Ellen Kercher

Hi, my name is Ellen Kercher and I am a 48-kilo (106 lbs) weightlifter who lives at the Olympic Training Center (OTC) located in Colorado Springs. Knowing where I live, you probably have guessed that I am training for the 2016 Olympic games! Before I was accepted to live, breath, and train at the OTC, I was your typical teenage girl who lived in a small town outside of Atlanta. I became involved in the sport of weightlifting, though it was not even considered to be a sport at my high school, through basketball. The football coach at the high school invited the seventh grade girls’ basketball team to try Olympic weightlifting. I continued to lift throughout high school with the coach’s daughter and later dropped basketball all together. In May of 2011, I made the Youth World Team (ages 17 and under). I was one of the seven girls who went to Peru to represent the United States. I was truly inspired after competing internationally and realized I had a lot of work to do if I were to ever medal outside of America! That same year, I was invited to the OTC for the summer training camp, but I had been resting up until the invite because of a sprained elbow. Upon hearing the news, my coach told me I was not allowed to go because I was resting and tried to arrange for his daughter to go. However, I knew that if I did not attend the camp, my chances of becoming known to the National Olympic Coach would become slim to none. Zygmunt Smalcerz is the National Coach of weightlifting as well as the Olympic Champion in 1972 and he is responsible for preparing lifters for the Olympics. Knowing this, I convinced my coach that I was ready to lift again and went to my first camp at the OTC! After two weeks of rigorous training, I came back with a different mindset (and a throbbing elbow!) some people might call Olympic fervor. Gabby Douglass defines it as the intense desire to compete in the Olympics. If I was ranked high enough by the end of my senior year, I would be asked to live on complex and train with Zygmunt at the OTC. Though nothing was certain, I trained hard for the American Open in November of 2011 and finished second place. After the competition, I met with the high performance director and Zygmunt who then proceeded to ask if I would ever be interested in living at the OTC, which I in turn replied with an enthusiastic yes! I heard nothing more from them until the Arnold Schwarzenegger event in March of 2012. It was at this competition that I really proved myself to Zygmunt because I not only beat my biggest competitor who previously had a total of nine kilos higher than mine at the American Open, but I also became the best 48 kg lifter in America! When I arrived back home with my supportive family, all of my friends were busy preparing to go off to college while I was stuck waiting to find out if I was accepted to the OTC where I would attend the University of Colorado Springs at Colorado. Finally, after a month of waiting, the call came! Though I did not know it at the time, moving across the country right out of high school was a really challenging thing to do. With some sense of peace, I then began focusing completely on doing well in Guatemala for Junior Worlds that very next month where Zygmunt would be coaching me for the very first time. Though I did not medal, I still got the opportunity to set Junior American Records that I was very grateful for breaking.

I knew I would set more records in the future for that very next month I began my twenty-two hour drive with my Dad from Georgia to Colorado to begin my training (yes, of course the drive was long, but I had to have a car!). The first few months of training at the OTC were brutal! I later found out that I had six months from the time I moved out there to improve my lifting since the 2012 American Open determined if I would remain a resident. Everything was going smoothly, besides the occasional aches and pains that come the sport, but the moment I had my first snatch at the American Open set the stage for either utter failure or success. In a weightlifting competition, the lifter has three snatches and three clean & jerks. I had missed my first two snatches, literally shaking under the pressure; I managed to complete my third snatch at 63 kilos. After that competition, everything started to go downhill. While living at the OTC, athletes have access to physical therapists and doctors in sports medicine. I found out I had sprained my elbow…again! Another competition went by, the Junior Nationals where I broke more Junior American records, and I discovered that I had slightly torn the UCL ligament in my elbow. Discouraged and frustrated, I continued to rehab and I did no snatches or clean & jerks for an entire month. My physical therapist joked that I was addicted to a strong anti-inflammatory that made it to where I could train pain free (it was awesome). I was worried I was not going to be prepared to compete in the 2013 Junior Worlds that was held in Peru. As the time towards worlds ticked down, I slowly worked my way up in weights by increasing ten percent each week. I also began to see a sports psychologist at the OTC because Zygmunt said I had (and still have) “mental problems” as weightlifting is 95% mental and the rest is just great technique. In the end, I came through and successfully made all three snatches in Peru. Though I did not do so well on the clean & jerks, I was thankful I made it through the competition and represented the United States well.

This is what I have learned since I first moved to the OTC:

1.      Nobody is perfect, there is no need to compare yourself to others and think negatively about yourself.

2.      Never stop rehabbing after an injury and always strengthen the areas in which you are weak.

3.      Having a positive attitude is key in becoming a successful athlete.

Ellen Kercher J