Topic: The Nationals, where are we heading?

[Don Weideman]

Mike Rinaldi said

I wonder if there is any other Olympic sport where we went from the best in the world to also-rans to more or less not even on the same playing field ... I don't think there is.

Figure out why and how it happened, and you'll see whether we can ever come back ... or how we could come back

Hoffman vs. Weider,  weightlifting lost the marketing war.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

I think there is unanimity in the belief that we are not where we can be and should be in terms of results. Still, as I said, I believe there is a really good group of juniors and seniors which could lead us to a great result in 08. Now, what do we need to do to help get there? That seems like the real question. It seems to me we need to pull together. The USOC appears as if it may be cutting the USAW's budget. I would recommend people donate some money to the USAW to help fund the deficit which is likely to cut into some very important programs like junior camps.

[Scott Safe]

I'm starting to feel like the development of several high level training centers with different coaches and philosphies may be the way to go.  Periodically lifters could move from one facility to another if they wish.  The combination of different coaches and coaching styles may be a big advantage as lifters could find the training facility that "feels right" to them.  If there was a way to funnel enough funds from USAW for say the top 15 men and top 15 women to go to whichever facility they wish and see what the results are.  We have NMU and the OTC already, how about WFW, Savannah, Gayle Hatch and maybe two or three others.  See which programs and coaches do the best.  The competition between training centers would also help fuel the fire, along with providing training options.  Oh, one more point, it will be mandatory that Steve G will be at one of the facilities!!!!  Food for thought.

Scott

[Steve Gough]

Scott,

Thank you for your vote of confidence... Your timely sentiment bolsters one at a time when one tends to question the merit of his efforts.

Steve

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

I'm starting to feel like the development of several high level training centers with different coaches and philosphies may be the way to go. Periodically lifters could move from one facility to another if they wish. The combination of different coaches and coaching styles may be a big advantage as lifters could find the training facility that "feels right" to them. If there was a way to funnel enough funds from USAW for say the top 15 men and top 15 women to go to whichever facility they wish and see what the results are. We have NMU and the OTC already, how about WFW, Savannah, Gayle Hatch and maybe two or three others. See which programs and coaches do the best. The competition between training centers would also help fuel the fire, along with providing training options.

I agree completely and I think most of the BOD does as well. I think things are moving forward in this direction regarding new training centers, but I can't recall all the details. I'll let the USAW make the announcement(s) when they are ready.

[Don Weideman]

maybe this could lead to team competitions

then league formation and after that the sport

exploding in popularity leading to international

domination, ..... sorry, my mind was running wild.


It's good to dream.

[Nick Albert]

I think the main reason the US isnt the # 1 weightlifting country is for the solem reason that most people dont like or dont know what the hell weightlifting is. In weightlifting class today i had kids staring at me and asking "what the hell is that, you look funny when you do that" as i did a few snatch and clean pulls. USAW has some more cash flow, then we can get better programs to get olympic lifting out there. Let kids  know what lifting is and how amazing the sport is. You get more people to become interested then you get better programs at the school, better coaches at the schools who will be interested in becomeing good coaches, which will guide kids into what they need to do to love and be good at olympic weightlifting. As someone else posted before, that there is at least 1 kid in everyschool that has the ability to oneday become a national competitor. so if there is one kid from each school then the totals must move up, which means kids must train harder, which means we have more world team members that are good and dont just go to worlds just to go. the go to worlds to win.

-nick

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Since this question was posed last year after 2005 nationals. I was just wondering what people thought about the 2006 nationals and if we had made any progress in the past year since people were discussing the direction of weightlifting in the US.

I think there is good progress on the women's side overall, but our men's results are mostly stagnant except for a few stars. Overall, I think our depth is continuing to decline, despite a very good group of juniors coming up the ranks, and we don't have any new "regional" "olympic training center-like"  training centers as seems to generally be thought to be an important goal or seemingly any hope of building any new training centers.

I do agree that we need to, as a community, embrace some new ideas and take a few risks in order to do something about it. I don't think there is anyone to "blame", but we must take steps to move forward.