50.0°,
Overcast A weight off their shoulders
ROK Health & Fitness helps East Rockaway student athletes continue their workouts
By Brian Croce
bcroce@liherald.com
East Rockaway High School suffered extensive damage and lost a lot of equipment in Hurricane Sandy, including in its weight room, where students worked out after school. Now a local business has opened its doors to the weight room devotees until the facility is back in operation.
Revolution of Kinetics Health & Fitness, a.k.a. ROK, is providing students with a place to exercise after school, free of charge. ERHS’s athletic director, Dom Vulpis, a member of the club, and head football coach Russell Pajer thought it would be a good idea to arrange for students in the school’s athletic programs to work out at ROK. Vulpis and Dan Vito, an assistant football coach who heads the weightlifting program, met with Mike Hawksby, a co-owner of the club, who gave his enthusiastic OK.
“We’re neighbors here,” Hawksby said. “We’re a community business; we’re in East Rockaway. Regardless of whether the storm happened or not, we would have done this. Sometimes in the worst of times, good things happen.”
Students began working out at the club on Dec. 3, and they focus on cardiovascular conditioning and weight training on alternate days during the week. “We couldn’t even have dreamed of something like this,” Vito said. “The approach that Mike has taken and opening his arms to our guys has been incredible.” Of ROK’s facilities, he added, “It’s like the Taj Mahal for our guys, coming from our little place.”
Vito said that around 20 students use the facility each day, many of whom are members of the football team. Junior Joe Sheridan, who plays football and lacrosse, said that working out at ROK is a great opportunity to get in shape for the upcoming lacrosse season. “I’m trying to take full advantage of everything here,” he said.
Ryan Murphy, a junior on the football team, said he has been working on his conditioning and getting stronger for next season. “It’s a great opportunity for all of us,” Murphy said, “since we don’t have a chance to lift at our own school.”
Vulpis said he is glad Hawksby was so willing to help the school’s athletes. “Our weight room is very tiny, even in normal times,” he said, “so to come over here to a first-class facility, and have a community member open his arms up to you, means a lot to the kids.”
