Topic: News: Raising the bar- Girls serious about sport once reserved for boys

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Link

Raising the bar: Girls serious about sport once reserved for boys
By Chris Anderson

BRADENTON -- Some girls may show up in ponytails and fingernail polish, but don't be fooled.

Once they put on their singlets, tape their wrists, fasten their belts, tie their special $180 shoes, apply powder to their hands, grab the bar and start grunting, perceptions change.

Girls weightlifting is intense.

Just ask Manatee High coach Rod Frazier.

"This is a sport," said Frazier. "Don't let anyone tell you different."

Jenna Rio agrees. She is in her fourth year on Manatee's team, and has reached the state meet three times in the 101-pound weight class.

"It's just as serious as football, it's just not as recognized," she said. "To guys, football is the greatest. To us, this is our sport and we take pride in our sport so we're determined to do our best."

Kirstin Clark, a senior who lifts in the 169-pound class, also knows how intense the sport is.

"When I first started I went, 'Whoa, I wasn't expecting this,'" said Clark. "Some of the girls are intense just by how much they can lift.

"Some can bench 200 pounds. It's just amazing."

Hannah Crowe is a lifter on the team whose nickname is "The Bull." That's because she stomps her feet like a bull before she attempts a lift.

She is also a cheerleader at Manatee High.

Florida is believed to be the only state in the country that has competitive girls weightlifting in high school, and it has been in place since 1997.

It became an Olympic sport in 2000, and Florida has produced two Olympic lifters.

Manatee has had a team since 2001, and Frazier is in his second season as coach.

Frazier, a 1996 Manatee High grad, was a fullback at the University of Florida from 1996-2000.

After college, he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but was injured in training camp and never played again.

In addition to coaching weightlifting, he is an assistant football coach at Manatee.

At Florida, Frazier once benched 225 pounds 25 straight times and squatted 465 pounds 15 times.

He can appreciate the effort his Manatee High team puts forth.

"This is their sport. This is not fun and games to them," Frazier said.

"It was a pleasant surprise when I got here and saw how intense it was."

There are 10 weight classes in weightlifting, and the girls compete in the bench press and the clean-and-jerk.

The total weight from the two events is added together and that's how the winner is determined.

Competitors are watched closely by judges. They can't move their feet at any time during the bench press, for example, and both sides of the bar must be even when the lift is executed or they are disqualified.

For the bench press, the lift can start at any time, but when the bar is brought down to the chest there has to be a pause.

Then a judge will say "press'' and the bar is lifted.

If the arms are locked for a few seconds, a judge will say "rack it'' and a spotter will remove the bar from the competitor.

If the lifter is struggling and can't make it, the judge will say "take it'' and credit is not given for the attempt.

"When some girls miss lifts, they'll start crying," said Rio.

"You see girls crying and getting upset almost to the point of it being ridiculous," said Clark, who is superstitious and always has the numbers on the weights facing in when she lifts.

"You see girls do crazy stuff," said Rio.

"One girl cut off her hair at states because she didn't make weight."

Making weight is always a concern, and a weightlifter gets three chances before a meet to do so.

Being allowed to compete in your desired weight class is one reason for making weight.

There is also another.

If two girls tie in a weight class, the person who weighs less wins.

Last year before the state meet, Rio jumped rope for an hour and ran in the parking lot, a tactic she said was a mistake because it left her feeling ill.

Last year before a meet at Charlotte, Clark put on two sweatshirts, ran around the parking lot and then did pushups in the bathroom in an attempt to lose weight.

All kinds of tactics are used. During some of the bus rides last year, there were Manatee High girls who would continuously spit into empty soda bottles in an attempt to lose weight quickly.

That practice no longer takes place at the school, Frazier said.

"I've heard of girls not eating for a couple of days, or eating just celery because there are no calories in it," Frazier said.

"People will run, people will spit, people will wipe themselves off with paper towels to make sure the sweat is off them," Clark said.

"I'm not going to tell you to cut weight," Frazier said. "That's your choice. If you go on a crash diet, you're going to lose some strength. You have to do it the appropriate way."

Girls weightlifting may be as intense as any other sport, but it's all geared toward one thing: successfully completing a lift.

And once that happens, it provides a deep feeling of satisfaction.

"It's the greatest feeling," said Clark. "It's an adrenaline rush.

"It's the feeling that you accomplished something."

[Walter Bailey]

Just out of curiosity, how does Weightlifting in Florida work?  Is there a reason that it is more of a Weightlifting/Powerlifting hybrid than purely weightlifting (or powerlifting, I suppose?).  What connection is there between the state level and USAW.  It's cool that they have a highschool program, it's just all a little confusing to me.

Walter

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Walter,

The reason is it gets way more kids in the sport and the sport wouldn't have had enough interest if it was snatch and clean and jerk to get it approved by the FHSAA back when it was started. Also, the vast majority of the coaches are completely incompetent to teach a decent, let alone proper, clean and jerk so never mind having them teach the snatch. If you took the bench press out, the numbers would plummet. It would also make the meets way too long and way too slow. They are already MASSIVE. There are probably more kids competing in Florida high school weightlifting than total athletes in the USAW. The USAW has failed to build a relationship with FHSAA weightlifting to our great detriment. There is really no relationship to speak of, but if we ever got some vision in the USAW, such a relationship could pay off HUGE for the USAW.

Cheers

[Tom Sherwood]

" The USAW has failed to build a relationship with FHSAA weightlifting to our great detriment. There is really no relationship to speak of, but if we ever got some vision in the USAW, such a relationship could pay off HUGE for the USAW."


Amen to that Chris.

[Shaun Le Conte]

"You see girls do crazy stuff," said Rio.

"One girl cut off her hair at states because she didn't make weight."

It would be sad to see the look of disappointment on the bald girl's face when she realizes she has lost at maximum 0.1 kg. It'd make photo of the week.