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Weightlifting Family Learns Together at USA Weightlifting Coaching Symposium

Coaches from around the world meet in Miami for the weekend of education & training

Nearly 100 weightlifting coaches from around the world gathered in Miami, Florida August 8-11 as USA Weightlifting hosted its Coaching Symposium presented by Ascent Protein. Anchored by a speaker lineup of world-class weightlifting and sports performance experts, participants learned how to be better coaches to their athletes and ambassadors to the sport.

“We had an incredible group of speakers and coaches here in Miami,” USA Weightlifting Senior Director of Sport Performance and Coaching Education Mike Gattone said. “This is a terrific service we offer to our members and we are so happy that it was a success.”

Speakers included Olympic champions, strength and conditioning coaches for professional sports teams and top sports psychologists. All contributed to fruitful discussions about how to grow coaches’ knowledge, athlete success and businesses. Topics discussed included different approaches to training and coaching techniques, sports psychology and data analytics.

“We are here to share ideas and how to be better coaches,” USA Weightlifting Technical Director and three-time Olympic Champion Pyrros Dimas said. “When you talk with different coaches from different countries you learn about different styles and that makes you a better coach.”

Dimas, a four-time Olympic medalist, gave a talk about his 26 years in the sport and how that’s applied to his role at USA Weightlifting. Dimas also trained with participants in the training hall, supplied by USA Weightlifting official equipment manufacturer, Rogue Fitness.

Coaches from more than a dozen states and Puerto Rico were represented at the Symposium, along with participants from fourteen nations, including Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Canada, Costa Rica, England, Guyana, Mexico, Portugal, Slovenia, United States and Uruguay.

Over lunch on Saturday, women participants gathered to learn from USA Weightlifting International Coach and Olympian Cara Heads Slaughter. Slaughter runs CHFP Weightlifting near Washington, D.C. and has generated many international-level lifters. Slaughter presented Creating Your Pathway to a Successful Weightlifting Business Model: From Vision to Implementation to empower more women to start and grow successful weightlifting businesses.

“There is such a wonderful community of women in our sport,” USA Weightlifting Coaching Education Manager Anna Swisher said. “The lunch provided attendees a great resource as they continue their athletic and entrepreneurial journeys.”

Prior to the Symposium’s formal start on August 9, USA Weightlifting held Level 1 and Level 2 coaching and certified nearly 50 new coaches. USA Weightlifting debuted its re-designed Level 2 coaching course at the pre-Symposium, showcasing re-vamped curriculum that promises to bring weightlifting coaches to the next level.

“We’ve rewritten this course from the ground up,” USA Weightlifting Coaching Education Manager JP Nicolletta said. “We got some great feedback from the debut, and we look forward to incorporating it into the course.”

The new Level 2 course will roll-out nationwide later in 2019.