Seven members of the Coffee weightlifting team traveled to Columbus, Ohio, this week to participate in the 35th Annual Arnold Sports Festival weightlifting meet.
The meet was but one part of the prestigious Arnold Classic weekend, which is the largest fitness event in the country. The Arnold Classic started in 1989 as strictly a bodybuilding competition. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the greatest bodybuilder of all time and certainly one of the most prolific actors of all time in his post bodybuilding career, helped start the contest back in 1989. In the decades since, the Arnold Classic has grown into the second most prestigious bodybuilding competition in the world and it is also grown to encompass anything that involves weights or weightlifting. The Arnold Classic still has a bodybuilding competition, but it also has strongman, powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, and the largest fitness expo in the country. Participating in the Arnold Classic is an experience like no other.
The Coffee weightlifting team is maybe least understood sport the Coffee school system offers. But it’s also one of the most intriguing. There’s very little subjectivity when it comes to weightlifting; either you can lift the weight or you can’t. There’s no ambiguity or any real controversy on the team. Whoever picks up the most weight wins. Underneath that umbrella, weightlifting gives people an opportunity to participate in sport when they may not be able to compete in some of the more traditional sports. You don’t have to be fast. You don’t have to be muscular. If you’re not strong, you’ll get strong as you progress through the program. It’s more forgiving than other sports.
Now that’s not to say that it’s easy. It is certainly not an easy sport at all. Weightlifting consist of two events: the snatch, and the clean and jerk. Both movements are very explosive and they’re very athletic. Those two movements translate well into other sports and form the foundation of sports-related weight training. So you can actually use weightlifting as a springboard into other sports if you so desire.
The weightlifting team competes all over the area. Sometimes the lifters compete against other schools. Sometimes the weightlifting team goes to open meets.
And that’s what this weekend was. Of course it’s all done by weight class and age group. But this was not a school meet. People from all over the world participated and Trojan lifters competed against some of the best weightlifters anywhere.
The six Coffee lifters were among the best in their divisions at the meet. Scott Smith took silver in the clean and jerk, the snatch, and total. He also set a personal record (PR) in the snatch. Micale Smith took home a bronze medal in the clean and jerk and in the total. Chloe Merritt finished fourth in her division set a PR in the snatch. Noah Booth won three golds and set PRs in the clean and jerk, snatch, and total. Reece Robinson, competing in a division against older competitors, was fifth in the clean and jerk and sixth in the snatch. Older brother Range Robinson, who dropped down in weight for this competition, won three gold medals and set PRs in the snatch, clean and jerk, and total. Zean Preston was registered for the event but suffered a shoulder injury in the first round of the state football playoffs and has been unable to lift since. He is at the end of his rehab but could not participate. He traveled with the team and cheered his teammates as they competed.
The ultimate goal of everyone in the program is to qualify for the youth national meet. Every year, the weightlifting team sends a contingent of athletes to the national meet. It’s been held in Michigan, Texas, California, and Colorado. This year, it’s in Pittsburgh. While qualifying for nationals is certainly a goal, participating in the Arnold Classic is also a way of paying homage to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who really is the founder of the fitness industry in America.
If you go back and look at the American gym culture, there are names that pop up as industry developed in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. But what really the culture was Arnold. His appearance “Pumping Iron” and the crossover that he made from bodybuilding into the movies was phenomenal. To this day, it remains almost unexplainable. If you do anything involving a commercial gym or a barbell of any kind, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been an influence. It’s no accident that the Arnold Classic is the largest fitness event in the country.
Arnold Schwarzenegger himself remains involved in the weekend. He is also there every year and he spends time with fans. He is very much a part of what goes on and that’s part of the experience. This is a tremendous experience for the Coffee athletes. And they performed well.
Ultimately, that’s what school activities, sports, clubs, and programs are about. Yes, it’s about the competition but it’s also about broadening horizons and experiencing things that kids wouldn’t otherwise get to experience.
These weightlifters have traveled to country and they have seen some of the best, most talented, and most driven people in the world. They’ve seen what it takes to succeed at the highest levels, and those lessons will carry over into other aspects of their lives.
Yes, they experienced a little bit of meathead culture this past week in Columbus, Ohio. But they also saw something much, much more important and much, much more significant. The Coffee Trojans continue to represent this community, this school system, this high school, and middle school in ways no one would have ever thought possible.
And this isn’t the end. There is more to come.
DouglasNow is your local news source!