Mother-Son Duo Compete in Olympic Weightlifting

There are many activities you can do to spend time with your mother: take her to a nice dinner or stroll down El Paseo to do some shopping.

But a local teenager has gone above and beyond the norm. He invited his mom to join his Olympic weightlifting team at the Yard Authenticate Strength and Barbell, a local gym in Palm Desert owned by Nick Frasca.

Local high school athletes use the gym to get stronger through Olympic weightlifting. The Yard also established an official Olympic Weightlifting club team that competes in meets across Southern California at least once a month.

The Yard boasts many athletes on their team that are nationally ranked in their weight classes, but their most unique member is the only female on their team, Indian Wells resident Kathy Coleman.

It was not till the beginning of March 2011 that she was invited to join Team Yard – by her 17-year-old son, Christian, who had also been training with The Yard to compete in his first meet as a team member.

“My mom was the first to start training with Nick Frasca, and she immediately fell in love with Olympic lifting. After about a month or so I started up with Nick, and have been doing it ever since,” Christian said.

Christian admires his mother’s physical strength, and enjoys her company at the gym.

“I love training with her because she brings such good energy to the gym. Perhaps my favorite thing about her is that she always motivates everyone to do their best,” Christian said.

 On March 12, the mother and son duo competed with nine other Team Yard members at the 2011 High Voltage Open in Burbank, Calif.

“My mom, weighing the least of the contestants, had to start. Can you imagine being the first lifter at a meet (having never experienced anything like this) where a couple hundred people are watching you? It was unbelievable how calm she stayed. It was as if she had been competing for ages,” Christian said.

At the meet, Kathy performed one of the two lifts, called the Snatch. She lifted 20 kg. Since she did not perform the Clean and Jerk, she did not place. But she still had much to celebrate, as her son placed first in his class, and qualified for the 2011 National School Age Weightlifting Championships in Flowery Branch, GA.

Along with Christian, other Team Yard members that will attend this competition schedule in June are Jonny Renker 14, Anthony Vong 16, Max Adams 15, and John Mason 16.

 On May 7 at a meet in Orange County, Vinny Gordon, 15, and Anthony Mantanona, 12, also qualified for the Georgia meet.