Last year, their team name was the Dragons. This year, if Lapa Togotogo has his way, it could be the Frogs.
Lapa, the biggest and strongest weightlifter on the Special Olympics power lifting team based at Core Strength in Scotts Valley, tossed out the suggestion as a joke after practice last Wednesday.
What does Lapa like best about power lifting?
“Just getting in shape and learning the ability to focus on one thing and not the other,” he said.
Core Strength owner Deric Stockton and training partner John Crites work year-round with a group of 10 to 15 Special Olympians from all over Santa Cruz County, preparing them for an annual competition.
The group will compete in the Silicon Valley Santa Clara Special Olympics power lifting regional competition Nov. 14 at Oak Grove High School in San Jose.
“It’s fun because my family comes to see me and my friends,” Allison Orr of Boulder Creek said.
The official practice season starts on Aug. 22, but many of the athletes have been practicing all year.
“It’s been the greatest time of my life,” Lapa said.
Stockton teaches the athletes the proper techniques in the dead lift and bench press and also to perform cardiovascular exercises like pushing a sled and lifting tires to build stamina.
“Here they are gaining functional strength, and it helps anything else that is going on with them,” Crites said.
Each of the participants has disabilities, but the smiles and camaraderie run free during practice at the gym.
“I like to do something with my friends,” says Audry Bright of Santa Cruz before lifting a bar with chains hanging from it for extra resistance.
The athletes are of all ages and ability, and Stockton, who started the team four years ago with four athletes, loves working with them.
“It’s really turned into the best thing I do,” the fitness guru said. “You give a lot, but you get a lot.”
