In Our Lifters We Trust
Sometimes as a weightlifting coach, we tend to think that we can control everything. We write the training programs, we teach technique in our own image, and we pick the competition attempts. As much as I fall into this category, sometimes as a coach we have to know when to trust our lifters to make their own calls.
Twenty-three years ago, my coaching career unofficially began. I had a shoulder injury from football and couldn’t train. Sensing I was getting bored, my dad, who was the weightlifting coach, told me I could help him coach by training a new kid he was working with; his name was Kody. Kody would be the first person I ever taught to lift weights. I was sixteen, and he was eight.
Fast forward eight years and Kody is lifting in the last session of the 2010 USAW Youth Nationals. We figured if Kody lifted well he could get a medal. I had studied the results of the other lifts and told Kody to give his opening snatch as 98kg at weigh-ins. When Kody came out of weigh-in, I confirmed with him that he told them 98kg. He said, “No, I put in 100kg.” I was not happy, particularly because his best snatch in training or competition up to that point was 102kg. I told him if the warm-ups did not look good I was changing it.
Warm-ups started, and everything looked good. Kody hit an easy 95kg for his last warm-up and went out for 100kg. He made it without too much trouble. He came to the back, and I told him I was putting in 103kg for his second. He looked at me and said, “105kg.” I contested; 103kg was the better choice for the competition. He looked at me again and said, “105kg.” I exhaled, relented, and put in 105kg.
Kody again went out and made a nice lift with 105kg - a 3kg PR. Kody comes back, and this time I was going to hold my ground. “108kg,” I told him. “That’s what we have to do. It’s the best call.” Kody looked up at me from his chair and said, “110kg.” I was dejected. “Absolutely not. We are taking 108kg.” Once more, Kody said, “110kg.” I looked at his dad. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “If he wants it, let him take it.” Fine. I entered 110kg.
Kody went out, gripped the bar, set his back, and pulled with everything he had - the last eight years of technique development firing at the same time. Kody went under the bar in a flash, caught it, began standing up, and started to move forward. He ran to the front of the platform and nearly had it under control before launching the barbell off the platform and stage, taking out the webcast equipment in the process. Had the platform been six inches longer, he would have had it.
110kg may not seem like much to some, but this represented nearly a 10% PR attempt at the biggest meet of the year for him. He had no doubt been thinking of this weight since we began training for the meet in late March. This was his plan all along. I would have appreciated being let in on the plan, but at the end of the day, I had to trust him.
In Our Lifters We Trust.