With the semester finishing off virtually, how will members of the community stay active? Three athletes tell us how they balance online learning with workouts. 

Lauren McLane ’23

McLane is a two-year Lower Mid from Hong Kong who fences competitively and will play JV squash on campus when students return. This winter, McLane decided to stay in Connecticut so that she could practice fencing while attending school. She fences five to six times a week with her teammates. 

McLane also runs three to six miles around her neighborhood and does basic weight training exercises several times a week. She believes that exercise is important to mental health, especially during quarantine. McLane said, “[Working out] is a great stress reliever for me during online school.” 

Lydia Bullock ’22 

Bullock is an Upper Mid on the Girls Varsity Soccer, Hockey, and Lacrosse teams. Since all the rinks around her home in Lake Placid, New York are closed, she and her family decided to build an ice rink in their backyard so that she would not miss out on hockey practice. In addition to practicing on her rink, she joins her teammates on workouts via Zoom and works out in her basement in the afternoon.

What motivates Bullock to work out is the way she feels after it. Besides keeping in shape, workouts help her stay energized throughout the day. Bullock said, “It makes me less tired and puts me in a better mood.”

KP Leonard ’06

After graduating from Hotchkiss in 2006 as an active member of the field hockey team, KP Leonard ’06 came back to work at the school as the associate director of admission, a dorm parent in Memorial, and a Varsity Field Hockey coach. Ms. Leonard’s day is full of interviews, but in between meetings she manages to get in a daily walk. Now that her residents are gone, she said, “I do laps of the dorm, I go down Memo three, walk up to Memo four, and try to visit every floor. It serves as my daily walk when it’s too cold to go outside.” 

Ms. Leonard is also part of the Beachbody organization, an online company that produces different types of workouts. She is currently following a bar-blend program: a two month long ballet, cardio, and Pilates training workout. She enjoys trying out different programs with her Beachbody friends, pushing each other to complete their workouts. Ms. Leonard and her Beachbody friends stay motivated during these long programs by sending each other “sweaty selfies” post-workout. Ms. Leonard said that a daily workout has “so many mental health benefits. It gives you endorphins and makes you feel good about yourself, as you accomplished something that was challenging while doing something good for your body.”