Dear Editor,
This year’s powerlifting season at Newton County has been amazing. I never thought I would have been saying that a year ago. Actually powerlifting wasn’t on my daughters radar. It was softball and only softball. But that all changed when she came home and asked about trying out for the power lifting team. It changed her outlook on what she is capable of doing and how hard she is willing to work to get it.
First off, congrats to Mackenzie and all her teammates for the success they’ve had this year in powerlifting. This has been so great to see the amount of team support in what most look at as an individual sport. This year I’ve seen Seniors rooting on & supporting 8th graders. That doesn’t happen in every sport. Even other teams they got to know throughout the year, that they were competing against, rooted them on and vice versa. Just young ladies rooting for other young ladies to be successful. That’s awesome. In Mack’s dead lift video, you can hear all of her teammates (and others, maybe my voice a little) cheering her on to push her farther than she ever thought she could lift. She lifted 365 lbs. to push her into 3rd place in her weight division. (Little secret - she had no clue how much it was when she lifted it). The look on her face afterwards made the 11 long hours in the Jackson Coliseum that day all worthwhile.
Hopefully we can see this area get even more coverage of the girls side of this sport, which is still growing. They work extremely hard and deserve more credit. I’m probably a little biased since I’m a Dad of one of these girls but it is what it is. Haha.
Thanks to the coaching staff, Coach Poole, Coach Rob, & Coach Bass for helping these girls be so successful this year. Looking forward to next year already.
Seen this on a shirt at the meet yesterday and wanted to share: “The weight I lift is nothing compared to the way we lift each other!!” Very fitting for this year’s team!!
GO COUGARS!!!!!
Boyd Platt
Decatur
