The crowd watches the game intently; the ball flies through the air and the stands roar as the Lions land a homerun – winning the game. It’s jarringly tense, it’s incredibly energetic, and, ultimately, it is victorious.

Like most incoming freshmen, the opportunity to join the Oviedo High School football team is an experience coveted by its students. Sophomore Aiden Mahaffey, ever so eager to play, impressively made the team as a freshman.

He joined the program under Coach Greg Odierno, more commonly known as Coach O, who is known for working his players hard in the weight room to help strengthen the team and increase their physical performance. This aided Mahaffey in becoming the star he’s known as today.

“I definitely think joining football helped me grow stronger,” Mahaffey said. “It’s something I look forward to doing.”

Getting into the weight room is an important part of all student athletes training. Aiden Mahaffey is one such athlete. Mahaffey started lifting while the world was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He notes that this was a stressful time in his life in which the relief of lifting simultaneously lifted him some much-needed stress off his shoulders.

“Lifting during COVID really helped me get through lockdown,” he said.

This year, while still on the football team, he made the decision to join the weightlifting team in hopes of seeing how his strength compared to other athletes in the state.

Mahaffey competes at an impressive 219 pounds, which is an extremely competitive weight class. While competing, he only does the clean and jerk along with the bench press. Despite this his max clean and jerk is 205 pounds, while his bench press is an impressive 280 pounds.

“Aiden is a beast,” Micah Thorpe, 11, said. “Whenever we’re in the weightroom for football, he’s always supportive.”