Sarasota High School Team

SARASOTA H.S. TEAM AT THE JUNIOR OLYMPIC NATIONAL WEIGHTLIFTING CHAMPIONSHIPS Sarasota’s Team, kneeling, from left: George Lockett, Preston Last minute instructions from Coach Smithers to George Smithers, Jon Rissler, Paul Short. serves as an assistant football and strength coach at Sarasota Heuberger, Ben Thomas. Standing, from left: Coach Bob =T:

Clean and Jerked 319 pounds for a 539 Total and oh"

George getting the Clean in fine style. He aaitceed 187 pounds and Clean and Jerked 264 pounds. George took third. a second-place finish.

Only a1 sophomore, Jon Rissler Suaiched 176 and Clean and Jerked 236 pounds to garner a fifth-place finish .

Ben Thonias Snatched 220 with the Power Snatch style. He Lockett (seated), standing is Paul Short. Coach Smithers Paul completing a 225-aieClean and m3k.‘HHe also Snatched 165 and took eighth nationally.

JUNIOR OLYMPIC NATIONAL WEIGHTLIFTING CHAMPIONSHIPS SARASOTA HIGH SCHOOL Coach Smithers likes to have his football players compete to keep intensity at a high level in the off-season. He stated, “We really push it during the school year and work a lot on technique. We also lift in-season. All our athletes lift. It’s mandatory for our baseball team, which was ranked third in the nation under Coach Clyde Metcalf.” All the athletes on the weightlifting team are football players. Football remains the number one sport but the weightlifting contests are both fun and challenging. Ben Thomas, a three-time state lifting champ, is 5-10, 230, and runs a 4.9 forty.

He will play football at Henderson State in Arkansas. Paul Short, a senior with a 3.5 GPA, is 6-0, 198, and runs a 4.8 forty from his linebacker position. George Lockett, a lineman, is also a senior with a 3.0 GPA. He is a 6-0, 225, and runs a 5.0 forty. Jon Rissler, a 6-2, 200-pound sophomore, plays defensive end. He carries a 3.8 GPA an runs a 4.8 forty.

CLEAN & JERK CONTESTS Continued from page 53 elbows-in grip recommended by BFS. If you have Bench Christie competed in the 105-pound class and beat all the competitions, athletes tend to use form rather than boys in the 12-to-13-year-old age group with a 99-pound technique for optimal Benching, which has greater carry- Snatch and a 132-pound Clean and Jerk. over value for other sports. (This can also be true of the Squat and Dead lift, if the coach is not careful.)

Christie Green is from Newnay, Georgia, and Fourth, Olympic-style weightlifting develops footwork. competed this past July in Boca Raton, Florida, at the While power lifting requires athletes to plant their feet, Junior National Championships. Her father, Ben Green, weightlifting requires quick, coordinated footwork with heavy weights.

Christie since she was eight years old. Christie has been a competitive Masters lifter and has been training We believe our initial try at this format was a success. competing for one year and will be an eighth grader at Our athletes enjoyed the Clean and Jerk and the feeling that O.P. Evans Junior High. “All the kids are supportive of comes with driving heavy weights overhead. We also found me lifting,” grinned Christie. “They don’t think it’s that, with proper training, weightlifting is very safe. unfeminine at all.

This past June, I had the opportunity to attend a starting to get interested in lifting.” weightlifting clinic at the United States Olympic Christie has tremendous technique, which explains why Training Center at Colorado Springs. It was a great she can lift so much. She also built a strong base with Squats experience to be able to learn the technical aspects of and Benches, with some plyometrics added for explosiveness. weightlifting from the top experts in the United States.

Christie is so good that she is in the top twelve American We will include the Snatch and some of it’s related women lifters by formula. However, she’s too young to movements in Our program in the near future. We also represent the United States in international competition. That learned that weightlifting is a great sport that athletes will have to wait until next next year when she tums fourteen. can enjoy after their team-sport careers are over. For “My goal is to be at the World Championships when I’m those with elite potential, there are opportunities for fourteen, and then maybe the Olympics, if it becomes an international travel and competition. ofÏcial sport,” Christie said hopefully.

Many coaches shy away from these lifts, thinking | asked Christie about anabolic steroids. She exthem dangerous or too difÏcult to teach. This is not the claimed, “No way! It’s like men taking estrogen little training background, the lifts can be (estrogen is a female hormone). | then asked with a taught safely and effectively. The USWF has a variety of twinkle, “Are you too young to have a boyfriend? She coaching resources available. Their video tapes, training quickly looked at her father and laughed, “Yes sir.” manuals, and clinics are of the highest quality, and are relatively inexpensive.

For further information contact: United States Weightlifting Federation Christie would like to be a Physical Therapist someday perspective. My final question was to ask her what the most important thing was in life. She squeezed her father’s arm and rested her head on his shoulder and said, “My daddy.”

From BFS Magazine — September/October 1988. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).