Piece of the Platform – Volume 2
Welcome to piece of the platform. As Athletes ourselves and as Technical Officials, we’re really lucky that we get to spend time with, know, work or train alongside some really fantastic people from within the weightlifting community. We’re even luckier still that some of those people have agreed to a take part in our mini interviews, that we’ve coined ‘Piece of the Platform’.
We’ve reached out to Coaches, Technical Officials, BWL staff, Athletes and volunteers, and we’ve asked them all some variation of the same 4 questions. The answers we’ve had back have been inspiring, funny, helpful and thought provoking – so we’ve collated them here, as an addendum to the learning resources, to pool that collective knowledge and advice in the hope that you’ll enjoy reading them just as much as we did.
Volume 2: Holly Baker – International Masters Athlete, BWL Technical Official of the Year
Want to know more about Holly?
@bingo.can.lift
What’s your favourite thing about weightlifting as an athlete?
That there is a place within the sport for everyone, no matter what size or shape.
What one piece of advice would you give to athletes about competition?
Take responsibility as an athlete and know the rules! If you can, be mindful of them in training – for example I always hold the finish for at least 1-2 seconds (like I’m waiting for a down signal). Becomes habit and can stop any nervous/excited knee jerk reactions (like dropping the bar too early after a good PB lift!).
What do you think BWL and the Technical Officials do well, and what could we do better?
As a TO, one thing I think we do really well is help each other: whether that’s guiding new TOs in the various roles, encouraging club members to volunteer/become TOs or helping athletes/coaches in the midst of a competition. Most of us are athletes ourselves so we are rooting for everyone to succeed and we will always help where we can.
On that, I think one thing we could do better as an organisation specifically, is education in respect to competition. I’ve done the BWL Weightlifting Coach L1 course, and am planning to do the L2 eventually – but it really surprised me that there is no content in there about coaching athletes at competitions. I think some education around that would be really valuable both to coaches and athletes, as even at international competitions I have had to explain the rules/processes to athletes and coaches (and that takes time, that sometimes the athlete doesn’t have!). Yes you could argue they should know the rules already, but the rules don’t tell you how to read an attempt board, or what all the boxes on the athletes cards mean!
If you could ask your favourite lifter one question, who are they and what would that be?
It’s no secret my favourite lifter is Emily Campbell, and I’ve actually been fortunate enough to train with and meet her more than once so have had the opportunity to ask a few questions 😬