A strong start

In its first year of existence, the Coldwater Powerlifting Club is off to a strong start.

The club held a mock meet with Ohio State's powerlifting team on Saturday, and Coldwater's lifters turned in a substantial showing.

"Had it been an official, sanctioned event, six of our members could have qualified for the (USA Powerlifting) high school nationals," coach Jason Horstman said. "That's pretty exciting …The goal is that we could develop a team that could possibly compete nationally."

Horstman, an industrial tech teacher at Coldwater High School, has been working on establishing the club for the past two years, going through training as a coach last summer and getting the club off the ground in October 2021.

Horstman has connections with USAPL through his son Elijah, who has been competing in powerlifting for several years. Jason Horstman said he initially got the idea to bring the sport to Coldwater from watching one of his former students, John Schmackers, a strong athlete who wasn't able to play football due to injuries and who is now the president of the powerlifting club.

"Looking at him, just feeling bad because he didn't have anything to compete in, made me really consider what we could do to give him something to see benefit from his hard work and discipline in the gym," Horstman said. "My own son competes with USA Powerlifting … and knowing that was available, I approached him and said, 'How would you feel if we started a powerlifting club?' And he was all for it."

The club started with two or three boys and grew to around 20 by the time Horstman was ready to set up the mock meet at Innergy Fitness off Route 118. Innergy was already the chosen gym for many of the lifters and quickly became the club's home base.

"A lot of members go there and train after school, and so Deanna Davis (Innergy Fitness co-owner) is a big part of this program," Horstman said. "Making sure lifters are being respectful and behaving, since they're high school kids. So having her at Innergy, having that help, having that support, having a place for these students to go and train, helps keep that positive environment around them."

The mock meet, organized with the help of USAPL chair Ron Brinker and OSU coach John Downing, received widespread positive feedback from the members, most of whom had never competed before. OSU's lifters also helped out, both by bringing equipment and by coaching the Coldwater students more on proper technique.

It also served as a low-stakes, no-cost introduction to competitive powerlifting. The members competed in all three powerlifting events - bench press, deadlift, and squats - and were scored by OSU's coaches. Horstman, who wanted them to experience the excitement and support of USAPL events, also felt the structure helped keep them from feeling pressured to keep up with the college students, who lifted alongside the Coldwater students.

"They weren't necessarily compared to the biggest and strongest in the meet, but it was more about their own success," he said. "The members aren't really worried about what everyone else is doing, they're more so worried about doing their best. So it kind of takes the pressure off trying to be the strongest guy in the gym."

The community also got involved. Local sponsors provided food, a wooden platform for the competition and carpeting to keep the lifters from slipping, among other amenities.

For the moment, no other competitions are lined up. There are other Ohio high schools with powerlifting clubs, but not all in line with the USAPL standards and not all limited to high schoolers. As they work to get more schools to introduce the sport and standardize the rules of competition, Horstman's vision is for an Ohio high school state tournament within the next couple years.

"I really see the possibility of us having a state meet in the next two years," Horstman said. "Now, we could compete at a state meet with USA Powerlifting, but it wouldn't necessarily be high school only. Our goal is to see a high school-only state meet, and then build a national team off that."

While the Coldwater club is all-male so far, Horstman said he'd spoken to Brinker about trying to hold a women-only exhibition with the OSU women's team sometime down the line.

Horstman said the sport offers a chance to see some reward from training many athletes were doing already.

"You might have 100 guys on the football team, and they're all putting their time in the weight room three, four days a week, lifting at 5 o'clock in the morning before school," he said. "They get to the season, and maybe they don't necessarily see much time on the field. The sport of powerlifting offers that opportunity to at least see some recognition for that work."