2 years ago today Tim began his Elite Olympic Weightlifting journey @ Athletic Lab Weightlifting Club. He hasn't looked back at the TKD sparring world that he left behind except to see how his old teammates are doing in their competitions. Everything has been full steam ahead from day 1 of changing sports. He's the happiest we've seen ever him and that warms mine and his dads heart to no end. He has such an amazing relationship with his coach, Jarrod Nobbe, too. It's the best coach relationship he's ever had.
To this date since making the change to Olympic Weightlifting he's gotten 2 Youth Gold medals/1 Junior Gold medal/1 Open Gold Medal/1 Best Youth Male Athlete Plaque @ States (WSO Carolina's Championships), 2 Youth Gold medals @ Athletic Lab's local Meets, 1 Junior Gold Medal at Barbells-N-Sprinkles local Meet, 3 Youth Silver medals @ The Arnold/VWS1 meet. His Meet PR's to date are 90kg/198# in Snatch and 117kg/257# in Clean & Jerk. His has had a great two years in the sport so far and he's still loving it.
Now we are working on time management (making sure he's getting enough recovery time) and diet (eating the right things - lots of protein - is key to his future in this sport) so that he can be at his optimum level going forward because he moves to Juniors January 1, 2026.
It's so wonderful that he gets to eat now but eating the right things is what he needs to be doing (he's been making up for lost time when he couldn't be a kid eating what he wanted to eat...LOL!!). Being able to eat and make gains has been huge for Tim. He's gained so much muscle mass in the two years he's been in this sport that he doesn't even look like the same kid that was doing TKD sparring. That's mostly because he's not having to cut weight all the time now and be so skinny just to be able to compete with competitors that are closer to his size in height.
What a huge difference two years makes when you make a switch that makes better sense for your kid and makes them happier than they've ever been😱😊😱😊. Of course it was totally Tim's decision to move on when we did and he was very ready for the change.
As parents (hindsight is 20/20), we see our failure in keeping him in a sport (TKD sparring) longer than he should have been. It's a tall persons sport and Tim at 17 is only 5'4" and to be competitive in that particular sport he would have had to stay in the 51kg weight division for like forever (which in the long run he wouldn't have been able to do) and that just wasn't what was best for his health so cutting the sport loose and moving on was the right call. I just wish we had done it way earlier. He was ready for a change a long time prior to us actually doing it.
Now though, we are all so happy that we made the switch to Olympic Weightlifting when we did because he's been 5'4" for two years now. He's in the 65kg weight division in this sport and as he gains more muscle mass doing Olympic Weightlifting he will continue to move up weight divisions. It's just how this sport works. It's a wonderful sport and everyone is so supportive of one another + they genuinely want to see one another doing their best. At the end of the day they all understand and get that as a collective group we want our best athletes representing America on the International stage because we want to bring home wins for our country. I can't say enough about how great this sport is and seeing Tim this happy is just so freaking awesome! He's right where he wants to be and that makes all the difference in the world.
Commitment in sports can sometimes,
Take you where you don't want to go,
Keep you longer than you want to stay,
Cost you more than you want to pay!
(Be sure that it's a sport that #1 - you love and #2 - that you have the capability/body type for rising to the level you want to be a success at. Being the right fit for what you are wanting to do/accomplish matters.)
HAPPY 2 YEARS TIM!!!
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