Newsletter Volume 3, Number 1

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I had the privilege of coaching the strongest lifters the USA has on May 1st - 12th, 2006. These lifters being Mary Stack, Rohan Murphy, Andy Wise, and Kortney Klemmons. What an awesome group of young people and congratulations to Rohan on his bronze medal finish in the Jr. Division.Mary Hodge also did an outstanding job as team leader and has some great coaching skills also. I would like to say a little regarding each one of these fine lifters.

Mary Stack has one of the most upbeat personalities in the sport and is very pleasant to be around. She is the strongest female Paralympic athlete in the country and this is the best I have seen her do. I look for her to be in contention for a medal at the next big show.

Rohan brought home a bronze medal with a fine lift of 281 lbs. in the Jr. division and is capable of lifting much more in my opinion. I truly hope he remains in the sport because he has the potential to be the best 123 to 132 lb. lifters to ever come out of the USA.

Andy Wise I can sum up in one word and that is AWESOME! I do not say this lightly but I think that Andy could be the next (how should I put it) Kim Brownfield. Who is that guy anyways? I see Andy Wise winning as many world and Paralympic medals as he wants too in the future. He has the most raw power that I have ever seen in a lighter weight lifter. (And trust me I have seen the best in able bodied and Paralympic). He is what we powerlifters call freaky strong. I would wish Andy luck in the future but he is not going to need it. MAKE YOUR OWN DESTINY ANDY.

The last, but not least, lifter is one of my favorite guys to be around after meeting him and that is Kortney "Big Dog" Klemmons. Kortney lifted in what was his first real strict competition and looked like a pro in Busan, Korea. His lifts were all solid as concrete. Kortney is a very powerful man and what I like about him is his mentality when he lifts. You see I see certain things in people after 29 years of lifting in this game and Kortney has the mental and physical ability to will himself into a medal in China and in 2012 if he so desires. I have no doubt of this.

Again, I would like to thank all of the lifters, Mary Hodge, and U. S. Paralympics for allowing me the opportunity of a lifetime. This being to get to coach fine young people like the ones I just mentioned. Mary Hodge, thank you and we make a pretty damn good team. Don't know if I can say that but I just did.

Train Hard and always remember when your not training, someone out there in the world is!!!!!!!!! When you meet them they will win!!!!!!!!!!!! You are the only one standing between them and glory.

As one of the new coaches for the Disabled Power Lifting team I wanted to introduce myself.

My name is David Potter. For the past 16 years I have taught Adapted Physical Education for the Royal Oak School District. During this time I have been the head coach for Royal Oak’s disabled sports team, The Charging Knights, as well as our Special Olympic team. Until this year I have held the position of Strength Coach for our school district’s various sports teams at the high school.

As a result of my work with disabled students/athletes I was honored in 1999 as the Regional Special Olympics Coach of the Year, Michigan’s Adapted Physical Education Teacher of the Year in 2000, and more recently, in 2004, I was inducted into the Michigan Disabled Athletes Hall of Fame. I also had the honor of being chosen to carry the Olympic torch in January of 2002.

I live in Troy, Michigan with my wife Kim and our two children, Austin and Samantha.

I am very excited about this opportunity to work with our national team and hope that I can contribute to this effort for many years to come.

I believe that as one of the new coaches for the Disabled Powerlifting team it is my duty to introduce, encourage and recruit new athletes to try the sport of powerlifting. In my 20 years of experience I have found recruiting can be done on several levels and from many sources.

In addition to getting new athletes involved we can also encourage the older athletes who may still be searching for “their sport”. Encouraging athletes who are accomplished in another discipline or activity like track and field to “cross train” can also produce a positive powerlifting experience. Keep in mind the majority of our athletes already train hard with weights thus the transition to powerlifting would not be difficult.

Over and above recruiting from the coach’s level I also believe our athletes play a critical role in recruiting by being a powerlifting ambassador. Young athletes are influenced by their peers and having both past and present powerlifting athletes talk about their challenges and rewards can and will help attract more participants to powerlifting.

Not only can we encourage participation through the powerlifting meets themselves but we can also recruit new athletes at local and regional disabled sporting competitions to try powerlifting.

One approach would be to have the coaches and seasoned lifters host a brief seminar or clinic. During the clinic both the coaches and experienced powerlifters can encourage, coach and demonstrate. Teams from almost every sport and every level including the Detroit Pistons and Pittsburg Steelers host clinics. People are drawn to the athletes and what better source of information than the experts themselves?

Suffice to say we can strengthen our ranks by not only lifting the weights but also by inspiring more athletes to try the sport that we all love!

Let’s get out there and encourage more athletes to try the sport that we all love!

If you have questions or topics you would like addressed in the next newsletter, please contact Mary C. Hodge ASAP.

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail: Mary or Michael. The next newsletter will be sent out in approximately August, 2008. Please submit any requests by July 1, 2008. If you have questions or topics you would like addressed in the newsletter, please Click HERE!