Topic: News,Pics,&Video:Garrett Sisters Excel@Schoolage Nats

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Competitive Weightlifting Expands its Boundaries
By Lauren Armbruster

Two female members of the Moorestown Weightlifting Club won gold medals and another took the bronze at the National Schoolage Weightlifting Championships in Detroit this summer.

Wyndolyn Garrett, 14, won the 106-pound class in the 15-and-under category. She snatched -- one of the two events in competitive weightlifting -- 95 pounds and did a clean-and-jerk of 146 pounds. She won with a total of 241 pounds to qualify for the Pan American Weightlifting Championship in Colorado on Aug. 18.

Cassandra Stafford joined Garrett in winning a national title by taking the 13-and-under category in the 152-pound category.

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Candice Garrett, 14, Wyndolyn's twin sister, took third in the 116-pound weight class. She snatched 94 pounds and did a clean and jerk of 125 pounds for a total of 219 pounds.

"It sometimes gets very competitive between my sister and I," Wyndolyn Garett said. "We each want to do better than the other."

The club is a publicly supported non-profit organization that is made available at no charge to the youth of Moorestown as well as all members of USA Weightlifting. The club is located in the Moorestown Rec Center.

There were 273 lifters in the competition and the Moorestown lifters finished second out of 12 teams.

"There are just as many females competing in weightlifting as there are males," said Joe Delago, who runs the Moorestown Weightlifting Club. "I would say that the sport has seen an increase in numbers for females in the last 10 years."

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There are many aspects of the sport that attract youth.

One is the flexible workout schedule, allowing participants to make their own schedule.

"Most of the kids like the fact that they can work out around their schedule, unlike some other sports," Delago said. "However, we try to schedule our lifters in clusters, so that they can have someone to train with, but it's a flexible workout schedule."

Competitive weightlifting is an Olympic sport, which allows the lifters an opportunity to represent their country like Wyndolyn and Dan Delago, Joe's son, will be doing.

Dan will also be competing in the Pan American Weightlifting Championships in Ecuador on Sept. 16.

"It's awesome that I'll be competing against kids from other countries," Wyndolyn Garrett said. "I think that a lot of kids would want to be in the position that I'm in."

The athletes have the opportunity to travel to different places to compete and have a chance to meet new people.

The sport can help athletes stay in shape for other sports as well.

"It helps me out with other sports by making me stronger," Wyndolyn Garrett said.

The girls also don't buy into the notion that weightlifting is just for males.

"No, I don't believe that weightlifting is perceived as a male-dominated sport," Candice Garrett said. "We are all equal in the sport. We receive a lot of support.

"We are friends with the guys in the club. We get along with them. We don't get treated any different by them."

COMPETITIVE WEIGHTLIFTING
Here's a brief synopsis of the two lifts that make up competitive weightlifting.

Snatch: The lifter approaches the bar with the back straight, crouches low and grasps the bar with any type of grip. The lifter should be in a squat position with the chest puffed out and shoulders should be slightly forward.

The lifter should keep the bar close to the legs. When the weight is at mid-thigh, accelerate the bar upward by powerfully extending the ankles, knees and hips and at the same time, shrug the shoulders. This is known as the scoop or second pull.

When the bar is at its apex, pull the body underneath the bar, catching it with locked arms overhead while squatting. The last movement is to lock the arms with the weight overhead and stand up from the squat position.

Clean and jerk: First lift is the clean. The lifter squats down to grasp the bar by using a hook grip. The starting position for the pull phase is when the lifter has the hips as low as possible with the feet apart and aligning them with the hips. The chest is up and the back is slightly hyperextended.

After taking a deep breath and setting the back, the lifter jumps the bar up through a triple extension of the hips, knees and ankles.

When the bar is at it highest point, the lifter pulls under the bar by dropping into a deep squat position and spinning the hands around the bar.

The lifter then stands up from the squat position, which brings the lifter to the jerk phase.

Using a quick dip or bending of the knees, the bar must be jumped into the air. The lifter must get under the bar at its maximum height by using the split technique (one leg out front with the knee bent between 70 to 90 degrees, the back leg extended behind with a 20 to 30 degree knee bend and with the heel up and weight on the bent toes and ball of the foot).

The lifter holds the weight in the overhead position for about two seconds by having the torso straight and the elbows locked.