Topic: News: OBX Weightlifting Getting Bigger and Stronger

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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OBX Weightlifting Getting Bigger and Stronger - with the Results to Show It.
By Owen A. Hassell

Benches are for sitting.

The sport of weightlifting takes on a bigger approach than what one can lift on their back.

And the OBX Weightlifting team works to prove it. Two of its members, Jimmy Grier and Coard Wilkes, competed in Ecuador for the Pan American Under 17 Championships.

Wilkes, a Virginia native, finished second in the snatch and third in the clean and jerk, while Grier was fifth in the snatch.

As a result, the two were part of just eight in the country who got to workout at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. for a 10-day camp.

Those are a few of the success stories coach Gene Flynn has strived to have for the program, which he started in 2004.
 
“What we're hoping to do is build character in the youth of Dare County, and they need to work hard to achieve things in life,” Flynn said. “By building healthy bodies we're also building healthy minds, and it gives them something to do.”

The non-profit club had gone from one member to more than 40, male and female, and put on fundraisers to attend national championships from Michigan, Alabama, Florida and other points.

For Wilkes and Grier, their status as two of the better youth lifters got their trip to Colorado paid for by the United States Olympic Committee.

Most have become a part of the club to help in another sport.

J.D. Cunningham and Jeremy Leonard are First Flight wrestlers, Martha Henderson a Nighthawk cheerleader, and Taylor Cahoon and Kane Heller play football at Manteo Middle.

Grier got started in competitive lifting just two years ago, part to learn better technique and from being recruited by Flynn.

“When I was in weight training, I saw someone do a clean and jerk, and we all thought our way was the right way, and we made fun of him even though he was doing it the right way,” Grier said. “I found out about team then, and it all went from there.”

The person was Andy Druid, a former FFHS football player and OBX Weightlifting team member.

Flynn, a local chiropractor, began putting it together by helping Manteo football coach Walt Davis start a weight training program in 1997.

When Rex Sponhaltz began coaching the FFHS football team in 2004, he helped get its program going.

He gets the stereotypes all the time.

“When people ask about being a weightlifter, they say, ‘Oh, what do you bench?'” Flynn said. “Well, we don't bench, we do snatch and clean and jerk, and they think ‘What's that?' It's a shame because it's an Olympic sport, most people should know what the heck it is.

“Do you know what badminton is? Most people know what badminton is, it's an Olympic sport.”

Another confusing note for ones not in the loop: weightlifters work with kilograms, not pounds.

The conversions can confuse just about anybody.

“What's 90 plus 15?”

“OK, what's 190 plus 19?”

It was deemed that Grier can do the snatch at 210 pounds and the clean and jerk and 253 pounds.

Not bad for a First Flight senior who weighs 132 pounds.

Wilkes can throw up a 269-pound snatch and a 332-pound clean and jerk, but he is also 200 pounds.

Little about the event, which brought in lifters from other countries, made the duo nervous.

“I was a little nervous, but I got there and we were just happy and excited,” Grier said. “But we also got into it and wanted to do good.”

The experience of the Olympic Training Center will not be lost on Wilkes, who hopes to one day make the United States team for the Olympics.

“It's broaden my horizons a lot,” Wilkes said. “It shows me the places I can go and things I can achieve.”

Flynn said it's not impossible to think an OBX Weightlifting member could make it to the highest level and become an Olympic lifter.

With all of the competitions and workouts, the passion is there.

“They got a taste of the Olympic Training Center, they see what it's like, and they know what it's going to take to get there,” Flynn said. “It'll take a lot of hard work and consistency and training and being here every day.

“I really feel if these kids listen to what we say, and they do what we do, then I think we have potential to have an Olympian one day.”

And the work ethic has shown for some of the athletes in their own sports, such as Cunningham, a state qualifier as a freshman.

Even Cahoon and Heller are now captains of the MMS football team.

“Coincidence? I think not,” Flynn said.

And for others the club is an outlet to achieve success and see new places.

Grier said through the experience he hopes to attend a college in Colorado and be able to work closer to the training center.

“I saw Jimmy lifting, and I saw his physique, and he was fast, and I thought this kid could make a good weightlifter,” Flynn said. “So I talked him into coming to the club, and he did.”

As far as what both can bench? Neither one can really remember. They bench maybe once a month.

For competition, the snatch and clean and jerk is what counts. A lifter gets three attempts at each lift, and must increase weight after each one.

It is a better account of sport, Flynn added.

“It's not good for your shoulders actually (to bench), and the lifts we do will actually increase mobility,” Flynn said. “When you're doing this you're moving the hips, moving the arms and that's more dynamic for sport.”

And giving local kids a chance for an outlet.

“Our kids through weightlifting are getting to see the country; they're traveling to different places and it's very good,” Flynn said.