Shreveport program gives female weightlifters the competitive edge
Female weightlifting has only been a recognized Olympic sport since 2000, but many of the competitors come to Shreveport specifically to train at Louisiana State University Shreveport with head coach Dr. Kyle Pierce and his program. The women who have worked, sweated and pounded out the reps in Shreveport are making a significant contribution to the sport.
“When I was doing a lot of research for my thesis [for a master’s in kinesiology], it was easy to tell that back in the ’80s women weren’t really mentioned. When you try to find research on female weightlifters or technique, if you go back, there’s nothing,” Angelita Moreno, volunteer coach and competitor for the program at LSUS, said. “Now that women over the years have received the same attention and training, the gap between men and women is closing so significantly. Women are definitely more accepted and just as important [in the sport] as men.”
Moreno and the women of the LSUS team are set to have another successful year in the gym. The weightlifting program at LSUS brings women from not just all over the United States but all over the world to train here – currently the team competing at the upcoming 2014 National University Championships includes Karla Hernandez from Mexico, Christy Cox from Indiana, Kaia Kong from Hawaii and Colleen Seeley from Louisiana.
“The great thing about Kyle [Pierce] is that he has so much experience, and it’s adaptable for anybody. For a long time, it was a lot of guys, and then all of a sudden we had a bunch of women join us, and it brought a cool dynamic,” Moreno said. She has been a part of the lifting world since 2006. Women from the LSUS program have won national championships, participated in the world championships, and two lifters that have come from the program are training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Erin Wallace is one of many success stories to come from the program at LSUS. Wallace, a Bossier City native, attended LSUS and played women’s soccer in the first year the school had a team. “One of the requirements for the off season was to do strength training, and that was how I met Kyle Pierce. March of 2006, I went to my first collegiate competition and got hooked on the sport. I phased out of soccer and focused on weightlifting,” Wallace said. “I made my first world championship team, which is the competitions they have between the Olympics which is how you earn spots on the Olympic team for your country, the year after I graduated college and started my first year of teaching at Southwood High School. That was just amazing just being able to compete internationally for Team USA and still teach here,” she said.
Wallace won two national championships and qualified for three world championship teams in her career. “I won a national championship in 2010 as a 75 kilo lifter and one as a 69 kilo lifter last year and qualified for the world championships but was injured and didn’t go that year,” she said.
Wallace has moved forward from her athletic career and now teaches middle school English overseas in Lagos, Nigeria, but will always work out and lift.
“Being involved in sports has made me a better person. It brought me a lot more focus and discipline – not just in sports but in who I am. It gives accountability and follow through. It can really build strong character, and I definitely feel like I’m better as a person from being involved in the sport because of what it required of me as a person,” she said.
CrossFit has brought a lot of mainstream attention to women lifting weights, and both Moreno and Wallace think the stereotypes are disappearing, and women are starting to realize that lifting weights doesn’t automatically mean you will bulk up and get heavy.
“I think the exposure that CrossFit has brought to weightlifting has made it more acceptable in society to be strong, and there aren’t as many stereotypes now concerning women in sport,” said Wallace. “There’s different body types and you can still be fit and strong and competitive. It’s spans a variety of people in the sport, and that’s cool too.”
–Mandy Byrd
