I often hear people comment that they’re not ready to compete because they won’t lift at a competitive level. To be honest, that is a BS answer and you know it, if you don’t your perspective is WAY out of whack!
Who says that you have to be amazing to compete, especially at your first competition? It’s sad that YouTube and other social media sites have skewed so many minds to think that every training session and competition is supposed to be a highlight reel. The reality is that EVERY athlete has to be developed and that includes the current top weightlifters. While some where phenoms, like CJ Cummings, others have been developed from a young age like current USA-Weightlifting Olympic hopeful Ellen Kercher.
Ellen has been weightlifting since the 7th grade and you can now clearly see all the hard work and dedication she has put into weightlifting….it wasn’t about being consistent and dedicated for 3 months, 6 months, a year but a few years for her to become the weightlifter she is today.
Going back to competitions, how often do you believe this young lifter and other top end weightlifters have competed throughout their career? It’s not like they just walked out to their first competition on the national or world stage. This is why it’s so imperative for the development of any weightlifter to compete, not just for the coach and weightlifter to understand each their performance and adaptation (cutting, peaking, diet, rest etc…) but to be comfortable in a competition setting. With that said, here are a few considerations, for beginning and intermediate weightlifters, to take before you deciding to compete.
Is the Weightlifter Physically Prepared?
While I believe it’s important to expose weightlifters to as many competitions settings as they can, it doesn’t mean that they all should enter. For instance a new weightlifter may go through some sort of nagging pain as they start to learn correct positioning (they usually place themselves in funky positions) and adapt to the total volume of training.
This type of weightlifter can be a wild card. While it’ll be beneficial for them to be exposed to a competition, we just don’t know enough about how they’ll recover, how they may miss a lift, what type of weight is sustainable without them getting injured, and so on. There’s just too many “what if’s” for the coach to feel comfortable enough to send a new weightlifter out on the platform.
The biggest out of the bunch, is not knowing how the weightlifter will miss a lift when put in a compromising situation. Personally, I have to feel 100% comfortable that the lifter will make a smart decision, when to bail on a lift and not panic, otherwise bad things can happen.
If you’re questioning whether your weightlifter should compete or not, ask your self,
Will the weightlifter benefit from this competition or will it set them back?
Especially for a beginning or intermediate weightlifter, I believe that more training under a coaches watchful eye will be far more beneficial than competing. That is until you feel comfortable with what weight they can handle, that the competition won’t fry them or injure them, and that they will handle themselves appropriately on the platform.
Is the Weightlifter Mentally Prepared?
Sometimes new weightlifters put too much stake into competing. If they don’t do well, this can easily discourage them from training further and overcoming any future obstacles and there will be future obstacles. This is why it’s important for you, as the coach, to lay down your expectations and be as clear as possible with the weightlifter that the first few competitions are for training and not to compete at a high level. This will not only keep their spirits high but allow them to fully understand the short and long term goals.
For this aspect I ask myself,
Can the weightlifter compete and not allow a potential bad performance crush their spirits?
If they are TRULY on the same page as the coach, then I’m all for it but if there any doubt or question then they may need a little more time to understand the process. With a little more communication and time hopefully they’ll understand the long term development for a weightlifter and the coach’s expectation.
Sportsmanship
While weightlifting is a competitive sport, there still has to be a level of sportsmanship and respect. Personally, I don’t want any of my weightlifters at a competition representing our club in a manner that reflects poorly on us or the sport. A weightlifter that misses a lift on the platform and storms off or acts in a negative manner to other weightlifters and coaches shows that they are not prepared to compete and lack respect for the team and the sport.
This also includes how they conduct themselves in the warm up area. Making sure they are out of the way of other lifters and coaches, not standing in front of a lifter as they are warming up, being respectful of the equipment (the last competition we watched some people drop a loaded bar with 5k plastic plate, 5k, 2.5k, 1/4k…), not slamming down their warm up attempts as a weightlifter is taking a challenging attempt, etc…
For me, this is a MUST for all of our weightlifters. If any of our weightlifters show a lack of respect and/or sportsmanship and continue to do so after a sit down, then they are immediately off the team. This is why it’s important to have a rules of conduct, this way all the weightlifters understand what is expected out of them and understands the repercussions for breaking the team rules.
Earn the Right to Compete
To back track a little bit, before any weightlifter is even considered to be able to compete, I believe they have to earn the right to compete. This means that they show up to practice, are responsive, train hard, listen, and conduct themselves in an appropriate manner. Once they’ve shown these basic qualities then we know they’ll be a great part of the team and will be hopefully ready to compete soon enough.
Conclusion
While some of these points maybe a little over the top for some, in my experience these basic qualities are important to develop a unified team. It also makes the job of coaching much easier and limiting distractions during practice for the dedicated weightlifters to actually train.
Thanks for reading,