Why I Love Weightlifting Part 8: Family Business

From the very beginning of my weightlifting journey in 2001, the sport has been a constant presence in my life. Between 2001 and 2005, I was an athlete. From 2006 to 2012, I coached. From 2013 through 2021, I stepped back and followed the sport primarily as a fan. In 2022, I returned to coaching once again. At no point in the last 25 years has weightlifting not occupied a significant portion of my attention.

As much as I love the sport itself—and every experience and accolade it has brought me—the thing I love most about weightlifting is that it is my family business.

My family’s connection to barbell sports predates me by two generations. In 1975, my grandfather Vito began training for powerlifting in his next-door neighbor’s garage at the age of 45. He trained and competed for ten years and set a lifetime personal record of a 350-pound bench press at age 50—years before the invention of bench shirts.

While Vito was training in that garage, a young powerlifter from West Virginia moved to Ohio in search of work and a place to train. Fortunately for me, he found both in Sandusky and began training in the same garage gym. That’s where my dad met my mom, and a few years later they were married.

I’ve written about this before, but when I reached eighth grade, the high school football coach—who lived across the street—would come over and ask my dad to help out in the school weight room. What started as helping a neighbor turned into my dad serving as the school’s strength coach for the next ten years. During that time, I began competing in Olympic weightlifting, breaking from the family’s powerlifting tradition while keeping alive the tradition of competing in barbell sports.

After my first weightlifting meet in 2001, my sister Chelsea decided she wanted to start training at just 12 years old. While I was playing football, my dad would take her to the weight room and begin her training. As she tells it, he gave her permission to quit every day for the first several months—luckily, she never did.

Chelsea went on to win USA Weightlifting Youth Nationals three times, Junior Nationals once, represent the United States four times, train as a resident athlete at the USOEC at Northern Michigan University, and finish her career as a member of the Ohio Weightlifting Hall of Fame. And in keeping another family tradition alive, she married a weightlifter. Together, they now co-own a weightlifting gym in the Columbus, Ohio area.

My mom, while not a lifter herself, has been deeply involved for the past 45 years. She attended powerlifting meets with my dad and grandfather, every weightlifting meet for Chelsea and me, and most of the meets we’ve coached. Over the years she has served as a team physical therapist, baked post-meet cookies, filmed lifts, run concession stands, and—most recently—became a WSO referee to continue supporting the sport.

While I didn’t marry a lifter, my wife has been incredibly supportive of my involvement in weightlifting. When I was asked to fill in as a substitute coach, she traveled to meets with me. She has been to every meet over the last three years and is always the first to congratulate me afterwards. I cannot overstate the value of having someone like her in my corner. She’s watched thousands of hours of weightlifting, became a WSO referee herself (and a very good one), and through her, both my nephew Caleb and niece Hailey began training. They have each competed at USA Weightlifting Nationals twice, with Hailey finishing second two years in a row. One of the greatest joys of returning to coaching has been spending so much time with both of them over the past three years.

The family business extends well beyond my immediate family. I’m now coaching a second generation of lifters—Kody’s nephew (written about in a previous post) has been training with me for two years. I have five athletes on my team with the last name Opfer, whose uncle trained with me 20 years ago. Much of our team is made up of families with multiple children involved.

That’s what I love most about weightlifting. It’s not the medals, the competitions, or the teams—it’s the family. My family gets to share this incredible sport with other families, and from those families may come the next generation who carries it forward. It’s a privilege to continue building our team and creating a positive experience for everyone who devotes their time and energy to weightlifting.

I love this sport—but I love the family even more.