MALVERN STRENGTH

Summer Schedule

Summer Weightroom Schedule - June 10th - August 15th

Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday

3pm-4pm - Weightlifting Practice and Strength Skills Class (Grades 9-12)

4pm-5pm - Strength and Fitness Class (Grades 9-12)

5pm-6:15pm - Football Team Training - (Grades 9-12)

No Sessions except for football training the week of June 17th.  Closed for the East Coast Gold Weightlifting Camp.

Alumni are welcome to lift on their own or with the group classes between 3-5 pm.

 Weightroom will be closed on Wednesday's and Friday's

The First Ever Student Post! The Athlete's Side of the Story

Malvern Student and Weightlifter Tom Ferrari has written a post for the Malvern Strength Blog!  This is hopefully the first of many.  I have always envisioned the idea of students contributing to this blog's content.  Best part about this situation is that it happend completly uninitiated by me.

Enjoy!

The Athlete's Side of the Story

By. Tommy Ferrari

If you haven't already heard (which you should have) Malvern Preparatory School has started an Olympic Weightlifting team in the past year, and it has truly blossomed during this time. To date, Coach Erik Miller has had 40 lifters compete in at least one competition this year, with several of those qualifying for Nationals. Students are drawn to the sport's strength gains, which are helpful for other sports, as well as the self-driven nature of it. I had a chance to sit down with Zach O'Neill, a junior at Malvern and a national qualifier at the 77 kilogram weight class.

Tommy: Well Zach thank you for taking your time to talk with us.

Zach: It's my pleasure, Thom.

T: Now Zach, tell us the story of how you got involved with the Olympic weightlifting team.

Z: Well I've always consulted Mr. Erik Miller for lifting advice. So when he told me he was starting an Olympic weightlifting team, I was ecstatic. I would finally be able to lift as a sport, rather than for a sport.

T: How has the sport help you prepare for your senior football season?

Z: Well, the workouts are very taxing, and I have seen a lot of progress in terms of strength and muscle gain. The lifts are very applicable to the explosive nature of football, and I am sure that I will see improvement in the fall.

T: Speaking of Mr. Miller, describe his coaching style to me.

Z: Well his immense knowledge of muscle structure and palpable passion for the sport combined with his patience allow Mr. Miller to be one of the most effective and best liked coaches on campus. He also has a groovy beard.

T: (laugh) I'm sure he'll appreciate that. Now you qualified for nationals recently at the Hillsborough invitational. What was that experience like?

Z: Pure euphoria, Thom. pure euphoria. All my hard work had paid off, and it was an excellent experience to share with my team.

T: Now which of the 2 lifts is your favorite?

Z: Well you can't really pick favorites in this sport. I try to maintain a lifting triangle, with me at the top, clean and jerk to my left, and snatch to my right. As long as the triangle stays intact, I will thrive.

T:What are some of your favorite exercises other than the two Olympic lifts?

Z: I enjoy squatting and any type of cleaning.

T: And now the real question....who is your pick to win the NCAA tournament?

Z: Long Island. any team that's good enough to beat Mount St. Mary's is the best team around.

 
Zach O'Neill, Mp '14, competing at the Frank Spellman Classic.

 

Reporter Tommy Ferrari, Mp '14, enjoying a lovely day at the Jersey Shore.

Dual Meets - Could They Help USA Weightlifting Dominate Once Again?

The sport of Olympic weightlifting has grown in awareness  by leaps and bounds over the last few years in the USA.  CrossFit is one reason why as is the internet.  It still remains a niche sport, and probably always will be in this country, but there is still no excuse for the USA to be so deficient on the world stage.  With the amount of athletes and knowledgeable coaches we have there has to be a push to make a bigger splash on the international scene.  Doing just this has been the debate on the internet for some time.  Yes, our lifters need to be stronger, but I am not sure low bar back squatting or adopting powerlifting techniques is the answer.  Yes, every other high ranking country uses pharmaceutical recovery methods but I am not sure that is the only thing holding us back. 

 An issue with the sport of Olympic weightlifting is the amount of time it takes to complete a meet.  It is usually a weekend event that requires a lot of waiting and little weighting.  Our ADD American mindset makes it a non-spectator friendly event for newcomers.  But for those who love the sport it's just part of the game and it is expected.  The feeling of appreciation for the sport is apparent at these events and it takes a few exposures to get it.  At the Mid-Atlantic coaches conference this past October, John Filippini, president of the Maryland LWC, asked the crowd if they had any ideas to make the sport of Olympic weightlifting more spectator friendly.  While it is a valid question and worth exploring, I am not sure it is the most fruitful way to drum up interest.  It needs to be approached from a different angle.

On last week's episode of Big Bang Theory the plot line paralleled the problem weightlifting in this country faces - exposure. And not just exposure to everyone but exposure to youth.  If you don't watch the show it is about the trials and tribulations of four nerdy scientist who are very awkward, socially inept, and deal with emotional baggage from a life of being picked on and ostracized in school.  In this episode of the show Leonard was trying to come up with a way to get more women involved in the sciences.  The big problem with his plan was that he was trying to target women who were already university students.  Sheldon, the smartest but most socially awkward character, told Leonard that if he wanted to give more women a chance in the field, he needed to target middle school girls and expose them to the sciences earlier in their development.  The same is true for weightlifting in the USA. 

The path to becoming relevant on the world stage once again runs through our school system.  Imagine for a moment that every school in the country that has a football and baseball team also has a weightlifting team.  Over the winter those athletes would use Olympic weightlifting as their off-season training program and once a week compete for their school in a series of inter-league dual meets.  This would allow ample opportunities to compete, expose more students (and parents) to the sport and allow them to really appreciate the competition of weightlifting.  Most importantly, you now have thousands of young kids that have started weightlifting, training and competing, since the age of 14.  Some of these kids will get drawn in and fall in love with the sport, continue to train after high school, become one of the best in the world, and win golds at the Olympics.  Simple stuff and just details, right?


Chris White, Mp '14, at the Frank Spellman Classic

A basic structure for a dual meet could look something like this:
-One session for all lifters
-Use the 8 weight classes: 50, 56, 62, 69, 77, 85, 94, 105, 105+
-Two lifters per team per weight class
-The winner of each class gets 5 points, second gets 3 points and third gets 1 point
-Most points win just like in dual meets for track and field.

It will be a while before meets like this are common at the school age level but weightlifting dual meets don't have to be relegated to just high schoolers.  With so many CrossFit gyms now in existence and more weightlifting clubs that are around, weightlifting dual meets between private gyms could be a viable way to test the procedure while high schools get on board with starting a program. 

We have the tools in this country to be relevant on the world stage.  We have money and a huge pool of athletes.  We have great coaches to train our athletes and fantastic facilities to train them in.  All we need is an introduction.  Introduction leads to appreciation.  Appreciation leads to obsession.  An obsession to do heavy lifting (metaphorically) has never been a problem in this country.  So instead of rolling up our sleeves and getting to work, let's put some chalk on our hands and start introducing. 

Frank Spellman Classic Recap

On December 1st Malvern played host to its first ever open Weightlifting competition - The Frank Spellman Classic.  This meet was a fundraiser for the Malvern Prep Weightlifting Team.  There were 57 competitiors ranging in age from 13-65.  Twenty of the lifters were Malvern Students. 

The full results can be seen here.

Recap
Session 1 - Jonathan Drozd, a 69 kilo lifter from Pittsburgh BBC was the best lifter in the first session. This School Aged lifter qualified for the Junior National Meet with total of 185!

Gary Holloway of Malvern Prep qualified for Youth Nationals in the 62 kilo class with a total of 124.

Session 2 was the women. 
Masters lifters JoAnne Sutkin from East Coast Gold and Sharon Moran from Moorestown WLC  both took first place in their weight class. Logan Lentz from ECG, Kate Ambrose from Generation BBC,Kathy Kowalkzuk from Rock BBC  and Elish Weckesser from ECG  won their weight classes in the Senior division.  Kathy Kowalkzuk also took home the sessions Best Lifter award.  School Age lifter Cara Cramer of ECG  won her weight class as did Junior lifter Elda Perez also of ECG.


The Best Lifter awards were made by Malvern lifter Mike Stangis and painted by Malvern student Mike Cenci and Art teacher Kate Plows. 

Session 3 which consisted of 77 and 85 kilo men, was the largest of the day.  Master lifter Tom Weary won his weight class and ECG lifter Tim Moore won the 77 kilo Senior division.  Tim also won the Best Lifter. In the school age division Tait McGlinn of Malvern won in the 14-15 year old group and Tanner Reichart won in the 16-17 group.   
In the 85 kilo class Barry Weidner, Coach of the Generation BBC, won in the senior division.  Alex McInnes of ECG won the Masters division.  School age lifters, Tanner Geesey of ECG,  Jack Norton and Chris White of Malvern, won their age groups.  Jack Norton also qualified for the Youth National meet.

Jack Norton, Mp '14

The 4th session was made up of 94, 105, and 105+ lifters.  94 kilo lifter, Dan Gradieri of Malvern, won the school age division.  His total qualified him for Youth Nationals.  Masters lifter Tim Caso and Gerard Finn of ECG won the 94 and 105 divisions, respectively.  Junior lifter Stephen Malinchok of Rock BBC won the 105+ weight class.  In the Senior division, Rock BBC coach Matt Giodano won the 94 kilo division and took home Best Lifter for the session.  Robert Smith of Generation BBC won the 105 kilo weight class and Zach Frankhouser won the 105+ weight class. 

Dan Grandieri, Mp '14

A special thanks goes out to the family members of Frank Spellman who came out and spoke to the crowd.  His nephew, John Spellman, and John's cousin, Susan Tiernan gave the audience some details about the life of the oldest living Olympic champion.  In an email exchange with John he shared the following information.

"He lives there (Florida) in an 8 sided house (built to withstand hurricanes) he designed and built.  He is also a talented and well-regarded artist.  His history is fascinating.  He was born in Malvern, but when he was 6 or 7 his father (my grandfather's brother) died suddenly.  That was 1930.  The depression.  Frank's mother and the 4 other children moved to Philadelphia but were so poor that two of the children had to go to an orphanage, where they lived for the next 10 years.  During that time Frank started training at a gym in Philly, and that is how he got into weight lifting."


John Spellman and Susan Tiernan

 

Start List Is Up For Frank Spellman Classic

The Start list for the 2012 Frank Spellman Classic is complete. 

Two minor changes have been made to the schedule. 

The second and third sessions will be starting 30 minutes earlier than originally posted on the entry form.
Session 2 - All women and girls- weigh-in 9:00-10:00 - Start time 10:30
Session 3 - Males 77 and 85 kg - weigh-in 11:00-12:00 - Start time 12:30

Sessions 1 and 4 will be at the regularly scheduled time.

You can check the start list here.

A Second View From the Platform

This past weekend the Malvern Prep Weightlifting Team headed to Moorestown, NJ to participate in the Gold Cup Challenge.  This was our second opportunity to compete in an official meet but our first competition away from our home gym.  These young men did a fantastic job!  Every athlete came away with a new personal record, and even more important than that, we had fun in the process!  And as you can see below, some even came away from the meet with some hardware!

Shane Metzger, Mp '15, Harrison McCurdy, Mp '16, and Jack Norton, Mp '14, show off their medals.

The twenty members of the team who competed attempted a total of 120 lifts.  As a group we successfully completed 100 of those lifts (83.3%)!  Our biggest supporter, (literally and figuratively), Mike McKenna, let me know that weightlifters strive to be 66% (4 for 6) successful in meets.  Six of our lifters went 6 for 6.  (so did coach the night before :)  Making lifts is fun.  Missing is not.  We stayed within ourselves and came away with success to build on.

Two Malvern lifters, Gary Holloway, Mp '16, and Dan Grandieri, Mp '14, hit National Youth qualifying totals and a few more are very close. 

We get our Third View From the Platform on December 1st.  We will be back on our home turf as we host the Frank Spellman Classic.  This meet will be a fundraiser for our team. 

Like Malvern Strength on Facebook to keep up to date with the team and check out more pictures from the meet.

Malvern to Host Weightlifting Meet: The Frank Spellman Classic

On December 1st, 2012, Malvern Prep will host the first annual Frank Spellman Classic.  This meet will serve as a fundraiser for the Malvern Prep Weightlifting Team. 

Frank Spellman is former Olympic gold medalist with the United States. Born in Malvern, Pa. in 1922, Spellman lost his father at the age of seven and lived in an orphanage until he was 17 years old. He eventually earned a college scholarship for gymnastics, which is where he met a man who first introduced him into the sport of weightlifting. In the 1948 London Games, Spellman made all nine of his lifts and defeated his fellow teammate Peter George for the gold medal in the 75 kg weight division.

If you are interested in competing please download the entry form and send it in!

Download 2012 Frank Spellman Classic Entry

This weekend the Malvern Weightlifting team travels to Moorestown, NJ to take part in the ECG Cup.  There will be updates on performances and pictures on the Facebook page next week.

 

A Day of Firsts

September 15th, 2012, marked a banner day at Malvern Prep School.  It was the first time in the school's long history that it hosted an Olympic Weightlifting meet!  It was also the first meet for Malvern Prep's inaugural Olympic Weightlifting team.  To take it one more step, 25 school aged lifters competed in their first weightlifting meet!  Many lifters went home with 6 for 6 performances and the support of the parents was fantastic!  A special thanks goes out to Mike McKenna for running the meet and offering his expert guidance to all of us.

This meet served as a jumping off point to get our feet wet in the sport.  It gave us an opportunity to compete in familiar surroundings although a different setting.   We jump into the deep end on October 21st when we travel to Moorestown, NJ to compete at the ECG Cup. Here we will face not only a more legitimate competition setting (scoreboard, judges lights, attempt clocks) but also unfamiliar surroundings.  In addition, it will be an eye opening experience as to how this game is played.

Harry Mauk, Mp '13, registered the highest lifts of the day.  Here he locks out 110 kilos (242 pounds) in the Clean & Jerk. 

A View From the Platform

                                  


Tomorrow the Malvern Prep Weightlifting team gets their first view from the platform.  For all but one this will be the first weightlifting meet of their lives.  Some have been training for a couple of months, others a couple of weeks, but for everyone of them it will be an experience that is completely new. 
When most people think of olympic style weightlifting they may just see strong bodies.  What they don't realize is that it also takes a strong mind.  This is one of the reasons weightlifting is such a good sport for adolescents.  It teaches focus, determination, and perseverance.  It puts you in a uncomfortable position.  Alone on a platform, facing a crowd of eyes.  Charged with the task of lifting a heavy weight overhead in a very athletic manner.  You must be accurate and calm but also aggressive. Does it sound like sport to you?  After a couple more of these meets, shooting a free throw with the game on the line, batting with two strikes, two outs, down by one with two guys in scoring position or getting the last attempt in the shootout doesn't seem nearly as daunting.  At least it's not heavy! 
We are all very excited for tomorrow's competition.  For all of these guys I hope it is their first meet of many.

The Gains Keep Coming

 

Today at weightlifting camp we learned a new warm up series, re-introduced split jerks and finished up with some front squats.  Not only is flexibility improving but our skills with bar are starting to take shape.  Tomorrow we finish up camp and get set to transition into the start of school.  The boys are doing a fantastic job and continue to get better every day!