Why I Love Weightlifting Part 7: Welcome Back
After spending seven years on a sabbatical from weightlifting—staying involved only as a fan—I started to feel the itch to coach again. We had moved back to Sandusky from Toledo, and our new house had an oversized two-car garage with enough space for a weightlifting platform. But who would use it?
As it turned out, I had a perfect candidate. My nephew, Caleb, was 14 at the time. At a family gathering, I asked my sister-in-law if she thought he’d want to try weightlifting. She said he would love it. On June 6, 2022, he came over for his first day of training. That was my re-entry into the weightlifting coaching world—though much more was coming, and fast.
The very next day, I got a call to ask if I’d be willing to coach weightlifting—really more strength training—at a facility where they had recently started running wrestling practices. I agreed, but only after confirming that the venture wasn’t tied to any particular school. I had felt burdened by school affiliations in the past and had no desire to return to that environment. Besides, weightlifting had changed. The private model had proved itself, and I was ready to pursue that path without being tied down. That decision turned out to be exactly right.
I’d be lying if I said I was gung-ho about the opportunity. I’d known the phone call was coming and was prepared to decline it. If Caleb hadn’t started training the day before, I probably would have. But the bug had bitten again, so I met Jared at what was dubbed “The Icehouse.” When I walked in, the space had potential, even if it was a bit cluttered—turf along one wall, a batting cage, wrestling mats in the middle, storage along the other wall. Jared told me we could put a platform in the corner. I gave him a list of what we needed, and by the first week of July, I was coaching again with one platform, one bar, a few weights, and whatever kids happened to show up.
When I agreed to coach at the Icehouse, I told my wife it would just be one day a week for about an hour. That’s where it started. My full intention was simply to provide strength training for the wrestlers who showed up. But if I’m being honest, I also hoped to find one or two good weightlifters among them.
It didn’t take long.
In that first group was Coen Opfer, who would go on to win nationals in 2024 and medal again in 2025. His brother, Grayor, also developed into a national-level lifter. Not bad for one day a week and one platform.
Things didn’t stay small for long. By the end of the summer, we had removed some turf and made room for two platforms. That January, Caleb competed in his first weightlifting meet, and at that point, I was fully back in the game. Momentum picked up quickly. By spring of 2023, we added two more platforms, re-registered Sandusky Weightlifting with USA Weightlifting, and kept Caleb competing. Late that summer, Caleb’s sister Hailey began training—and she has now medaled twice at USAW Nationals.
After Hailey joined, more girls began entering the program, and the club continued to grow. We took three lifters to the 2024 USAW Nationals in Pittsburgh, where Hailey finished second and Coen won—capturing our program’s 10th national title. We hosted four local meets that year and expanded the Icehouse with more platforms and equipment. In late 2024, Leslie Drury joined the coaching staff; her two daughters trained with us, and she had competed herself.
Then came 2025. We added a full competition platform to the Icehouse, bringing us to seven training platforms plus a competition setup—enough equipment for 20 athletes to train at once. We hosted two more local meets, held another at the Barrel House Saloon as part of the Strongman Champions League event in Sandusky, and sent two lifters to the Arnold. Eight athletes traveled to Colorado Springs for USAW Nationals, and we came home with four medalists. Our roster is now as strong and talented as it has ever been—and still growing. Not bad for something that started as one day a week on one platform.
That’s what I love about weightlifting: the building process. Whether it’s building a gym or building a lifter from scratch, it never ends. As soon as you think your facility is ideal, your team grows and you need more space. Lou always told me the true mark of a good coach is taking a lifter from a broomstick to the Olympics. That’s the work that motivates me—the progression, the goals, the constant pursuit of whatever comes next. You never know an athlete’s limits until you find them, and that search is what keeps me coaching.
There’s only one thing I love more about weightlifting than the process.
(Stay tuned for Part 8.)