Walk into Seneca's weight room during the school day, and you'll find it running at capacity. Seven of the school's eight periods are Irish Power classes. Each holds anywhere from twenty to thirty-five students. Some periods run nine boys and fifteen girls — more girls than boys, a ratio Dan Baker notes was unimaginable when he started.

"In my first couple of years here, each class might have maybe four girls in it. In the summertime, there was never a girl in here ever."

Now, coaches from opposing schools tell him: when we play Seneca, your girls just look way more athletic. Stronger. Faster.

Baker graduated from Seneca in 2004 and returned to teach in 2010. In those early years, he and Ted O'Boyle — now the school's athletic director — were cobbling the strength program together after a PE teacher who'd been running it left. "Hodgepodging," Baker called it. Athletes weren't on the same page. Participation was inconsistent. Around 2016-17, he got his Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist certification, started studying the science seriously, visited other high schools to see how they structured things, and by 2018 had built Irish Power into a dedicated position with a coherent program.

The gear that solved the attendance problem came later: the Irish Power League. Each summer and winter, Baker divides his athletes into teams. They earn points for showing up, for personal records, and for winning in-house competitions. Winning teams get pizza. Recognition runs on the school TVs, in morning announcements, and on social media. "It has really helped attendance," he said. Tomorrow is their prize day for the winter league.

He also sends weekly attendance reports to every head coach. The coaches know who's putting in the off-season work — and so do their athletes. "If you're going to want a better assignment," said senior Griffin Hougas, who plays football and baseball, "you better show Coach you're ready to do the work." Griffin came in already knowing Irish Power through his two older sisters, both Seneca graduates and athletes who came through the same program.

Aurora Weber, a junior who plays volleyball and softball, started thinking about the weight room her first week of freshman year. She plays club softball, and the message from club coaches is consistent: get in the weight room. "The biggest thing that's motivated me is wanting to get recruited for softball to play in college. They encourage you a lot to start lifting weights." She plays right field, and softball season starts Monday.

For Lexie Buis — a senior who plays softball and volleyball — the adjustment was cultural. She came from a feeder school where the weight room wasn't for girls. "As a freshman, you think it's going to be embarrassing, or you don't want to run in front of boys. But you're building yourself, not everyone around you." Aurora put it more directly: at her friends' schools, weightlifting is "for the football players, for the basketball players — we don't do that, we just take PE."

Junior Jesus Govea plays basketball and track and doesn't have a fall sport. When the fall off-season comes, and most athletes are in their season, the weight room gets quieter. Govea stepped into a leadership role to keep training sessions going. His motivation traces back to his freshman year and a senior class that, he said, holds most of the school's lifting records. "As a class, we strive to become what they have accomplished."

The culture Baker has built around that motivation isn't sport-segregated. At larger schools, football takes first period, and basketball takes second. At Seneca, everyone is in the same class. The weight room stopped mid-session when I arrived because a Seneca wrestler was competing. The whole room watched together on the television in the room. "I think it's awesome how much they care about and support each other," Baker said. Every time Irish Power breaks a huddle, they use two phrases: one team, Irish pride.

Baker thinks about the long game. "Even if the last time they played a sport is the end of their senior year, the fact that they know how to do an exercise program, how to choose weights and reps and sets — they can do that their whole life. Strength training throughout your life is one of the best things for you." Freshmen come in untrained and make huge early gains, then hit the long plateau. He tells them: if you set a new PR every time you walk in here, in four years you'd all be professional athletes. It doesn't work that way. It's the small things, consistently, that move the line.