NORTH ANSON — If you’re not in the building by 5:35 a.m., chances are you’ll be locked out. It’s rare for somebody to be locked out.

“I usually roll in at 4:20, and most are here before me,” Jack Kaplan said.

A physical education teacher at Carrabec High School, Kaplan runs the Will Power weight training program at the school. Work out with Kaplan, and you’re in the weight room at Carrabec, overlooking the basketball court, a few days a week for weights, and one day of grueling cardio conditioning. This year, Kaplan has 21 students in the Will Power program.

“They work as hard as any kids I’ve ever seen,” Kaplan said. “I will challenge them, and they lap it up.”

Students see the results of the hard work they put in with Kaplan. Why would they risk showing up even a second late? Student athletes will let you push them to the brink of exhaustion, then past it, up the hill and around the block, a miles from exhaustion, if they see their hard work actually accomplishes something.

Kaplan gets results.

Tyler Reichert is an 80-pound eighth grader. He deadlifts almost 204 pounds, approximately 250 percent his body weight.

“If it wasn’t for this, I wouldn’t be able to stay active in my offseason,” said Cameron Abruzzese, a junior who runs track and field and cross country for the Cobras. Since he started taking Will Power seriously as a freshman, Abruzzese has seen his times improve, particularly in races like the 400 and 800 meters, combinations of speed and stamina.

“I noticed the last 100 meters I have quite a kick,” Abruzzese said. “The second lap of the 800 it really helps, too.”

Junior Greg Lumbert sees his improvement on the track, too. Emma Pluntke, a 6-foot-1 freshman, sees it on the basketball court, where an AAU coach recently told her she “moves pretty well for a big girl.” Troy “Boog” Dunphy, the catcher on Carrabec’s baseball team, sees his throws to second base are harder and sharper. His bat is quicker.

Darren Sheridan, a junior, didn’t even like sports all that much before he started Kaplan’s program. Now he plays soccer for the Cobras. At his job bagging and delivering ice, those heavy bags are lighter these days.

Improvement in sports is all well and good. It’s the improvement everywhere else that keeps some of the students, like Sheridan, from hitting the snooze button on those bitter cold winter mornings. Sheridan saw how Kaplan’s program changed his older brother for the better, and wanted in.

“I saw him change as a person, and that’s what keeps me coming back,” Sheridan said. “It’s weight lifting, but it teaches you life lessons.”

Kaplan keeps track of everyone’s academic progress. On average, the students in the Will Power program carry a 90.1 grade point average, and nobody is below an 81.1.

If a Will Power kid gets a detention, that’s 50 laps. If Kaplan finds out about a problem from a teacher before he hears about it from the student, that’s 100 laps. Will Power is about building discipline, and the participants buy into it 100 percent.

“Call most of these kids’ houses at 9 o’clock, they’re in bed, unless they’re still doing homework,” Kaplan said.

The Will Power team recently competed in the Maine Games weight lifting tournament. Eight Carrabec lifters went 9 for 9, meaning they successfully lifted all three attempts in the squat, bench and deadlift.

“Every lift I did was higher than I’d ever done,” Lumbert said. “I’ve gone way past what I thought I could do. I’m still skyrocketing.”

Recently, there was talk of cutting the Will Power and Cobra Power, the middle school program. When dozens of Will Power participants showed up at the school board meeting in support of the program, any talk of cutting the program ended.

On May 20, Will Power is hosting a deadlift and bench press competition at Carrabec. There’s a lot of early morning workouts to get in before that, but Kaplan and his team already know it’s worth it.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

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