Powerlifting can build so much more than muscle, the educator behind the Crystal City School District’s powerlifting club says.
The school board unanimously approved the creation of the club at its Jan. 20 meeting.
Craig Collins, who is the head coach for the district’s football and track teams as well as the strength and conditioning teacher for junior high and high school students, said, “It’s been a really great process so far, I really appreciate our administration because they’re all about the kids being active and involved.
“(The school board) was ready to jump on board with the powerlifting; they love supporting the kids and making sure they’re active,” he said.
Collins said the idea of starting a powerlifting club began when he was working at McDonald County High School.
“I’ve actually been at a few different districts in my 16 years of coaching and 10 years of teaching, and (the club idea) is something that a buddy of mine and I started back in McDonald County, around the Joplin area,” Collins said. “The football program there never had more than six wins in all of its existence, and the kids were used to zero wins.”
Collins and his colleague were both already interested in weightlifting, so they started looking into the option of powerlifting as an activity for the students.
“We just really saw that it kickstarted the kids’ confidence,” he said. “We started going to some competitions and finding some meets and (saw) our kids were really strong. (The students) started asking us, ‘Coach, this is what winning feels like?’”
Collins noticed the program not only improved McDonald County students’ physical strength, but their mental strength as well.
Collins said the powerlifting club could similarly benefit Crystal City students.
“Some of my best powerlifters are the kids who are not really into sports, so it’s one of those things to they get involved, and they love it,” he said. “(The students) start seeing that success and some of them get involved with it after they graduate high school.”
Unlike some school clubs, Collins can work the powerlifting club agenda into his strength and conditioning class curriculum. The club currently has 25 team members, ranging from seventh graders to high school seniors who are all enrolled in Collins’ weightlifting classes. Due to this, the team does not require regularly scheduled meetings after school to practice.
“I’ll have their workout up on the board, and I’ll instruct (the club members) as I’m teaching the rest of the class,” he said. “We will meet several times as a whole group, so I can start prepping them for what an actual powerlifting meet looks like.”
Collins said he has reached out a few times to the Missouri State High School Activities Association to try classifying powerlifting as a recognized sport, however, at this time it is still treated as club.
He said he has only been able to find a few powerlifting meets in the surrounding areas.
“Since it is a club right now, it’s fewer and further between with some meets,” he said. “There were meets in Monett (where) they host the regional and state meet, and there are meets in Joplin … I’m finding it a little bit hard to find meets around here.”
A typical season for powerlifting has around three to four meets.
“It’s not like basketball or football,” Collins said. “So, you space it out, not only for (the student’s) physical strength so they can make those gains, but the mental side of it.”
Collins said if the club would attend meets as frequently as other sports, students would not be able to see personal improvement as easily.
“It kind of takes them a while to realize, and some good coaching to say, ‘Hey, the stronger you get, five pounds is a huge difference whenever you’re setting a personal record.’”
Because of the recent approval of the club and some travel limitations, Collins said the club will most likely only be able to travel to one meet this season.
“I am still trying to find a couple meets that are within maybe even two hours or so, because it’s just not only tough to get the kids up at 4 a.m., but it’s not going to let them perform to their best necessarily,” he said. “Right now, we don’t quite have the funds to do an overnight trip and stay at a hotel.”
Meets also typically have entry fees. But Collins said he usually reaches out for sponsors, so the students do not have to pay out of pocket to compete. The only amount club members need to pay is $10 for a “uniform,” which is a T-shirt.
On March 14, the club went to its first meet: the Powerlifting State Championship at Monett High School.
Collins said the meet, which featured students from 20 other schools, went amazing for the Crystal City team.
The club’s boys and girls teams both finished in sixth place at the meet. Fourteen out of the 19 local students placed and brought home a medal.
“I knew the kids would do well, I see them working hard every day,” he said. “But it’s hard to get state championship level strong in only a year under a new coach, program, etc.”
At the meet, the junior high division was not separated from high school division in the competition.
“We had seventh and eighth graders still beat some ninth through 12th graders,” Collins said.
He said two club members were state runner-up champions along with one student even being offered a scholarship to powerlift in college.
Overall, Collins said he was “shell shocked” with how well the students did at their first meet.
