WJ yoga teacher Janice Cornell is introducing a new class this upcoming 2012-2013 school year. In addition to the regular yoga classes offered, which allow a wide variety of students to explore yoga, Cornell will also teach a yoga course specifically catered towards WJ student athletes. Cornell explains that part of the reason she proposed this class was her observance of injuries sustained by athletes.

“I was looking at some of the sports injuries that were happening, and I think teams could benefit [from] a sports-specific type of warm-up that they could do,” she said.

Some of the injuries or potentially problematic issues Cornell saw included knee problems, tight hips and back injuries. She said many athletes in the media have said that yoga has been beneficial to their performances.

“It’s made them last longer within their sport, especially the professional athletes,” she said. “It’s given them more strength, more stability, they feel more coordinated, [and] they have better balance.”

In addition to the physical aspect of the yoga class, Cornell believes that athletes would benefit from sports psychology, which she will try to work into the curriculum.

“[I will] talk to them about the mental aspects going into [sports],” she said.  “[And about] the difference [between] being on a team sport and being in an individual sport.”

Cornell added that having multiple athletes in a single class could benefit all of their respective sports teams.

“My idea was to get some of the athletes in a class together, where we could talk about what they need specifically for their warmup [and] design something for their team.”

The class will be open to all sophomores, juniors and seniors, as they will often be the “leaders” of teams. Cornell hopes that team captains will sign up for the class, so they can pass knowledge down to their team members.

All interested student-athletes are welcome to take the class, whether they are involved with a WJ sports team or with a sport outside of school. While the regular yoga class is currently a popular option for many students, including some athletes, Cornell said there will be some key differences between regular yoga and yoga for athletes. In the standard yoga class, Cornell often talks about the names of the various poses in Sanskrit. This will not apply to the yoga for athletes class. There will also be differences in the physical exercises in the class.

“[It’ll be more] rigorous, a little bit more strenuous, and it’ll be geared towards athletes, [who] tend to be a little bit tighter,” she said. “Their hamstrings are tighter, their hip flexors, their adductors are all tighter.”

In addition, Cornell will substitute projects on the history of yoga, which are assigned in her regular yoga classes, for projects about how to prevent injuries and about sports psychology.

The class will be offered for the first time this fall. However, a certain number of students must enroll in order for the class to run. In the meantime, Cornell encourages all athletes to take the course.

“Yoga encompasses everything,” she said. “It does strength, flexibility, balance, endurance, so it really, really works on every aspects that an athlete would need.”