Proverbs 3:6...

 

God says that the feet of those who bring good news are "beautiful".  It is a wonderful privilege to be able to share God's Good News with others, his news of redemption, salvation and peace.  

Sweet Stella....

Such a great pic of our sweet Stella.

Lasha Signature T-Shirt...

Tim loves his Lasha t-shirt that he received yesterday.  He had to wear it right away to training last night.

Wil Fleming's Instagram Share...

Wil Fleming is the coach for 1Kilo out of Indiana.  Tim's coach, Jarrod Nobbe, is from there and I assume was trained in this sport under Wil.  This was a great share and one that parents of kids in sports should take to heart.

When a coach pretends they have "secret" answers or "the" answers that's a coach with extreme ego driven problems and a coach you DON'T want coaching you or your kids.  Stay far away from those kind of coaches!!!  (I know of what I speak from first hand experience.)

A coach who remains humble because they know there is always more to learn is exactly who you want to have as a coach for you and your kids.  That's the kind of coach that you get in Wil Fleming and Jarrod Nobbe.  They are great coaches and always have a humble attitude and are always learning all they can.  They are constantly growing, while remaining humble, and learning in order to be the best coaches that they can possibly be for their athletes.  

Tim loves his coach, Jarrod Nobbe from Athletic Lab in NC.  They have built a great bond.  August will be two years since Tim switched to the sport of weightlifting and having Jarrod as his coach.  What a humungous difference it's made in our son.  He is night and day different than how broken he was from some of his other coaches, from his prior sport, and their ego driven macho attitudes that tear kids down instead of build them up.  It was such a blessing to find Jarrod and a sport that our son loves even more than the sport that he was doing before.  

Stay very close to the kind of coaches who are always humble and learning more to be an even better coach for you or your kids!  And,

Memorize The Quote In The Pic Above

Because It's Truth!!!

Athletic Lab Weightliftings post from Instagram...

Just wanted to share this post that our weightlifting club coach, Jarrod Nobbe, made on Instagram: 

 

7 members of the Athletic Lab Weightlifting Team recently competed in the 2025 USA Weightlifting National Championships.  The meet was held in Colorado Springs, CO.  

Below are the results of each lifter for the ALWC team.  Overall, the team brought home 7 medals, one National runner-up, a two-time National Champion, six top 10 finishers, and multiple meet personal records.

Results (Weight Category & Division) (Snatch/Clean + Jerk/Total) (Placing) :

• Tim Neal, 65kg U17 M (Youth) (Snatch: 90kg, CJ: 117kg 🥉, Total: 207kg) 4th Place
• Eva Young, 58kg W (Junior) (Snatch: 59kg, CJ: 84kg🥈, Total: 143kg) 4th Place
• Ariel Hekier, 58kg W U23 (Senior/Open) (Snatch: 58kg, CJ: 75kg, Total: 133kg) 5th Place
• Ewan McCallum, 71kg M U25 (Senior/Open) (Snatch: 96kg, CJ: 123kg🥈, Total. 219kg🥈) 2nd Place - NATIONAL RUNNER-UP
• Chase OverPeck, 65kg M U25 (Senior/Open) (Snatch: 102kg🥈, CJ: 123kg🥇, Total: 225kg🥇) 1st Place - 2x NATIONAL CHAMPION
• Mariah Merkle, 69kg W (Senior/Open)  (Snatch: 87kg, CJ: 107kg, Total: 194kg) 8th Place
• Jamie Maffeo, 77kg W (Senior/Open) (Snatch: 82kg, CJ 100kg, Total: 182kg) 23rd Place

As side note that is separate from the post that was made:

According to USAW, technically, Tim ended up 6th overall with a 90kg Snatch and a 112kg CJ and total of 202kg but our club honored Tim with his last lift anyhow because he made the lift and the judges made a really bad call that couldn't be overturn without a jury which they didn't have at Nationals.  Go figure🙄.  Still hard to swallow that because it cost him a medal placement.  

As believers we know that God has Tim's back and He will give back to him what was stolen and then some.  Tim is pressing forward and focusing on States in October in SC then Virus Weightlifting Finals in December in FL.  

We love our sons great attitude about everything that happened.  It shows his maturity far beyond his years.  So so proud of the man that he's becoming!  We love supporting him in his efforts in this sport.  He loves it so very much.  

I want to add that we do love how supportive the weightlifting community is overall.  It totally floored Tim that he had so many supporting him in the bad call.  There were so many videos and pics sent to his coach who shared them with our gym owner.  The two did all they could to get the event organizer to honor the lift.  It's sad when an event organizer agrees it's a lift but then adds the judges judgement stands because there's no jury to review and overturn their decision.  

After all Tim's experienced through the years in sports he just took what happened at Nationals in stride but that could have really broken another youth competitor.  USAW definitely needs to be willing to own up to their mistakes (because we all make them) and lift these kids up even if it means that they have to have a little egg on their face while doing so.  Tim's not your normal competitor but a less "mentally tough" kid could've been totally torn apart emotionally by the decision that happened to Tim.  Let's face it, kids today are not like when I was growing up.  They need to know that the entity (in this case USA Weightlifting) has their back and will do the right thing.  Just saying.  

Galatians 6:9...

It is discouraging to continue to do right and receive no word of thanks or see no tangible results.  But Paul challenged the Galatians and he challenges us to keep on doing good and to trust God for the results.  In due time, we will reap a harvest of blessing.  

USA Weightlifting Youth Nationals 2025 Results....

RESULTS!!! Timothy Neal loves the gym he's a part of, its owners (who have his back) and his coach (who has his back). If Tim had been honored with his last lift, which was in fact a lift, he would have finished 4th overall at Weightlifting Nationals. Since the judges didn’t honor it, even though our club did, he was officially 6th overall. Between last year and this year finishing in the top 10 have been huge for Tim being the new kid on the block. He feels so thankful and blessed to be a part of Athletic Lab and the Athletic Lab Weightlifting Club Team. If you are looking for a great gym to work out in you have to look no further than Athletic Lab.

Tim's last lift:

This picture was at 0:01 seconds.  The bar has to be off the floor in order for it to count before time runs out.

They had already made the bad call because they had already put the down arrow on the board as you can see in the background and he's not even halfway done with his lift yet.

This was his face when he knew he got the lift.

This was his face after being told it was a "no lift".

Click on the link for the article his gym owner wrote on the teams performance:  Athletic Lab Weightlifting excels at 2025 USA Weightlifting National Championships.  

What happen to Tim sucks but it happens.  The clock ran down to the wire and without a jury to overturn the judges decision, like you see internationally at weightlifting events, the judges decision is final.  Although it was wrong, and video and picture proof show that, it's still final.  

His official totals according to USA Weightlifting were as follows:  Snatch 90kg/196# & C+J 112kg/246# with a 202kg/445# total placing 6th overall.  What's in the pic above is his unofficial totals that should have been actually official totals.  He would have brought home Bronze in C+J if his last lift had counted.  That was a bitter pill to have to swallow when there was picture/video proof that he got the lift off the floor in time🙁.    

Cripple Creek Gold Mine on June 25th...

The current Gold Mine as it is today.  The 3rd largest producer of gold in our country.  

They used a big dump truck dumpster as a lookout to see into the mine.

As we were leaving the mine we ran across this wild cow.  Lot's of open range where animals roam free there.

The weather was so great in Colorado Springs.  We missed it as soon as we got back to where you were melting when you got out of your car....LOL!!  It was such a fun trip though.  We were so grateful for some family time.  

Cripple Creek Train Ride on June 25th...

We did the Cripple Creek train ride on our last day before heading back to Kentucky to visit with family.  We learned a lot about Cripple Creek on the train ride.  No better way to learn than life experiences.  We can't wait to return there next year for Nationals and do some more adventuring.  

Part of a mine that was no longer in operation after WW2.

We were told that there is gold in these rocks.  About a million dollars worth BUT it would take a extremely long time to dig up enough to make even an ounce.

The hill is the existing mine today.  It's the 3rd largest gold producer in our country .

One of the original mine shafts.

We Drank Fresh Spring Water on June 25th....

One of the beautiful things about the Colorado Springs area was their natural springs.  We got ours from The Seven Minute Spring in Manitou.  You could fill up your water cups/bottles or jugs.  There is never a need to buy spring water when you are there.  

Garden of the Gods on June 23rd...

Scot and I loved Garden of the Gods.  Tim not so much...LOL! We love the beauty of Colorado Springs.  I could easily live there if it weren't that it was such a liberal place.  Not of fan of it being so liberal at all.  Could wake up to drinking coffee to those views everyday though.