Junior nationals this month

Weightlifting isn’t just for boys anymore. 

Eleven-year-old Rebekah Searcy of the Nipher School junior weightlifting team is one girl who has started to pump iron. 

She started the sport this year. But, she’s already earned a first place in a local meet while competing against boys. She was entered in the 25- and 30-kilo classes. Figured in pounds, that’s the 55- and 66-pound divisions. (A kilogram is 2.2 pounds.)

Her first place was for her lifting technique, not for the most weight lifted. 

Coach Ed Bielik said, “At their ages, mastery of technique will make them stronger when they get older. Loading up and squeezing out an ugly lift will get you nowhere.” 

Rebekah is the only girl on Nipher’s 32-member junior team. 

But, women’s weightlifting got a big boost last summer. It became an official sport at the 2000 Olympics Games in Australia.

American Tara Nott won a gold medal in the 48-kilo class. That even got attention of some boys on Bielik’s team. 

Trip Gender is a second-year member of the Nipher team. He said, “I saw her (Nott) at a meet and got her autograph.” Nott was at a recent tournament in Charleston, Ill., where Gender and others were competing. 

The Nipher junior weightlifters also have some good role models right on their own team. 

Eighteen-year-old Ben Overkamp started lifting five years ago when he was at Nipher. Now, he’s a senior at Saint Louis U High and is ranked first in the junior nationals at the 94-kilo class. 

Overkamp credits weightlifting for making him a better student. He said, “Weightlifting is always a challenge. You have to be committed. That helped with my study skills by making me committed there also.”

Overkamp will be one of more than a dozen members of Bielik’s team who have qualified for the 2001 Junior National Championships this month. They will be held March 16-18 at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill. 

Thirteen-year-old Ivan Aubuchon is another one of the qualifiers. The seventh grader will compete in two events in the 56-kilo class. 

He is in his second year of lifting. He said, “All my friends were doing it so I thought I’d also be on the team.” In his workouts, Ivan definitely shows the improved technique that Bielik stresses in his workouts. 

Coach Bielik said the emphasis on technique over heavy lifting helps to make weightlifting safe for young competitors. “Studies show that there are fewer injuries among young weightlifters than there are among cheerleader squad members,” he said. 

Eleven-year-old Sean Willcox is another first-year team member. The stocky sixth grader said, “Mr. Bielik asked me to come out for the team.” 

Sean thinks weightlifting will help him when he plays hockey and lacrosse. “It’ll make me stronger so I’ll have a harder shot,” he said. Sean plans to attend a summer ice hockey camp at Miami of Ohio University this year. 

The Nipher weightlifting team has had a lot of success in the junior national tournaments in the past. Bielik said the team has had 15 junior national winners in the last four years.

Rebekah Searcy is pretty sure she won’t qualify for the national tournament this year. But, she said, “I hope I’ll make the tournament next year.”