Danny Camargo has established himself as one of the most respected weightlifting coaches in North America, traveling the world to lead US international teams, give dozens of seminars and year, and support his home-grown roster of elite athlete athletes.
But despite Camargo’s packed schedule, for the last 16 years he’s always taken time to prioritize what he believes is a cornerstone of American weightlifting: The local competition. Since 2000, Camargo hasn’t gone a full year without putting on at least one local meet, events where new lifters can gain competition experience and veterans can get valuable practice time on the platform.
The Praelium
In 2016, Camargo is putting on one of his largest “local” meets yet, though it’s already attracted lifters from across the country; in fact, the competition sold out in just a few weeks.
The Praelium — Latin for “a bout of strength” or “a battle” — is schedule for August 27-28 at the SoFit Expo in Jacksonville, Florida. By nesting the competition within a larger fitness expo — which includes strongman, powerlifting, and competitive fitness categories — Camargo hopes to leverage the cross-sport crowd and build more publicity around Central Florida’s weightlifting community.
Coaching Coaches
One question Danny’s received multiple times in the leadup to The Praelium revolves around his most famous pupil: “Is Mattie Rogers competing?”
While Rogers — who is currently in Rio to train alongside USA Weightlifting’s 2016 Olympians — won’t be competing in Jacksonville, she’ll be plenty busy pursuing one of her other passions: coaching. Camargo believes coaching is one of the best tools an athlete can develop to improve their own lifting:
It’s actually easy. It’s not difficult. You cannot coach someone unless they are coaching for the correct reasons. That right reason is a genuine desire to help others develop in the sport. Wrong reasons are coaching to brag about your knowledge or ego.
When you have an athlete at any level who expresses the desire to coach and help others, it’s easy to get started because teaching them the coaching side of it helps them in their career. Moments of anxiety, moments of stress, moments of failure and success; put them in a coaching role working with athletes going through those same emotions, helps them deal with their own ups and downs as an athlete.
Interested in Watching?
BarBend is proud to be providing live coverage of The Praelium on both days, and the feed will be free to watch — for anyone around the globe — on Facebook Live and YouTube.
Featured image: Matthew Bjerre (@mjbjerre)
