During the fight to regain her national title, Sophomore Amber Grace took a deep breathe as she tightly grips onto the bar bell. The crowd cheers as she exhaled, and forcefully lifted up a 240 pound weight.
Grace powerlifts, a form of weightlifting including squatting, benching and deadlifting. Despite only doing this for roughly two years, Grace has an amazingly impressive title.
At her first competition during October 2015, she collected four state records in squat, bench, deadlift and total. In March 2016, where she earned her national records. After her second competition, a Hawaii competitor took hold of the national record. She came back in Jan. 2017, where she fought to regain her title.
In spite of the hard losses, competitions are Grace’s favorite aspect of powerlifting. Starting out being the small girl she is, Grace would ofter get intimidated, but is frequently complimented about her gender and small size.
Grace’s love for powerlifting arose after not making the Oak Avenue Intermediate School’s auxiliaries team.
She decided that because she was not accepted into other sports, she would take on powerlifting. At first, her motivation mainly came from family and friends.
When preparing for a competition, Grace practices Monday through Friday.
During her off seasons, she trains four days a week. With such a time consuming activity on her schedule, finding time for school work has become more challenging. In the course of the school year, Grace goes to the gym directly after school, returning home at around seven. Without a doubt, powerlifting has made school significantly more difficult, but Grace believes the benefits outweigh the complications.
“Everyday life is easier when you’re stronger,” Grace said. “and working out helps you mentally and physically.”
TCHS School Newspaper