It has been a long time coming but the team is finally here. Girls weightlifting is the hot new sport at Bolles, with over 30 participants.

For years, Bolles has had a successful boys weightlifting team along with many other sports. As of this year girls weightlifting has been added, lead by the head coach, Mr. Jump. 

Mr. Jump is the only coach for the team thus far and has many years of experience as a weightlifting coach. He attended the University of Florida as a cheerleader for four years, then coached two years of middle school football in Mississippi. Here in Jacksonville, Jump taught and coached weightlifting and cheer for Nease and Orange Park. He is now in his second year at Bolles and already an important piece of the community. 

With this extensive resume and passion for weightliftingd, Jump decided to start the girls’ team this year, and he has high aspirations. “I am fairly confident that we are here to stay.” 

The main competitors against Bolles in girls weightlifting will be University Christian, Episcopal, and Bishop Kenny. These schools are also starting their teams just this year as well. “Girls weightlifting right now in a kind of a boom stage,” he said. 

Jump plans to build on this and gain traction for weightlifting as a sport in his time here. He is doing his best to make it a well respected sport at Bolles. 

“I plan to be at Bolles for the rest of my career,” he said. “And I plan to coach this for as long as I can. So I’m certainly planning to make it not just a two year thing and then we’re done. I want this to last for decades.” 

The key differences in girls versus boys weightlifting is the weight limits. There is no cap or minimum weight that you must have to be on the team, but the weight classes for women are lower than the weight classes for the men. The highest weight class is 200 lbs or more for women, while the men’s highest weight class is 254 and over. 

Another small difference between the sports is that for Olympic lifts, the women’s bar is ten pounds lighter. This changes nothing about the lift other than the lowest possible weight for the women is lower. 

Abby Bradley, a member of the team with some prior experience, is excited about the new sport at Bolles and plans to take it seriously. “I love trying new things” she said. 

Bradley is aware that the sport is helpful not just from a health standpoint but from a life standpoint as well. “You can basically do it for your entire life. Weightlifting is definitely a sport that will carry over and benefit virtually any other sport because of the strength and endurance you can gain.” 

In general the weightlifting team is just as fired up about the new sport as the coach and looking forward to a great year. 

Jump plans to establish girls weightlifting as a legitimate sport at Bolles and is succeeding. With 32 students signed up and practices in session as of October 9, this new sport looks to have a bright future.