Monday, May 18, 2009

Michigan Victory Games

This past Friday I had the privilege to give a health and fitness presentation to a bunch of students that a friend teaches through Grand Valley State University. It was a lot of fun to try to bring important basics to a diverse group and get the kids interested in easy to follow steps to live a long healthy life.

A few of the students were competing for a group called the Grand Rapids Eagles. They are a team that travels around and competes in the Michigan Victory Games. Well, it just so happened that that night, Michigan State University was holding the championships. Since a few of his kids were competing in powerlifting, we thought it would be cool to go watch them. There are a myriad of events, from swimming to javelin, wheelchair obstacle course to discus, ping pong and of course powerlifting.

Now all the kids have a mental or physical impairment and watching them compete in a strict powerlifting (bench press) was amazing. Pause at the bottom, no shaking at the top, a clean rack call, or it doesn't get the white light. It was inspiring to watch kids struggle and win with the just the bar. One girl stood out, in this video above she puts up 235 lbs. As you can see the legs get strapped down, as many kids don't have great function or control.

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