St. Louis High School offers the opportunity for students to join the powerlifting team ran by Mr. Wawersik.
Power-lifting is a relatively new sport offered at SLHS since this is only the program’s fourth year. The team holds practice Monday through Thursday from 3:15 to 4:15 in the high school weight room with practices starting mid November since powerlifting is a winter sport. All of the practice helps to prepare the powerlifters for meets which take place on Saturdays with around 20-40 schools present and a two to three week gap between each meet. At the first meet that was hosted in the Shark Tank during early December, 16 students participated.
Wawersik, who also teaches Health and Strategies for Life Fitness, started the program to give students the opportunity to compete in this sport. “I started powerlifting in high school and have continued to do so post graduation,”he said. The program offers students an opportunity to not only grow their physical strength but also their self confidence. “The benefits that I see in students that participate first and foremost is major strength increases. You’d be surprised at the numbers someone can put up when they are consistent and do things with intention. People usually also see a boost in their self esteem and self confidence which is great to see,” Wawersik reflects.
Matthew Hassell is a sophomore who is on the powerlifting team who has already won a medal this season in his weight class. As Hassell puts it,“It has made me think of people differently, and it doesn’t matter how strong you are, you can still have fun lifting at meets.” This year Hassell wants to become the state champion for his weight class.
Ryan Childs is a freshman who joined the team with his brother. “It has made me stronger and helped me make new friends,” Childs states. Mr. Wawersik has been of great help to the students in the program like Childs says, “He helps us by teaching us proper form and to find our limits.”
This season has already been successful for the weighlifters as the team has earned seven medals from a Farwell meet, which surpassed the team’s prior achievement six medals in the three years of the program.
