Jake Fitts has joined the St. Louis U. High staff in the role of Director of Athletic Performance and has already taken steps to level up the school’s sports teams as well as foster a healthy and active community. 

Fitts has been working with the football and lacrosse teams, but he eventually hopes to expand his program to include more of the student body. 

“The overall goal is to work with every athletic team in some way, shape or form,” said Fitts. 

After only a few weeks, the weight room is already more organized after school. Football and lacrosse team lifts on the day have forced Fitts to come up with an organizational solution. Now, near the entrance of the weight room, a whiteboard features which racks and machines are being used by which sport.

“I have football and lacrosse coming in today, so you could imagine it's a lot of a lot of people, probably 100 bodies in here,” Fitts said. 

“Coach Fitts has (already) helped me grow and develop as a person and athlete,” said senior Jakob White. “Immediately he started implementing new ways to do the team workouts for football and maximizing our efficiency. Instead of doing a certain number of sets per workout, we just do as many as we can in ten minutes then switch to a different station where we focus on another part of our body.”

In addition to working with sports teams, Fitts has begun working with other students by means of the weightlifting club, a recent re-addition to SLUH’s list of extracurricular activities.

“Some of the guys asked if we could restart the weightlifting club,” said Fitts, “And I'm all for it, that community fitness. Some of them are athletes, but it's a different way to approach it than just working with the athletic population.”

Fitts and the club are offering open lifts during Activity Periods, with a program for each day written out on the whiteboard near the entrance. Not only are these lifts a good way to get involved with the SLUH community, but there are also numerous benefits to mid-day exercise. 

“From a physiological standpoint, your body is actually able to absorb more information and retain more information from classes if you get your blood flow up during the day, during something like an Activity Period,” said Fitts.

“I know academics is a huge priority here, and that's one of the great things about SLUH. I want to mirror that with what we do here to help with improving the academics. If you're able to retain more information that you learned in class, then it's going to help.”

Fitts favorite verse from the Bible is 2 Samuel 22:2, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,” and this verse reflects a lot about what he brings to the SLUH student body. In helping make the weight room more accessible and organized, Fitts keeps his eye on what’s really important, doing what is best for the student body and following SLUH’s Jesuit mission.