Hallam Barbell Role Model for Youth Success

Today as part of the Great British Week of Sport we are focussing on getting young people involved as part of the #BeActive Campaign.

We are sharing youth coaching success stories from all-around the British weightlifting community and to kick things off we thought we’d highlight the amazing work going down at Hallam Barbell who are based in Sheffield.

The club have been ever present at national youth events over the years with talented athletes such as GB International Jenny Tong coming through the ranks. Plus, recently Hallam have been successful in Lockdown Lift Off, winning the team prize in Round 5.

One person who knows the club better than anybody else is Head Coach Dave Hembrough who won the UKSCA Development Coach of the Year award last year. Below Dave shares his thoughts on the youth set-up they  have at Hallam and explains how it all works.

 "At Hallam Barbell we offer an inclusive and friendly space for young people to learn to lift weights and partake in the sport of weightlifting. We are interested in producing champions but also providing young people with a great physical activity experience which affects them personally, positively in a social way so that it's more than just a physical training programme. We want our young members to develop a healthy relationship with being active and lifting weights for life. 

Aside from COVID disruption we usually run after school sessions which we refer to as being 'like a youth club in a gym'. We run 2 open club sessions a week which are each split by primary and secondary age groups. As well as the open club sessions we also run a competition squad session too which is for those who are more competitively driven.

We run regular outreach and recruitment activities to local schools and youth clubs. We introduce young people to the club and lifting weights through frequent taster sessions and 6 week 'learn to lift courses'. As our programme grows, we plan to run various sessions for different audiences which will include a specific 'strength and fitness' session, 'social weightlifting' and more competition squad sessions. 

Through our club programmes we want to help young people have a great experience of lifting weights and club sport. We want to lift our young people up to give them great skills and confidence that will help them in life. We believe that weightlifting is about more than physical strength. It helps people to be healthier, happier and stronger; physically, mentally, emotionally and socially".