Junior Weightlifting Nationals

We're back!

Last friday the NSW Junior Weightlifting team flew to Melbourne to compete in the junior nationals.

For many of the guys it was their first major competition and I was pretty impressed by the way they handled the pressure and came out firing on the platform.

Other states had bigger teams but it seemed like a fair number of lifters on those teams had been rushed into the competition and to be honest some of the technique displayed was pretty bad and in some cases downright dangerous! I'm not blaming the athletes for that but questions should probably be asked of coaches who allow their lifters to pull maximal weights off the ground with badly rounded backs.

I've got more photos and some video to come but in the meantime I've attached a photo of the team. From the left. Back Row, Martin Harlowe (manager), Dr Robert Mitchell (head coach), Charlie Gray, "Big John" Carty, Ricky Gulyamov (1st place U20, 77kg), Patrick Chow(3rd place U18 62kg), Nathan Bannantyne, Emilo "Milo" McFarland (3rd place U18 77kg), Don Stevenson (coach). Front row, Damian Ussia(3rd place U18 105kg), Patrick Canavan (7th place overall U16 competition), Ryan Pasfield, Luke Lilli.

The barbell is loaded to 157kg, the heaviest lift of the competition!