We recently took the plunge and organised our first Olympic Weightlifting competition. This was a big step for us, and in some respects one in to the unknown; many of our members started out as CrossFitters and so the format of the contest was alien to them. Now that the competition and the accompanying burden of responsibility has passed, and I’ve had time to reflect on the experience, I wanted to share some of the learning points that came out of it.

To borrow the title of Simon Sinek’s excellent book on leadership, when planning a competition I suggest you start with why. Understanding the overall purpose of something you are doing is often the key to its eventual success. For instance, you might choose to organize a competition simply to add interest to the training schedule at your gym, to offer the opportunity for new experience. This was, in fact, the primary reason for our competition. We wanted to offer our lifters the chance to compete in a familiar environment and acquaint themselves with the format of weightlifting competitions so that more of them have the confidence to go out and compete elsewhere.

There are other reasons to organize a competition. You might use it to assess talent among your clients, to observe who copes well under pressure and delivers a reliable performance. Or you could use a competition to broaden the social horizon. Inter-club events are always a fantastic excuse to meet new people and strengthen your local and regional weightlifting scene. It may even be prudent to consider using the terminology ‘Weightlifting Meet’ rather than competition as this connotes a friendly and relational atmosphere with the emphasis on (friendly) inter-club rivalry rather than individual performance.

Furthermore the ‘why’ is just as important for those competing. What do you want the motivating factor for participants to be? First and foremost, we wanted people to have fun at our competition. After all, enjoyment of an experience is paramount if your hope is that people will want to do it again! For most people, a low-key competition is a nice opportunity to push for a new personal best on the back of a nice little adrenaline boost. Others will fight for the status of a podium place and whatever prizes are going. Depending on the skill level of the athletes you have under your tutelage, some may be chasing qualifying totals to meet regional and national entry requirements.

In all likelihood, the purpose behind hosting a competition and the motivating factors driving participation will be a mixture of all of the above and it’s worth considering how many people’s needs you can realistically meet. For our gym we wanted as many of our athletes as possible to gain some experience of Olympic Lifting in a competitive setting. However we also wanted everyone to walk away with the determination to repeat the experience, this as well as our wish to keep things simple and flowing influenced our choice of format and structure.

Let me tell you this now: Olympic Weightlifting competitions can be hellishly complicated. There are lots of rules to consider, many variables (weight classes, changing attempt weights, male and female categories) and potentially a lot of pretty stressed out people hanging around waiting. We made the decision early on that we would do whatever we could to simplify things. For this reason we decided to base our competition around the Sinclair Coefficient for Olympic Weightlifting. Using a phone app with the coefficient built in, we were able to run female and male classes only with a single mixed weight category for each sex and select overall winners based on their ‘Sinclair total’ rather than their actual total. This is a fantastically simple way to work because it isn’t reliant on at least three competitors per weight category turning up on the day.

It may be that you choose to give your athletes the most realistic experience and run things according to the governing body you operate under. Alternatively, you might go down the route of a throw down and have people competing in teams for accumulated totals. Either way, my strong advice is that you keep things as basic and as fun as possible the first time you host a competition because things get pretty frantic!

The format you choose will have a big influence on the rules you choose to enforce and how strictly you adhere to them. For our competition, we decided that clothing was not a relevant factor and allowed people free reign on the understanding that any clothing must be safe and appropriate (and not offer unfair advantage). In my mind, forcing someone to spend $60 on a singlet they may never wear again simply decreases footfall on the day for little gain in integrity.

Now I know this wont make me popular but we even let a couple of press-outs go by. Why? Because for some of our newer guys (who were going to finish lower down the order) going 3 for 3 was the confidence boost that made them want to come back for more. Did we allow press-outs from our more experienced people or would we have done so if the competition was open to other clubs? Hell no! But then the purpose of an open competition would have been entirely different.

On the day you will find that you have a lot of people and all of them are entitled to their few minutes on the platform. It is very likely that you will have worked out your timings based on ‘platform time’. Don’t. Allow a ten to fifteen-minute contingency between each session, at least. People will change their attempt weights at the last minute, they’ll take FORVEVER to decide what they want to lift next and myriad other things will help to slow things down overall. I learnt that the worst thing the judges and organizers can do is feel rushed. Take the time you need to get things right, check the order of lifters, check weight on the bar twice, confer with the other judges on difficult calls. You owe it to your athletes to do everything in your power to keep your side of things high quality.

By taking your time and behaving in a professional manner you are also contributing to creating an atmosphere conducive to the success of each athlete as well as the event as a whole. We gave due consideration to the kind of atmosphere we wanted to create for the day. Atmosphere is inextricably linked to the purpose you have in mind for your competition. As a gym our intention was to provide as many of our members as possible with a low-pressure opportunity to get some experience in the competitive arena, therefore we didn’t want the competition to be unapproachable to anyone. We wanted high levels of spectator engagement so we encouraged people watching to cheer and make noise. We also played music in the warm up area to discourage any deathly silences. As I alluded to before, perhaps controversially, for some of those competing we were flexible in our judging because we wanted them to leave the platform smiling above all other considerations. For others who are further on in their journey we were strict because they need to be pushed. I think the most important thing we did with regards atmosphere was to offer every weightlifter the same amount of respect, encouragement and congratulation in recognition of their own unique achievement for the day.

So how would I condense my learning in to simple rules following our first competition? I would say be clear about the purpose of your event and set the expectation among entrants early and clearly. That way you’ll get not only the maximum level of participation but you’ll get the right kind of participants. You’ll also need to be clear what people can expect to come away with i.e. prizes, kudos, verified qualifying totals. Think hard when selecting your format. You may not have a choice, but if you do, keep it simple. The same goes for your rules and standards. Allow a decent time contingency, because you will run over.

Next, although the atmosphere is not entirely in your control, there is a lot you can do to set the tone. Give it some thought beforehand so that everyone can leave with a smile. My final piece of advice is very simple. If you’re considering hosting a competition, just do it. There simply aren’t enough happening and therefore our athletes are starved of the experience they need to take their lifting further.