by Pat Clark

Motivation is needed for many aspects of life, whether it be school, working a job or in this case weightlifting.

Thanks to Coach Tully, who is changing the culture around weightlifting, lifting has become a big part of athletics here at Grandville High School here at Grandville.

But, there needs to be something that drives an athlete to get in the weight room and grind multiple times a week. The idea of motivation had never occurred to many students until they were asked the question, “What motivates you to lift?” and they were forced to reflect.

Senior Matthew Clark said, “whenever I’m in the weight room my motivation comes from me wanting to be the best athlete I can be for me and my teammates.”

Senior Bret Chesla said his motivation came in his sophomore year, to be exact. He said “freshman year I came in not knowing my place in the weight room. I wasn’t that motivated. But what motivated me was to become the best baseball player I could.”  

Now it was time to ask the man who runs all the weightlifting sessions for the school, Tully Chapman or as most people call him “Coach Tully.”

Tully said his motivation came from a middle school coach.

“I started in middle school with a guy named Jim Fast who taught me how to lift weights,” Tully said. “I learned how to lift weights, and all of my friends did that, so I started doing it and really loved it.”

He also credited his high school football coach

“[He was] a good strength coach, I wouldn’t say everything we did was right, but we didn’t have the research we have now.”

Tully said his main motivation came from following his l football coach’s path.

“He played division 1 football at Michigan State and I wanted to follow in his footsteps,” Tully said.

As you can see, people have different reasons as to why they lift weights.  Find yours and the drive to become a better athlete, person, or classmate becomes easier.