PLU Nationals Recap-Coach Monica

Powerlifting is a sport heavy with legacy

The greatest in this sport, and those who have had the most positive impact, are the ones who give back and pass down. That is not a coincidence. That is the whole thing.

I learned that from watching the people who shaped me. My Dave. Tony. Eddy Coan. These are not just names. They are the reason I understand what this sport can do for a person when it is done right.

Tenaya is cut from that same cloth. She is a three-time world record holder, a member of Team OPS, and one of the most capable humans I know on and off the platform. A few years ago, she introduced me to Eddy Coan at a seminar she was putting on. I remember thinking, man, it would be so cool if I could get Eddy to the PNW. We live in a small town in the middle of Washington. That kind of thing doesn't just happen here. The following year, that is exactly what I made happen. This is what it takes for powerlifting to continue to be great. People like Eddy, who are somehow still the greatest of all time, willing to show up and pass down the champion culture they were brought up in. These are the legends. And they are still in the room.

Tenaya handled me at my 1k total meet. That is not a small thing to handle someone. And this past weekend in San Antonio, she flew in from Sacramento to help our entire team. She handled Jasmine, and spent the weekend working alongside Dave and Jeff's lifters as well. I stood across that convention center and watched it happen and felt something I did not have a word for in the moment. Full circle is close. But it is more than that. It is the champion culture doing what it is supposed to do.

I could not have done this weekend without Tenaya and Kayla. I want to say that clearly and loudly. Kayla is OPS family. She lives a couple hours away, she flew to Texas, and she worked her ass off all weekend to make sure every single one of our thirteen athletes had what they needed. They made more laps around that convention center than any of us coaches did. They loaded more bars. They showed up in every way possible. I do not take that for granted for a single second.

Nine of us stayed together in an Airbnb that weekend. That is not an accident. That is OPS.

We have been doing travel meets for the last decade, but in the last five years we have gotten better and better at  making use of all of the talents of our team. Just like running a meet, there are always ways to improve, always things to learn from the time before. That is the beauty of it. We get to keep doing this. Dave and I have spent five years dedicating ourselves to building something better, not just for our lifters, but as another part of the champion culture we are trying to carry forward. We are professional coaches. This is our life.

When OPS shows up, you know it. Black and yellow. Smiles, confidence, and a professional performance on the platform. Every one of our teammates understands the positive mindset and the giving back nature that defines this team. That is not something you manufacture  in a day. That is something you build slowly, over years, with the right people in the room. Part of what we have worked hard to build is a structure that makes competing at this level accessible. These athletes earned their spot on that stage and they deserve to be there. Traveling together makes it affordable. It means their coaches are there. It means we can bring in handlers. It means nobody has to figure it out alone. And the fact that we have so many volunteers willing to step up and show up says everything about the culture we have built. That is OPS.

San Antonio in May is a different animal than San Antonio in March. I was just there two months ago and the weather was pleasant. This time it was 90 degrees with 90 percent humidity. Another variable nobody could totally prepare for. So we controlled the variables we could, we cooked our own meals. BBQ burgers and steaks, keeping meals predictable, making sure athletes were eating foods that weren't going to surprise them the day of the meet. That is what you do when you have been doing this long enough to know what matters.

I have been doing nutrition for Jeff this entire prep, so watching him compete at nationals was a full circle moment of its own. And then there was Emily.

I call her Sgt. Short Stack. She is short, intense, and needs order in the best way. She is one of the longest standing members of OPS, longer than me in fact, and she leads from the front with integrity and knows her strength. She put on a show for all of us this weekend and walked away a national champion in her division and open. This is why we do this. When we get to compete together and travel together it is like a family. Watching Emily on that platform reminded every single one of us why we show up.

This also could not have been timed better for me personally. I recently moved into full time coaching, and I am so glad I got to kick off this new chapter with these four women taking the national stage. Hayley. Alexis. Harlie. Jasmine. Each of them earned their spot. Each of them showed up. And for three of them, Alexis, Hayley, and Harlie, this was our first nationals together. I have seen them all compete before. But there is a difference between watching an athlete compete and being at the helm. This was a test for all of us, and I could not wait to see how they handled it.

I want to talk about Harlie for a moment. Because her being in San Antonio at all is its own story.

Harlie is a single mom of three. She grew and sold flowers last summer to save money for this trip. Let that land. She did not wait for someone to hand her an opportunity. She made one, with her own hands, out of her own soil. That is who she is. That is why I offered her a sponsored athlete spot the moment one opened. I saw so much of myself in her. Fiercely independent. Resourceful. The kind of drive that can only come from someone who has survived something hard. I have said before, I wish I had someone like myself when I was younger, to tell me the things nobody told me. Harlie is who I get to do that for. Getting to put her on a plane for the first time, getting to watch her walk into a national meet, that is the return on investment I care about. No doubt.

Here is what nationals looks like from the coach's side.

All four of my athletes lifted in the same session on two different platforms. Jasmine was on the Animal platform. Alexis, Harlie, and Hayley were on the other. Every event was a stacked race. I found myself making laps around the jumbotron, watching one lifter, then sprinting behind the curtain to give an attempt, then running back out to catch my next lifter, while Kayla made the same laps a few steps behind me. There were moments where I would be on the floor watching Harlie take an attempt and immediately make a quarter turn left to witness Jasmine's lift. It was wild. Across the room Tenaya had Jasmine locked in, and the moment my three made their attempts I would run over to check in. Controlled chaos. I loved every second of it.

Before any of that happens though, there is a moment I want to talk about.

It happens right before an athlete takes the platform. All the chatter stops. The warm up room is behind them. The attempt is decided. It is just them and what is about to happen. I have learned to give athletes that moment. I observe. I watch them shift side to side in a rocking sensation that is like a rhythm to a battle drum. That is when I chalk their back, watching as a puff of chalk moves like smoke off their back like a candle being snuffed out. The sweat beading on their brow. The intensity. The look of "oh shit, this is happening." That look is sacred to me. That is everything we built together arriving at once. That is when I step in and remind them why they are there.

Two platforms. Jumbotrons. Music you can feel in your bones. Stiff competition earned by every single person in that room. This is not a local meet. Nobody wandered in off the street. Everyone there qualified. Everyone there did the work.

Alexis looked outwardly calm the whole day. Stoic. Collected. I know her well enough to know she was fighting her confidence underneath it, and my job was simple. Don't let her overthink it. Keep her present. She went eight for nine on the day, three for three on bench with all national record attempts, and closed with a beautifully fast 182.5kg deadlift putting her back over the 400lb pull. She needed to hear that deadlift still loved her. It does.

Hayley is one of a kind. A tough lifter after my own heart. She has grit and determination and a willingness to send it that I love. This prep had some anomalies, but I assured her that if she still wanted to follow through, we could get her ready for it. She did not hesitate. After the squat nerves settled she was in the game. Every lift she handled with attack mode and gave it everything she had. When a spotter made contact on her third squat attempt and took a lift she had every right to make, she let it go completely and moved straight into bench focused and sharp, going three for three including a national record at 77.5kg. That is not easy to do. That is mental fortitude. I cannot wait to have the opportunity to rewind it back and have a full prep with her. Hayley is an ideal client who never sandbags, never makes excuses, and always finds a way to win.

Harlie rode waves all day. Highs and lows. That is hard to navigate, especially when your goals are sky high and the stage is this big. My job as her coach is to hold the things she is not thinking about. Strength is rarely the failure at this level. Technicalities are. I wanted to get her the experience of handling pressure, of shaking off a miss, of competing when the environment is overwhelming. Her bench was the highlight of the day. State record at 100kg. Another state record at 105kg. A 15lb PR. The work we put into a motionless touch paid off in front of everyone. She grew flowers for this. She earned every white light.

Jasmine was buzzing from the jump. She was in the zone, having fun, barking between lifts, and setting off a chain reaction of barking across the warm up room that made me laugh out loud. She has been a part of Team OPS for two and a half years and this is what long term development looks like. I treated her like the champion she wasn't yet, and she became one. She closed the day eight for nine with PRs on all three lifts and 36lbs added to her total. Getting closer and closer to that 1k. Tenaya handled her the same way she handled me. The Champion Culture doing exactly what it is supposed to do.

The greatest in this sport are the ones who pass it down. I am trying to be that. For my athletes, for this community, and for the sport that changed my life. Dave gave it to me. Tony gave it to me. Eddy gave it to me. Tenaya carries it. And now I get to carry it too.

What a gift.