Justin Todd, varsity linebacker and senior, takes a deep breath in, determination in his eyes. He lowers the bar onto his chest and breathes out, pushing the weight back up.

“One more,” Andrew Rhoad, varsity teammate and senior, said. “Come on man. You got one more.”

Todd said the conditioning may be hard; however, he said it pays off on Fridays, during the games.

“I live for playing under the lights with all those people watching me,” Todd said.  “There is nothing like the atmosphere at Carmel. You hear everyone talking about it. When you come to a home game at Carmel, there’s seven or eight thousand people. There’s nothing else like it.”

But for every action there’s a reaction, and Carmel is no exception. While Carmel fans may be some of the most excited and passionate in the country, they also have some of the highest expectations. At a school like Carmel, with over 100 State titles, people often assume greatness and push their expectations on to the athletes. While many schools have strong athletes or a strong individual program, Carmel is unique in the universal success of its athletics. Carmel is home to a women’s soccer team that has been ranked first in the nation, multiple division-one athletes, as well as a women’s swimming team entering its 26th year of consecutive State championships.

While athletes like Todd said those expectations can motivate him to succeed, they can also bring undue pressure. For example, Kevin Wright, head coach of the football program, said he believes the tradition of success at Carmel has helped keep its athletes motivated.

“At a place like Carmel, one of the big differences is there are so many good programs, with high expectations and goals, that motivates people to do their best. The general expectation is always to achieve at a high level,” Wright said. “If you have a tradition of success, that tends to motivate kids to work harder.”

Despite his excitement for Friday night lights, Todd said the history of winning has affected his thinking as an athlete. He said he understands the pressure to perform.

“People take (winning) for granted,” he said. “Getting to a State Championship is one of the hardest things to do; you have to prepare more than other teams do. (Due to Carmel’s success)  you have a target on your back. You want to leave behind your legacy that you made it to State.”

Todd added that while the tradition of success may motivate him and his teammates, it doesn’t give them entitlement to championships. He said the football team must earn every yard to the State title. As for dealing with the pressure, Wright said his personal philosophy concerning winning and losing is “No excuses.”

“‘No excuses’ is something that I adopted a long time ago as a player. Like everything else, it’s not original; it’s just stolen,” Wright said, laughing. “There are no excuses. Either it’s getting it done, or not getting it done, and sometimes getting it done may not always mean winning, but just that you’ve done your very best and achieved at the highest level you’re physically capable of achieving at. Excuses are for losers. You can always find an excuse for why you didn’t win a game. We don’t ever want to be that type of team because that eventually beats you and breeds an environment of discontent.”

While Carmel football is the most widely attended of the athletic events, the women’s swimming and diving team is the most successful. Having won 25 straight State titles, as well as having nationally ranked athletes, women’s swimming is one of the best in the nation. Lacey Locke, varsity swimmer and junior, said the pressure of previous success does not factor in her swimming. In fact, she said she practically ignores the pressure and just performs.

Locke, who finished second in the national 18-and-under 100-yard backstroke said, “We don’t really think about the pressure; we just do the work like we’re supposed to. We work hard, work together, and create a great team atmosphere. Then the wins and achievements are all in the process.”

Locke said the drive to stay in the top tier of swimming, personally and team-wise, helps her get through training.          “I’m a very competitive person, and I feel at that level you have to be. Sure everyone wants to be on top and that pushes me and gets me through,” Locke said. “It helps keep all the distraction away.”

Like all teams at Carmel, swimming’s wins aren’t won off of past success. To live up to the expectations, athletes must extensively train and condition. Three days a week, for two hours before school,  the swim team meets for conditioning. This is on top of the regular two and a half hours of after-school practice. Locke said that while there is a season for swimming, it is basically a year round sport.

Wright said in order to maintain high levels of athleticism, no matter the sport, athletes have to stay physically and mentally prepared. He also said the only way to success is hard work.

“If you are going to reach your goals and be the best you can be, regardless of the sport, you have to make a commitment to have your body and mind in the best shape they can be in,” Wright said. “Harvard did a study once; it takes 250,000 reps of a single play for someone to get good at something. If you think about a single play 250,000, times that’s a lot of reps, and to get great at something it takes about a million. There’s probably a little different curve depending on who you are, but as a team, that’s what the research says.”

Beyond physical preparedness, athletes must also find ways to overcome mental challenges. Between the expectation of success and competition from other students, athletes must be mentally solid in order to stay competitive. For Locke, she said she uses her sense of humor to get her through.

“Sure we look at the big picture sometimes, but we live in the now; we train for the now,” Locke said. “Personally I just make it more of a fun thing. I’m out there dancing. I make it fun. I just love competing and racing.”

As for Wright, he said if a student comes to him with complaints about the pressure, he tries to alleviate it with some perspective.

“I try to put things into perspective for them, as it pertains to life,” Wright said. “The thing about being a teenager, at the time, things seem very stressful. As life evolves, you look back and realize it probably was as good of a time as you could have. What I try to do is have them look at the bigger picture.”

Todd said he understands the role he has taken as a prominent athlete, and he has accepted the pressure. He said that while playing, he doesn’t think about the pressure anymore.

“When I was younger, (football) went by really fast, and you couldn’t really control what happened. It was almost like a blur,” Todd said. “But having the experience, being a senior now, you know what’s going to happen. You know how to prepare mentally. There’s a nervousness before the game, but when you’re playing the game, you don’t really think about the (pressure) being there.”

Additionally Todd said the support of the team around him has helped him raise to the heights he has reached.

“We’re with the football team more than I am with my family. Its like all my brothers on the team, and the coaches are like my fathers,” Todd said. “It’s a brotherhood we have; we’re always together and we always have each other’s back. If I need something, I know they’re there to help me.”

Todd said that as a senior he cherishes every moment in playing. He also said that he wishes to pass down the legacy of Carmel to his younger “brothers.”

“(Succeeding at Carmel) is the best feeling in the world. When you played a lot of these teams growing up, now being older, and you beat them, just knowing that was the last time you played them, that’s the greatest feeling ever,” Todd said. “I want to set an example of how we play football, our attitudes when we play and the tenacity and intensity we bring.”

As the head coach, Wright said he must usher in the team through good times and bad. Wright said that while Carmel is used to success, sometimes the greatest lessons come out of failure.

“When I talk to (athletes after losing), hopefully they understand all the positives to look ahead and not to dwell on the past. Where you’re so close and you battle like we battled and you come up short, it can have one of two effects. They can lock on to your psyche and pull you down, or you can look at the game as a whole. What I try to do is focus on the positive,” Wright said.

“When you go to the world, you’re going the hear the negatives,” he added. “In the grand scheme of things the majority of championships are not won by teams that, never lost a game. Sometimes you got to get knocked down before you learn all the lessons you need to learn to become a champion.”