Meet the new Athletics Performance Team!
In addition to robust academics and harmonious community, Avon Old Farms is able to boast a top-notch athletics program. Beginning this school year, the AOF athletics department has grown even more substantial with the introduction of an Athletics Performance Team.
Our Athletics Performance Team, which is the first of its kind in the Founder’s League, combines several of the resources our school offers including but not limited to: strength and conditioning, nutrition, sports psychology, athletic trainers, and sports medicine.
Director of Athletics Geoff Barlow ’99 says the goal of the performance team is to utilize a more wholistic, multidisciplinary approach in an effort to enhance our students’ physical and mental health, safety, personal development, and general well-being.
“As a college preparatory school, we want to mirror, as much as possible, what colleges are doing,” Barlow says. “Many college athletic departments have multidisciplinary sports performance teams that work with their athletes.”
Now the school will have a comprehensive, organized team of professionals not only to treat students who are injured but also to enhance the performance of healthy students both athletically and in the classroom.
Director of Health and Wellness Heather Callaghan says that parents and students have been asking for and looking for more resources in the areas of mental health and nutrition. She says that while the school has already shown that it is committed to both of these areas, this performance team model takes that commitment to the next level by bringing these two important aspects of health together with the resources the school already has to work collectively towards a healthier, more successful community of students.
“Bridging health and wellness with athletics makes them work together more purposefully in order to promote mental and physical health while optimizing performance,” Callaghan says.
The team will consist of Barlow, Callaghan, assistant director of athletics John “Major” Bourgault ’80, athletic trainers Geoffrey Regan and Lauren Eastman, strength and conditioning coach Tyler Moccio, nutritionist and dietitian Dana White, and clinical sports psychologist Devin Markle.
Having this new team in place will give each individual student-athlete access to experts in every aspect of our program, from injury prevention and physical training to mental well-being and nutrition. It will also give us the opportunity to look at our program holistically to ensure we are meeting the needs of our student athletes and teams.
Barlow says he is incredibly excited and optimistic about the possibilities that now lie ahead. “With this team in place, we can ensure that our student-athletes receive the best possible care and support, both on and off the field. We can create an environment that prioritizes their well-being, fosters their growth, and helps them reach their full potential. Not many prep schools have a team like this in place, so it puts us at the forefront as an athletic program, which is exactly where we want to be!”