F.I.T. Barbell Club of Los Altos California

Michael Conroy, Idaho Weightlifting

I first met the Doherty Brothers at the 2002 High Desert Open in Reno. Kevin was coaching Paul and they had a group of junior lifters from Sacred Heart High School of San Francisco. I was there with my club. We spoke only briefly but I was impressed with both their intensity and knowledge.

I met Tracey and Thom Downing in November of 2003 when I presented a USAW Club Coaches Course at their facility, called F.I.T. They had a wonderfully equipped, private club with two platforms, a knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff and an interest in promoting Weightlifting.

In 2002, two trainers from F.I.T. attended a USAW Club Coaches course with Mike Burgener. At that point F.I.T. had zero platforms but began adding them one at a time as more and more trainers started utilizing the Olympic lifts and their variations with their clients – despite the fact that most of their clients were middle-aged executives

Since my initial visit F.I.T. has added 3 platforms, has hosted another USAW club coach course given by Burgener, and has over 20 trainers who are USAW Club Coach certified who continue to apply weightlifting movements with over 300 clients a week.

The great thing about all of this was that in less than a years time from my visit The Doherty’s and F.I.T. would combine their efforts and begin to produce an outstanding up and coming club.

Kevin and Paul had begun their weightlifting careers under the mentorship of Olympic Coach Jim Schmitz and his Sports Palace Club of San Francisco They had also been influenced by another of USAW’s outstanding coaches, Tony Ciarelli. Kevin was acting as Sacred Heart’s strength coach, the school he had graduated from, and actually started a registered club. Success came early not only in football, where the program helped the team to a 9-1 record, but also in weightlifting where 10 athletes competed at both the 2002 Junior National and School Age National Championships. Shortly after Kevin left Sacred Heart for a public high school, Lincoln, and repeated the same success he had at Sacred Heart.

Paul a national level weightlifter, in his own right, met up with Tracey and Thom in the summer of 2004 when he took over F.I.T.’s weightlifting program, which was in its infancy. He came to FIT with a desire to develop a first rate weightlifting team and plan for how to accomplish that goal. He began offering a program for kids, Jump Camp. Within months, Paul needed additional coaches due to the popularity of the program which is when Kevin joined the ranks. Soon after, another important addition to the staff came in the person of Rob Earwicker.

Rob had competed for the UK at the international level competing in the Junior Worlds in 1995 and Junior Europeans in 1994 and 1995 as well commonwealth games in 1998.  He also went to six straight national championships between 1994-1999.

“ I first meet Paul Doherty in October of 2004; I was traveling up the SF once a month to workout at the Sports Palace just to be in the environment of other lifters. Jim Schmitz introduced us on the third time I went up there, FIT was not a registered club on line at that point so I had no knowledge of their facility. I drove over to Los Altos two days later to workout with Paul, and was very surprised when I walked into the gym to see so many platforms. I had never seen this in a private club before. I continued to workout with Paul a couple of days a week for the next few months and then after the Xmas break Paul asked me if I want to help run the Jump Camp program on the days that I was driving over the hill to workout. Naturally I jumped at the chance to get paid to teach kids how to lift. And the rest is history as they say the more time I spent at FIT the more time I wanted to be here and around Weightlifting. ”

Kevin has this to say about their actual program. “ The team is comprised of the women and kids from FIT as well as the Lincoln High School Football players.  We currently have about 20 lifters at the National level in their perspective weight class and age, spanning from female master to 13 yr old boy. Paul and Rob are in charge of running the kids program at FIT and coach all the little kids as well as the high school kids and adults at our Barbell Club.  The kids program incorporates OL as well as a myriad of other conditioning tools. (They start as early as age 7).  My days are spent at Abraham Lincoln High School 5th, 6th and 7th period volunteering as a weightlifting coach for the football players.  I come back to FIT in the evening and help out when needed.  The best training day is Saturday when Paul and Rob are both at FIT in the morning and I bring the lifters from The CITY (Only a native San Franciscan would say The City, and I know because my family is from The City) down to F.I.T. to train. Tracey and Thom have invited me to bring the kids down to train during their spring break. Their support, along with the rest of the staff, is an intrical part of our overall exposure and success.”

Those of us in the sport know how difficult it can be to find a ‘weightlifter friendly’ gym. Here are Tracey’s thoughts on why F.I.T. felt a need to offer their facility to our sport.

“The trainers at FIT all strongly believe in the benefits of Olympic Weightlifting for a very broad population.  We utilize weightlifting variations with almost every client with whom we work so it was a natural progression for F.I.T. to start preparing some of its clients for competition. Paul, Kevin and Rob were the obvious choice to take on that task. When Paul introduced the idea of training kids in order to increase the chance of creating great lifters as adolescents and young adults, it seemed like a no brainer.  FIT had the space to support such a program and felt it would be a service to the community to provide a physical outlet for kids who have seen PE cut, recess at school shortened and sedentary options (computers and video games) on the rise. Our trainers all embraced the idea, promoting it to their clients and friends in the community thereby enabling the development of the club. That this program has led to a successful Weightlifting Club is a testament to the passion of the 3 coaches and the support of the rest of FIT's staff.”

Success has come in a big way. F.I.T. hosted their first competition in January of 2005 with the Pacific Weightlifting Association School Age and Junior Championships. They held their Jump Camp competition, in May of 2005. November of 2005 saw F.I.T. capture their first Team Title with a victory at the 42 nd annual Golden West Championships.

2006 is off to an even better start as they, once again hosted the PWA School Age and Junior Meet, and then won the team title at the PWA Championships.

Tracey adds this final thought as to what F.I.T. Barbell Club hopes to accomplish in the future.

” We hope to continue to hone the training we prescribe for our athletes and clients further aiding them in achieving their goals in their life and their sport, hopefully instilling enthusiasm for the Olympic lifts in them along the way. We joke about Jump Camp Nation around FIT, but in all sincerity, we hope to continue to train athletes in the Olympic lifts from a very early age so that we can develop their skills as they physically develop and mature. The earlier the kids get to us, the longer we have to train them before they go off to college.  The more kids we train, the more likely we are to develop a least a few high caliber lifters who may compete on the international stage.

Congratulations to everyone at F.I.T. What a great story and we, at Mike’s Gym Newsletter wish them the best for continued success.