 kids and an afternoon one for 17-18 kids. There’s been much more participation this summer workouts and I attribute it to the weight room.”
Denton noted that students aren’t quite satisfied.
“They want air conditioning in the room,” he said, laughing. “We’re working on that.”
Faith Academy is at 3151 Ranch to Market Road 1431 east of Marble Falls.
