Coffee High School weightlifting returns to Douglas as champions

DOUGLAS, GA – The Coffee High School weightlifting team recently competed at the USA Weightlifting National Championships in Pittsburgh, where they had 10 individual medals.

But what is important to the group is more than achievements.

“I love weightlifting because you can get to account your own progress and what you started at and just your own personal growth,” said 10th grader Jared Allen.  “You get to actually be able to see your other teammates and other competitors compete with you and themselves to get better and that’s really the reason why I like it, because you can see other people growing as well as yourself.”

Coffee had 20 total competitors, 12 being there for the first time in competition. The 13U boys finished as national champions, the 13U girls finished in third, and the overall men’s team placed third in competition.

A lot of the program’s success came from coach Michael Booth, who has led the team since they won.

“We started this program about eight or nine years ago with just a couple of football kids that wanted to lift at a national competition,” Booth said.  “This year was really exciting.”