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By Carrie Debrone
Kitchener Citizen
   Watch the strained faces of powerlifters as they compete and you will see their character. Their determination, their passion for the sport and their courage are all there.
   For the last nine years members of Kitchener’s Golden Triangle Powerlifting Club have volunteered their time to help develop the sport of weight lifting in high schools, and it’s paying off with more teams developing in local schools each year.
   Grade 12 student Jill Van Damme, who has been powerlifting for about five years, was one of 35 local students competing at the Waterloo Region High School Powerlifting meet held March 3 at Bluevale Collegiate Institute in Waterloo. Teams from Waterloo Oxford, Bluevale, St. Mary’s, St. David’s, Resurrection, and Glenview Park high schools attended.
   “It’s starting to become a more popular sport at our school,” Van Damme said adding that about 10 to 15 students regularly attend her school’s powerlifting club activities.
   “What I like about it is the fact that it’s a personal
​ challenge. You’re competing against yourself when you
​ get up there, just like in track and field,” she said.
   During competitions powerlifters complete lifts in 
​Squat, Bench and Deadlift categories. Each student is given three attempts to lift in each category. The average weight lifted by girls in Squat is 165lbs, 120lbs in Bench and 250lbs in Deadlift, while the boys lift an average of 300lbs in Squat, 200lbs in Bench and 400lbs in Deadlift.
   Golden Triangle members volunteer their time helping high school teachers, who run their school’s powerlifting clubs as extra curricular activities. Club members share their knowledge of the sport and provide workshops and clinics. Some club members also act as judges for local meets and the club provides equipment at competitions that schools may not have. The club now runs about six meets a year attracting about 50 competitors.
   ​“We don’t get a lot of people in our sport. So as a club we’ve pursued it and helped out where we could just to put it out there for the kids,” said club member Dave Hoffman.
   “Having that club’s volunteers here to help is great. They are very interested in helping the kids learn about the sport,” said John Dietrich, who is Principal of St. David Catholic Secondary School Principal and the school’s powerlifting club coach.
   Dietrich, who started the St. David school club, also started powerlifting clubs at St. Mary’s Catholic High School about six years ago and at Monsignor Doyle a few years later.
   “In my experience the kids who are interested in powerlifting are looking for something to belong to at school that’s not a team sport,” Dietrich said.
   Over the last few years the experiences of two of his female lifters stand out.
   “I had a grade 9 student who didn’t feel like she belonged to any group in the school. She started to come out and at her first meet she won a silver medal. Now she’s the first person in the gym and last year she won regional best lifter,” Dietrich said.
   “Another of his students, who was always being sent to the principal’s office for discipline and causing some real trouble at the school, has also blossomed after joining the sport.
   “During one of her detentions I took her to the gym because I had to coach the powerlifting team. I thought, why not. She can sit in the gym just as well as sit in a classroom for detention.”
   After the detention she asked if anyone could join the club and I told her yes. She joined and she hasn’t looked back,” he said, adding that the girl has gone on to win first in her division and is now one of the first students to show up at workouts.
   “Other teachers asked me, “What did you do—she’s in class and handing in things on time,” he laughed.
   Dietrich said it’s the confidence that the sport develops in kids that is important, offering kids who don’t feel they fit in anywhere at school the chance to belong and to shine.
   “I’ve experienced kids who have just flourished, not only as powerlifters, but as people and as students after they join this sport. People don’t realize how much confidence it takes to be able to put yourself out there and try to lift a weight you haven’t tried before with everyone
watching you.”
   “I love this sport because everyone cheers everyone else on and every coach tries to help every kid, whether they are on their school’s team or not. It’s a sport that welcomes any kid. You’ll see every body type here, girls and boys,” Dietrich said.
   “It’s all about allowing the kids an opportunity to try the sport and learn and grow,” he said.
   

* * *
Results from the
Waterloo Region
High School Powerlifting

Best Team – Bluevale
Best Lifter
Female – Kayla Welch, St. David.
Squat – 87.5 kg; Bench - 52.5 kg;
Deadlift – 127.5 kg; with total
points of 267.
Male – Ben Meyer, Waterloo
Oxford. Squat – 132.5 kg; Bench
97.5 kg; Deadlift – 175 kg; with
total points of 405
Golden Triangle Powerlifting Club has helped raised popularity of sport in local high schools Waterloo Oxford District Secondary School student Ben Meyer successfully completes a deadlift of 175kg later winning Best Male Lifter at the Waterloo Region High School Powerlifting meet held March 3.
Golden Triangle Powerlifting Club has helped raised popularity of sport in local high schools