Our school has many sports that are well-known: football, basketball, soccer, baseball, track, and tennis.  However, there are some sports our students might not know or might not know well.  One of these sports is the powerlifting team. Powerlifting is a sport where girls compete by lifting weights.  Our school’s team is made up of five girls: Jenna Reese, Jesse James, Raven Hancock, Reece Williams, and Abi Adams. Here are things you should know about powerlifting coming from the team:

Who is your coach? 

Abi Adams: Kyle Cooper.

What is practice like? 

Jenna Reese: Practice is actually a really fun environment. It’s a lot of hard work, but our coach makes it fun. We work hard, but we listen to music and play around a lot. 

Jesse James: Practice is actually pretty fun. Unlike other sports I’ve participated in, it’s more friendly and I feel more at home when I’m there.

Raven Hancock: Practice is so fun every time we have practice. I am so excited for it the whole day. It’s something that I really look forward to throughout my day. We play loud music and just hype each other up through our reps.

Abi Adams: At practice we usually bench, squat, and deadlift five reps three times.

Why did you choose to participate/how did you get into powerlifting? 

Jenna Reese: Well I have always loved to lift weights and stay physically active, but my best friend Jesse James actually has done powerlifting for a few years now. She actually opened up my eyes to it, so I figured I would try it out and I fell in love with it.

Jesse James: Coach Cooper actually gave me a form about powerlifting when we were about to leave for a volleyball game during my freshman year. I guess he saw potential in me and I’m so glad he did since powerlifting has changed my life for the better.

Raven Hancock: I chose to participate in powerlifting because since I started high school, I got really into lifting weights and trying to define myself, and when I heard that there was a powerlifting team I just got super excited about it, and Coach Coop came and talked to me about it and it just seemed so right and real.

Reece Williams: I chose to get into powerlifting because of my love for working out and getting stronger.

Abi Adams: I play volleyball and my coach for powerlifting is also the coach for powerlifting, so he encouraged me to try it out. 

How does it benefit you? 

Jenna Reese: It has actually put me in a better mental space, so there is that one. I just feel so accomplished.

Jesse James: The sport benefits me because it’s a fun sport that takes good practice. It also helps to relieve any stress, sadness, or anger I have built up. It has definitely made my mental health better, and it makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something in life. 

Raven Hancock: This sport benefits me with my confidence and just being in a healthy and super fun environment with the people I love and the ones that make me happy and doing what I love most.

What do you hope the future of the program is like? 

Jenna Reese: I hope it grows. I hope more females, especially, get involved in it because it is very empowering to see all these women at the meets breaking records for bench and just showing out for our gender. 

Jesse James: In the future, I hope powerlifting becomes an official high school sport and I hope more people try it out and find out that it’s definitely worth a shot because it’s a one of a kind type of sport. 

Raven Hancock: I hope that more people become interested in this sport and become more supportive since it’s not really school funded, it would still be super nice to have the school’s support just like all of the other sports our school has. 

Reece Williams: I hope that in the future more girls start lifting and defy society’s standards. I feel that many girls do not lift because it is seen by a lot of people in society as “masculine,” or they think that they would be too weak for it. But I really want to encourage other girls to do it no matter what people say! 

Abi Adams: In the future of this program, I hope that I will continue to make progress and learn more  about powerlifting.

What is something you gained from participating that you would have missed out on otherwise?

Jenna Reese: The relationships that I have made because the meets aren’t just you there. It’s you and like 200 other people, so you are talking to people and meeting new people. I made a lot of new relationships through it.

Jesse James: One thing I gained from this sport is happiness. It has helped me create amazing friendships with other students and adults and without powerlifting, I probably would’ve been in a bad mental place and I wouldn’t have been able to have so many opportunities in life. I couldn’t be more thankful for coach Cooper wanting me to do powerlifting. 

Raven Hancock: Something I have learned from this sport is everyone fails; not everyone is perfect. You can’t just dwell on the fact that you failed something, but rather you should just keep on pushing, and one day soon what you did fail will become light work . Just keep on pushing.

Reece Williams: I have gained friendships with people I never thought I would talk to!

Abi Adams: I gained friendships, a new love for a sport, and  knowledge about a sport I knew nothing about. 

Why should other people be interested in joining powerlifting? 

Jenna Reese: Other people should be interested in powerlifting because, in my opinion, it’s a way to get in touch with your body and also to push your body to boundaries and limits you didn’t think were possible. 

What are the competitions like? 

Reece Williams: Competitions are awesome! Everyone in the room supports you when you’re lifting, even those you are competing against.

What does powerlifting consist of? 

Jesse James: Powerlifting consists of squat, bench press, and deadlift.

How time consuming is it?

Raven Hancock: Powerlifting isn’t too time consuming, we normally lift about 2-3x a week for about an hour to an hour and a half.