Weightlifting Camp Day 2
We are 3 workouts into the school-age camp--16 to 17 y.o. athletes. It has been good so far. My goals here are to improve my group coaching & management skills and observe different weightlifting coaching styles. It is never good to get set in your ways and think that one method works best for every athlete.
I walk an interesting path among the world of weightlifting, physical therapy and general athletic development. One of my goals in life to facilitate interaction, collaboration and understanding among the disciplines.
There are some very talented weightlifters here. However, some of them lack sound general physical preparation and movement literacy, so we are working a bit on that in warm up. The boys have a tendency to want to put a little too much on the barbell, so we spend some time reigning them in and harping on them to focus on body awareness and perfect technique.
The girls are just blowing my mind. There is some serious strength and power here and it is cool to see. And they are basically fearless, which comes in handy in weightlifting. You cannot think too much about the weight overhead; you just have to be confident and do it.
We train twice a day, working around the the training times of the resident athletes. It is always a treat to watch the resident athletes train speak with them. Pan Am medalists Natalie Woolfolk and Emmy Vargas, and their coach Bob Morris, are back in the gym this morning, just one day after returning from Rio. The Senior World Championships are roughly 8 weeks away and the pressure is on, as this is the primary qualifier for slots in Beijing. Right now the US women are eligible to bring 4 women to the 2008 Olympics, but they are close to losing one spot. The team must do very well in Chiang Mai, Thailand to keep all 4 slots.
The weather in Colorado Springs is great. I'm psyched to be out of the killer Midwest humidity for a few days. We can watch the Pan Am Games in the dining commons of the Athlete Center. The dorms now have wireless and the outdoor pool is open for individual recreation and team training. The food seems to get better every time I come out here, but they tend to steam/boil the heck out of the veggies. Blechh.
I walk an interesting path among the world of weightlifting, physical therapy and general athletic development. One of my goals in life to facilitate interaction, collaboration and understanding among the disciplines.
There are some very talented weightlifters here. However, some of them lack sound general physical preparation and movement literacy, so we are working a bit on that in warm up. The boys have a tendency to want to put a little too much on the barbell, so we spend some time reigning them in and harping on them to focus on body awareness and perfect technique.
The girls are just blowing my mind. There is some serious strength and power here and it is cool to see. And they are basically fearless, which comes in handy in weightlifting. You cannot think too much about the weight overhead; you just have to be confident and do it.
We train twice a day, working around the the training times of the resident athletes. It is always a treat to watch the resident athletes train speak with them. Pan Am medalists Natalie Woolfolk and Emmy Vargas, and their coach Bob Morris, are back in the gym this morning, just one day after returning from Rio. The Senior World Championships are roughly 8 weeks away and the pressure is on, as this is the primary qualifier for slots in Beijing. Right now the US women are eligible to bring 4 women to the 2008 Olympics, but they are close to losing one spot. The team must do very well in Chiang Mai, Thailand to keep all 4 slots.
The weather in Colorado Springs is great. I'm psyched to be out of the killer Midwest humidity for a few days. We can watch the Pan Am Games in the dining commons of the Athlete Center. The dorms now have wireless and the outdoor pool is open for individual recreation and team training. The food seems to get better every time I come out here, but they tend to steam/boil the heck out of the veggies. Blechh.
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