• Tom Leahy, Athletic Director | Level 1 Crossfit Trainer
• Brian Delaney, English Teacher | Level 1 Crossfit Trainer

• Our Beginning:

The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey is having a big impact on the overall health of St. Benedict’s Prep's community.

Support from the foundation has enabled the school to acquire the necessary equipment to establish Newark’s only crossfit training center, transform the school’s physical education classes, upgrade its weight room and make the school’s urban farm a year-round activity.

More than 200 students and staff members are regularly using the “Crossfit St. Benedict’s” center and weight room, while the portable equipment provided by the foundation has transformed the school’s gym classes into challenging fitness sessions which introduce the school’s 150 freshmen to crossfit training techniques.

Crossfit, which has 11,000 affiliates worldwide and is a sponsor of the popular Reebok CrossFit Games, advances health and athletic performance, two areas of particular interest at the well-known Newark institution that has produced so many college and professional athletes – two starters for the NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers – J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson – are former St. Benedict’s players.

The training regimen features intense group workouts based on common functional body movements, and it incorporates gymnastics, weight lifting, running, rowing and other activities. Its goal is to promote wellness and fitness as indicated by parameters that are measurable, observable and repeatable.

St. Benedict’s students and staff members who participate in crossfit training for 28 straight days are inducted into the school’s Wolfpack organization. This elite group includes Fr. Edwin Leahy, O.S.B., ’63, St. Benedict’s 71-year-old headmaster.

“Thanks to the generosity of The Horizon Foundation, we now have first-rate equipment, and many more of our students, faculty and staff are participating in our organized physical-fitness programs that start early in the morning and continue throughout the day,” said Tom Leahy, St. Benedict’s athletic director, who doubles as Crossfit St. Benedict’s trainer. “This is particularly important for an inner-city school which enrolls 560 boys many of whom are pursuing college athletic scholarships.”