Topic: A Few Ideas To Make Weightlifting More Popular In America

[Jim Moser]

Chris:

It is a lost cause. Very little could be done or implemented that would make any type of significant difference without support from the USAW. You would have to have a Board and administration that understood marketing or had the desire to do so.  Basically there is no marketing budget, no marketing department and probably a safe bet that there is no marketing plan. It is a culture issue and until the culture changes everyone is just waisting their time.

Aloha'
Jim

[Matt Denslinger]

Chris:

It is a lost cause. Very little could be done or implemented that would make any type of significant difference without support from the USAW. You would have to have a Board and administration that understood marketing or had the desire to do so.  Basically there is no marketing budget, no marketing department and probably a safe bet that there is no marketing plan. It is a culture issue and until the culture changes everyone is just waisting their time.

Aloha'
Jim

True, but even no matter how well you market it, if people don't want it they won't take it. Although, I believe it's better to try and covert some than not at all. Culture is a big issue. I think many people want to look strong like a bber but not really be athletic or have any real power and strength.

Plus there is really no status or monetary reward associated with being really good. I mean an Football, baseball, etc. player will make millions what would a OL have to show? They need love for the game.

[Jim Hooper]

Be hopeful.  Things can get much better.

If women's gymnastics, for example, were in the same state we are, you could identify numerous reasons why it should never catch on on a large scale:  
*equipment and facilities cost a fortune
* developing coaching expertise and a large enough cadre to coach large numbers of athletes takes many years
* very hard to turn a commercial profit
*only people with certain physiological characteristics can ever be very good at it
*few primary or secondary schools have the resources to field a team
*99% of athletes who participate will never get a college scholarship, 99.99% will never make it to international competition, and 99.999% will never make a dime at it
*100% will spend thousands of dollars to do it if they stay at it for even a few years
*unbelievably technically complex for everyone involved
*subjective, maddening scoring system that frustrates most everyone involved in the sport and guarantees political squabbling at every level
*very little media attention or public interest, other than for competitors and their families and friends, except at the Olympics once every four years
*injury rates that make weightlifting look like ping pong
*  and more . . .

And yet there are tens of thousands of gymnasts blasting away every day, day after day, and thousands of coaches ekeing out an existence doing something they love.

Go figure.

Time to go watch mine do scary things.  She's going to be a helluva weightlifter as soon as I convert her.

[Paul LaDuke]

I don't see doom and gloom facing the sport of weightlifting in the USA.  I think we just might be on the verge of some good growth.

Weightlifting is becoming more and more prevelent with today's high school athletes.  Not just football players are lifting weights, it is all sports including females.  The high school that employs me has a great weight room (8 York multi racks, 6 platforms, plenty of room).  Everyday after school, I have at least 40 kids in the weightroom minimum.  During the winter that number is closer to 100.  This number doesn't include the 150 students who have strength training as a PE class.  Strength training has never been more popular.  What competitive outlet will these athletes have when they get done with their HS or college sports?  For many the sport will be powerlifting and some will compete in strongman.  But this is a great market for the USAW (as with all sports).  You build your fan base by attracting the youth.

As a strength coach, I have been turned off by the sport of powerlifting.  Why?  Lifting suits!  Bench press and squat competitions have become a contest to see who can wear the most advanced suit.  Sure, they have to be strong under the suit, but the totals have been artificially inflated.  But I do find watching 3 powerlifters try to put on 1 guy's shirt very entertaining.

The sport of weightlifting is amazing to watch.  To see anyone throw even 100kg over their head is amazing.  Most of the lifters only wrap their wrists with a little tape and wear knee sleeves.  Watching Chris clean 140kgs has my athletes who watch it at my computer drop their jaws.  They love it!  This sport is awe inspiring because of the speed.

I think the USAW's development of the Sports Performance Coach certification is the start.  The snatch and the clean and jerk are the keys to athletic development in any sport that requires power.  The more HS coaches that take the course means more HS athletes exposed and trained using the O-lifts.

The future is bright, we just need to keep up the grass roots effort.