In an effort to give credit to and boast about those each week who do great things I am instituting “Strong Saturday”. Each week on Saturday I am going to highlight a specific person or group of people who have done something extraordinary that week. I work with and around incredible people. Most of who are inspirational in their physical and mental strength. Interestingly, my first “Strong Saturday” is kicked off with the youngest of my athletes and also one of the strongest.
Chance Brewster is a 16 year old student at Highland Park High School. I met him while coaching Crew for the Dallas United Crew team last year. Soon after meeting him, he became an Olympic weightlifter and the gym’s adopted little brother. It was obvious his desire to get stronger and focus on lifting when I couldn’t keep him out of the gym as a rower.
A rare combination of adolescence and commitment, Chance struggles through 1.5-2.5 hour workouts 6 days a week. He goes to bed 2 hours earlier than his friends (on most nights) in order to make it to the gym at 5:30AM. He does more before school than most teenagers will do all day long. He fights through heavy squats, never concedes to the excuse of “just having a bad day”, and never quits.
This morning Chance got his first taste of competition after 4 months of training. I told Chance that he was just going with me to Prince of Peach Christian School to experience a weightlifting meet and volunteer at the small development meet. At 8am he found out he was actually competing. (He shrugged and said “good play coach”)
After only 4 months of training and at 82kg bodyweight, Chance PR’d both his lifts snatching 80kg with ease and fighting to smoke a 103kg Clean and Jerk. Those lifts not only destroyed his records in the past (75kg, 98kg) but qualified him for the Youth National Championships in St. Joseph, Missouri this summer. In his first meet, Chance qualified for the National Championships. A feat rarely accomplished or attempted.
To top it all off, Chance has a shot at the State Championship coming up in January and left the platform excited but not satisfied. This week’s strong Saturday is devoted to a young kid who shows maturity well beyond his years (most of the time) and earned a well-deserved gold medal today.
I will be uploading and posting his videos Monday as soon as I find my Ipad 🙂
If you see or know Chance pat him on the back tell him two things:
1: Good work
2: Drive the bar vertical on the jerk