Powerlifting club members at the Midwestern Collegiate Cup in November 2019. Credit: Courtesy of Nicklaus Haddad

Missing out on national competitions due to COVID-19 hasn’t stopped the Powerlifting at Ohio State University club from its mission. 

Though the postponed April 2020 Collegiate Nationals Powerlifting competition hosted at Penn State University has been moved to November, the Ohio State powerlifting club will not be participating. In an effort to give their seniors another year of eligibility amidst a season affected by COVID-19, they will wait to participate in the 2021 nationals hosted at Louisiana State University. 

“On our behalf, we wanted it to be canceled and give seniors another year of eligibility,” Nicklas Haddad, a fourth-year in mechanical engineering and president of the powerlifting club, said. “We thought that was the solution, and that is not the route that the meet director went.”

Before the onset of COVID-19, during their typical seasons, the club would host weekly practices with all of its 85 members at Jesse Owens North Recreation Center and compete in local Columbus competitions, Haddad said.

“We would have lifters on their own inhibition go to USA PL (USA Powerlifting) meets in other states,” Haddad said. “Our main event every year was collegiate nationals.”

The club sends any lifter who has qualified at local competitions and has been funded through the club’s various fundraisers throughout the year to the collegiate nationals, Haddad said. If they win nationals, the club will then help send them to the world competition.

Right now, the lifters are training in preparation for the 2021 nationals competition. However, their preparation looks different this year. JO North is not currently operating as a gym and is instead being used as a campus COVID-19 testing site. Other campus gyms are not taking space reservations due to social distancing requirements and spaces being converted into classrooms, so the club is left without having a central location and time for practices, Haddad said. 

“Our lifters are spread out — lifters at the RPAC, lifters at Jesse Owens South, and there are some lifters who go to off-campus gyms,” Haddad said. 

In addition to the ongoing number of differences for the club this year, most benefits of being a member are virtual, Haddad said. Membership benefits include coaching, form feedback and a sense of community. Haddad said there is a group chat filled with training videos and feedback from coaches.

Madison Rivero at the 2019 Collegiate Nationals in Columbus. Credit: Courtesy of Madison Rivero

The club has also had to change how they recruit. Madison Rivero, a third-year in anthropological sciences and fundraising chair of the club, said she tries her best to keep the about 20 girls on the team as connected as possible, along with trying to find other girls to join. 

Usually, the club can find recruits at the involvement fair, Rivero said. Finding men who are interested is usually easier, so the focus is on trying to get women interested in the sport, Rivero said. 

“Sometimes I just go up to people at the RPAC when we are missing certain weight classes,” Rivero said. “Even if they are just slightly interested, we are like, ‘We can get you really strong and get you to national and world level meets.’”

Having a large platform on social media helps too, Rivero said. The Ohio State team is pretty well-known in the powerlifting community, Rivero said, so the club tries to keep a consistent presence on Instagram.

Haddad is trying his best to keep the club as cohesive as possible. The team can usually have team bonding events, holiday parties and Friendsgiving, Haddad said, but now it is just Zoom meetings. 

“We are looking forward to being able to compete and keeping our lifters happy and safe,” Haddad said.