Life doesn’t always travel in a straight line, that’s for sure. We’ve all learned this in some way. If we sit down and think about the most important things that have happened to us, it’s amazing how much chance, luck and twists of fate play a part in everything. Some of the milestones of our whole lives seem to have happened almost by accident.

Tamara Solari’s weightlifting career has been full of twists and turns. Location changes, coaching changes, life changes and decision changes have led her on a twisty path through the barbell world. Nothing about her story has followed a straight line, but there has been one consistent factor from the time she first picked up a barbell…her talent and potential. At the time of this article, Tamara is one of the strongest female weightlifters in the United States. As a Catalyst Athletics lifter being coached by Greg Everett, she has established herself as a top national-level competitor with the strength capabilities for lifts that are even higher than the massive ones she has already produced.

The future is unlimited for Tamara Solari. She was a silver medalist at the 2013 American Open, and it’s obvious that she has the ability to continue much further in the sport. Let’s take a look at where she came from.

Tell us about your background. Where are you from, where do you currently live?

Where am I from? Great question. I am from nowhere and everywhere. My father is an NFL coach, and the joke around the league amongst the coaches’ families is that the NFL stands for “Not For Long.” Let me give you my own breakdown: I was born in Lawrence, Kansas in 1985 where he coached for KU, moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1986 where he was at the University of Pitt, onto Dallas, Texas in 1987 with the Cowboys, Phoenix, Arizona in 1989 with the Cardinals, Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1990 with the University of Alabama, Pleasanton, California in 1992 with the 49ers and Kansas City in 1996 with the KC Chiefs. So I consider myself to have “grown up” in both California and Kansas. I got to go through junior high and high school all in the same place--typically unheard of in this league. In 2003, I went to the University of Nebraska. By the time I graduated college in 2009, my parents had taken a position with the Seattle Seahawks, and since I have no ties anywhere, I moved up there for two years. In 2010, my dad took a position with 49ers and a year later in 2011, I joined them here in San Jose, where I live currently.

Quite the resume, right? It is honestly the one question that stumps me the most, because I still don’t know just quite how to answer. Home for me is wherever my parents currently are.

Tell us about your background. Where are you from, where do you currently live, what’s your occupation (if you work in addition to training), family life, what kind of sports background do you have outside of lifting, etc.

I do work full time, a 40-hour workweek. I am a program coordinator at a Continuing Care Retirement Community in Los Gatos. This means I program and coordinate the activities for two departments on our campus: Assisted Living and Memory Care. My coworkers like to remind me that I have the “fun job” since I get to oversee the activities on and off site.

As I mentioned before, my father is an NFL coach, currently the offensive line coach of the San Francisco 49ers. My mother is a housewife: the hardest and most overlooked jobs of them all, truly thankful for every sacrifice she has made! I am the oldest of three. I have a sister who is two years younger than me; she is a Registered Nurse in the greater Chicago area, and I have a younger brother who is three years younger than me who is an aeronautical engineer with Lockheed Martin in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

I have an amazing family and have been brought up in a great, godly home. I am truly blessed.

I played numerous sports growing up: basketball, softball, soccer, track and field, volleyball. It was throwing that captured my heart. My senior year of high school I switched from the private school I was currently attending, Kansas City Christian, to my local public school, Blue Valley West, solely because of the better resources for track and field. I felt I had a better chance at getting to a Division 1 college at the public school.

After I graduated high school in 2003, I attended the University of Nebraska as a walk-on. I specialized in the hammer and weight throws. I ended my collegiate career as a full ride scholarship athlete, which is one era in my life that I take the greatest pride in. I worked so hard to attain a scholarship, and each year the monetary value increased until I had worked my way to being fully funded to compete for Nebraska.

I was truly the ultimate underdog. I pursued Nebraska; they didn’t purse me. They didn’t even want me. I had numerous email exchanges and phone conversations with Mark Colligan, Nebraska’s throws coach at the time, and he kept trying to dissuade me, as I kept trying to persuade him. Clearly, I won. But my going to Nebraska was conditional. I was given one trial year, a red shirt year, to prove that I had what it took to be a Division 1 thrower, or I was done. I was still involved with weightlifting at the time, so part of the condition was that I could stay and train under Nebraska’s Track and Field’s Strength Coach, the amazing Roger Degarmo, if things didn’t work out. I took the deal. I loved weightlifting, and I was good at it, and I was constantly told I could be great at it, but I didn’t want to pursue something that I felt was being “handed” to me. I wanted to go out and pursue something that so many people were telling me I couldn’t accomplish. I was determined to prove everyone wrong. And that’s just what I did.

Describe your weightlifting history. When/how did you start? Who have your coaches been? What championships and international teams do you have on your record? What are your best lifts?

I learned the Olympic Lifts the summer of my junior year in high school. My parents registered me for strength and conditioning camp in Olathe, Kansas at Mid American Nazarene University under Tom Cross. The camp’s program predominately focused on teaching and training kids in the Olympic lifts. Sometime during the camp, I was told that I should compete, so I did. I finished the camp and continued training at the college. I competed at numerous local meets, even went to Jr. Nationals in 2003. It was right after this meet that I went collegiate for track and field. I did a couple of competitions at Nebraska, but put it away in 2004 to focus solely on throwing.

Once I wrapped up my eligibility, and moved to Seattle, I really missed competing. To go from being a Division 1 collegiate athlete-the next closest thing to being a professional athlete, to not having something to train for and compete in, was a shock for me. So I dabbled in powerlifting. I was working out at a local gym and some ladies who trained for powerlifting themselves were quite impressed with my weights. They asked me to start joining them for their training sessions and encouraged me to do a local competition. You can see that I’m easily swayed into things. I did one competition, broke some American Records, and thought, “Eh, I miss Olympic lifting”. I contacted John Thrush and went back to what I knew.

In Kansas I had two coaches. I started under Tom Cross of Mid America Nazarene University and then migrated to Loren McVey of Lawrence Kansas. In Seattle, I worked with John Thrush of Calpians Weightlifting. When I relocated to San Jose, John Thrush recommended Catalyst Athletics as a place to train at. Eventually, it was the better decision for me to take Greg Everett on as my coach.

I have only a couple of “accolades” in this sport. In 2009, I took third place at the American Open and more recently; in 2013 I took second place at the American Open. Best lifts are Snatch- 93, Clean and Jerk- 126.

Please give a basic description of your training. Just tell us as much as you can about your program, weekly/yearly planning, etc.

I train five days a week. Monday- Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. All I can say about my program is it is the brilliant work of Greg Everett. I just do what it says.

See Greg. ☺

Describe some of the obstacles you face, or maybe some things that frustrate you in your weightlifting life.

My greatest obstacle is myself.

It’s about to get real. I’m just going to be as transparent about my battles as I can be. My entire life I have been a heavy girl. I always tell people I don’t have a weight problem; I have a food problem. It is truly the one thing that has crippled me as an athlete, and even as a person. I was quite heavy in high school. When I got serious about track, I got serious about nutrition. I leaned out quite a bit and maintained it relatively well throughout my collegiate career. In the couple of relocations after college, I went back to old habits, and my weight skyrocketed. When you look at my competition history, you’ll find gaps. That’s because when I returned to weightlifting in 2009, I returned half-heartedly. I would train and then I would not train. I would let everything else- whatever everything else was-become a priority over training. It was so when I was with John and it was so when I was with Greg. And it was mostly because of food, not entirely, but mostly. If I overate on Friday or Friday night, I didn’t feel good enough to train on Saturday, etc. You cannot maintain an active athletic career when you are not healthy in your nutrition. I definitely could not do it.

I found myself at my heaviest weight in 2011. I was in and out of Catalyst at this time. I’d train for a month (maybe), and then I’d be gone for a month. I was truly at a battle with myself. It wasn’t until I sat in front of the television watching former friends and teammates compete in the 2012 London Summer Olympics that I thought, “what am I doing? I’m sitting here watching this, and yet I have enough talent to be there.” This was taking place on a Saturday morning when I should have been at the gym training. It was a turning point for me. I was determined to finally give myself a chance; because, up until this moment, in this sport, I had not. On Monday (that sounds good, let’s say it was Monday) I went back to the gym; I eventually pulled Greg aside and took responsibility for myself. I apologized to him for my inconsistency, I explained to him the things I battle with, which he already knew, but it was more about me taking that responsibility. I assured him that I was serious and I was ready to do what it took to give myself the chance to see what gifts, talents and abilities God has poured into me, that I might pour it back into this sport.

So praise God, because it has been over a year of full time training in Weightlifting, and I have never accomplished that. I’m also over 20 kilos lighter; I’m stronger at this point than I have ever been. I’m faster and I move better than I ever have, and yet I still have a long ways to go.

Greg and I sat down after this year Americans and made some more goals- and one of them being that I needed to lean out further. Food is a battle I may never fully have freedom over; and I don’t say that out of hopelessness, but out of the reality of it being a lifelong struggle and one that I have to actively be aware of how I fuel my body, and its resulting consequences- how it will affect me emotionally, mentally, physically and athletically.

Even though I have been involved in and out of this sport for many years, in some ways, I’m only just a couple years into it. I’ve come a long ways since just being at Catalyst. I am so thankful for Greg, who never gave up on me when he could have. Never asked me to leave, never questioned me, pressured me, etc. I am also thankful to my teammates at Catalyst who also know where I am weak, and acknowledge and encourage what I am accomplishing.

What kinds of changes would you like to see, either personally or with the sport in general?

As far as this sport is concerned when it comes to this country, I would love to see USA Weightlifting’s representing competitors get the recognition they deserve. I would love to see National and International competitions televised. I would love to see Weightlifting offered as a collegiate sport. I would love to see this sport survive through the interest and contributions of the people instead of through its competitors and coaches.

What are your plans and goals for your weightlifting career?

Every athlete needs to have plans and goals that range from daily objectives to legendary ambitions within the near and distant future. Currently my daily training objective is to make every repetition, with an emphasis on lockouts and holding positions. My near legendary ambition would be to make a World Team and my distant ambition would be to make a spot on an Olympic Team.

How do you see your future in the sport?

I see it with hopeful possibilities, because I feel as though I am just scratching the surface in discovering and unveiling what I may be capable with through the gifts, talents and abilities that have been entrusted to me.

Do you plan to stay involved in weightlifting after your top competitive years are over?

In some way, yes. In what way, at this point I do not know.

Who are some of your major influences, people you look up to, etc.? Who are the people you want to thank for your success?

I’d like to thank every weightlifting coach that I have worked with-Tom Cross, Loren McVey, Roger DeGarmo, John Thrush and especially Greg Everett- thank you, each of you, for seeing in me what I couldn’t see in myself, for working with me, programming me, and coaching me. Thank you for choosing a sport that receives little to no money and accolades. Thank you for pouring into your athletes your time, your talent, your knowledge, and your finances.

Thank you to my teammates at Catalyst Athletics (we have an amazing group) - thank you for believing in me, encouraging me, championing me on, going through the day to day grind with me in the gym; thank you for the laughter that fills the gym, the cheering that gets each of us through every lift, the accountability of getting the work done inside the gym, and the genuine dedication to this sport that brings each of us back to the gym every day. This group is more than my teammates- they are my friends and family.

All of your family members are excited to see what the future holds for you, Tamara. Those of us at Catalyst, along with the rest of the weightlifting community in the United States, wish you the best of luck as you progress to even greater heights in the coming years.