Washington, DC and USA Weightlifting Washington Pulling Together

USA Weightlifting and the District of Columbia State Athletic Association (DCSAA) are working together to bring weightlifting to school-age children across the nation’s political hub.

According to an article on the national governing body’s website,

"The city will host the sport’s American Open in December 2014 and, through the contacts made during that process, USA Weightlifting has solidified a relationship with the DCSAA to educate coaches across the District and integrate the sport of weightlifting into the athletics system. The DCSAA includes more than 40 schools, of which 12 form the core.

2000 Olympian Cara Heads Slaughter, a former high school weightlifting athlete who later went on to earn a scholarship at the University of California-Berkeley, is acting as a mentor to coaches in the District. On June 7, 24 coaches from the area took a daylong course at Anacostia High School in coaching weightlifting and integrating the sport into their school’s program.

Initially, the participating schools will aim toward the DC Schools Invitational, which will be co-located with the USA Weightlifting American Open at the Washington Hilton in downtown Washington, DC. Prior to this event, schools will work on two meets and clinics with Coach Heads to prepare.

Upon successful completion of the DC Invitational, USA Weightlifting & DCSAA will review the event to see if weightlifting can attain DCSAA state championship status, which requires a minimum of eight participating schools.

The city is also a candidate to be America’s bid city for the 2024 Olympic Games. This partnership between USA Weightlifting and the DCSAA, therefore, has the goal of placing individuals from the District on the biggest athletic platform of them all."

For mre information, read the full article at this link.