“Champions are made when no one is watching, you have always stepped up on the platform and today will be no different however the sum of the weight lifted today will not dictate who you are. Be easy on yourself, have faith, go forth and conquer”

The day started with the above message, and 5 Hours later the words played out in front of me like a Tarantino flick, except 16 people didn’t die in the final scene. Preparation, technique, confidence were all locked in, the only thing left was execution.

Back In the warm up room along with Mike McKenna, representing East Coast Gold, we picked out our platform, dropped our gear ( I double checked to make sure I didn’t forget the snickers bar, that Is worldwide, the preferred snack to eat between snatch and clean and jerk) and got to work.  I checked the cards and saw that we were to take our first snatch 3-5 attempts in. I say 3 to 5 because I can’t remember the exact number but a key lesson I observed that as a coach, that what ever Order you think you will go in will change.  Being able to adapt and know what to do when that happens will have profound impact on your lifters results. Stay calm, if you screw up, don’t show it to your lifter, make it seem like it was part of your plan, then come over to your fellow coaches and say man I jut screwed up ( some wise words from mike).  We did some bar warm ups before introductions which is when Danielle and the other lifters her session go up on stage and are honored and introduced to the crowd.  It is also a good time for Danielle to walk up to the bar and find a spot to look at while lifting and to get familiar with the lights. Most people are just afraid of the unknown, doing something as small as picking out a spot to look at while lifting can be Comforting to the lifter.

After intros, the ten minute clock began to run and we started our warm up  that I had planned out to match up with her first attempt that will be judged on the competition platform. We took an attempt every 2-3 minutes, gradually getting heavier as the minutes disappeared on the clock. With ease, Danielle smoked 62 kilos(136 lbs) with about 3 minutes left before her session started. As the first lift was taken on the platform, Danielle set up In the back to take 67 kilos(147 lbs) and missed.  We had her opener( first lift on the platform) listed at 70 kilos, with a plan to move it up as high as 72 kilos so that the jump would be as low as 3 kilos and 5 kilos at the most. So she missed, no worries she walked right back up to the bar, shaking it off and missed again. Meanwhile her opening attempt of 70 kilos was coming up. We had her take a seat rest a minute and take 67 again, another miss. (Stay calm coach figure it out, exude confidence). Meanwhile mike and I decided to move our opener to 72 to buy us some time before we had to lift. Danielle walked up to the seats behind the platform, with her head held high, no negative bullshit, ready to lift. It’s not what happens to you it’s how you react to it. I’ve seen it In her before, in our meets prior to this she always stepped up when things didn’t go according to plan. Having a warm up like she had, only someone with a relentless positive mindset and unshakable believe in oneself would be able to defeat the negative thoughts that would be fighting for its chance to be heard.  I’m sure I recited some bumper sticker type positive mantra as she was on deck to lift, then her name was called to take her first snatch attempt at 72 kilos(158 lbs) which happened to be 22 lbs heavier then her last successful  warm up attempt. She walked out under the watchful eyes of the three judges and began her first pull, at this point I watched that lift about 26 times, from the floor all the way into the catch to lift looked solid, she bounced up out of the whole holding into the bar as long as she could until she lost it behind her catapulting her forward to the platform. Walking back off the platform even a world champion would be second guessing themselves at this point. So now that’s four misses in a row. Sitting back In the chair behind the comp platform Danielle waited for her name to be called again never wavering in the face of adversity. With nothing but positive reinforcement from  me and the rest of our team she came out and took 72 kilos again this time standing up with it for a good lift. Hell yeah now we have some points on the board lets kick it up a couple of kilos.  75 kilos (165 lbs) was set for Danielle’s third and final attempt on the snatch. I don’t remember this lift as well as I do the others, I just know that it was not a good lift. So we went 1 for 3 in the snatch. For any lifter who has been In the game long enough, you can attest how hard going out and making that second lift was, although it was not her best day on the platform, it was a huge success In regards to building upon an already stellar mental game, and it’s time to move on laugh it off and refuel with that snickers bar( can a brotha get a sponsor up in here)?

The ten minute clock was set and once again, the coaches, with the lifts written out  got back to work trying to make sure our timing was right all the while watching our lifter closely for proper technique, speed and power. This time around the warm ups were on point, I even remember saying that her jerks were looking dialed in.  Her first clean and jerk was up at 90 kilos (198 lbs) which is 7 kilos under her current comp pr. She went out and stood the clean up with ease, and from the profile view seemed to do the same with her split jerk. When she got the down signal for the judges we  were ready to cheer for a good lift but we got a call of a bad lift by a 2 to 1 judges majority. We had multiple people come up to us giving us the “it was a good lift” talk but there is no time to worry about whether it was or wasn’t, on to the next one is the only acceptable thought. I can’t for sure say whether we followed ourselves or another lifter attempted 90 kilos. Either way like before she was back up there standing tall with the bar stacked with 90 kilos  in the front rack after a solid clean. She caught the bar in a solid split jerk and as she brought her feet together her elbows unlocked sending  the bar crashing to the floor behind her with only one more opportunity on the clean and jerk. Making this last lift would get us a total of 163 kilos, missing it would have us end up with no total. Some of you reading this May be saying coach what the hell are you doing just lower the weight. I say to you hey shut up haha. Once the a given weight has been loaded on the bar it can only increase In weight. We wouldn’t have lowered it anyway. She can make this lift. When i talked to coach Nick aka coach Kim aka coach Lee after the session he told me it was thrilling to watch. I couldn’t agree more. The pressure was on, bottom of the 9th, two outs, only a home run gets you the win.  Load up 91 kilos (200 lbs) which gave us a bit of rest before taking the last attempt. A few encouraging words and some brief technique reminders later I was pacing along the side of the platform only coming to a halt  once she approached the bar.  I can’t tell you how much I wanted her to make this lift, not for me, or for the team, but for her alone. I knew how much it meant to her. She deserved this moment. I said it previously in this write up and I’ll say it again, relentless positivity. You can train your body all day but accompanied by a weak mind the body is only strong enough on  its own to stand in the shadows of a champion.  We train this aspect constantly. The bar left the floor and like the rest it was stood up no problem with another successful clean. “Stay tight, big drive” I can hear mike yelling it as clear as day. The jerk was on its way and caught in the split.  “HOLD IT, HOLD IT”, I yelled as she got her feet together after taking a few steps forward with 200lbs overhead. The down signal came and we got 3 Whites for a good lift(3 judges all signaling white lights for a successful  lift). Our team, along with the rest of the crowd gave it up for the 20 year old girl who Just came up big on her final lift. I was so fired up I could have been one of those super human moms that lifts  a car off their kid to save them. Our teammate Cait Inn who was lifting In the next session came up to me after and asked us how things went and the answer was “it was fucking epic” with her headphones in she bopped her head to music waking away using that momentum to carry her into the next session.

I respect anyone who is willing to go out their and throw their hat In the ring.  So just for that she and everyone else who competed, regardless of the outcome should earn your respect. The story that should be told is not the fact that she did not hit the numbers that she had hoped for  but the perseverance Danielle showed when things weren’t lining up perfectly. Take moment, this is yours to have, carry it with you and use it when things get tough, it’s proof that you can handle any burden, on or off the platform. When your standing on the podium one day it will be because you kept fighting during moments like this.

-Coach Jerry