A Message from APU President


13th January 2023

 

Dear All,

 

Yesterday, one of our athletes, Luke Talley, shared his incredible story across the nation on studio ten. Luke’s character is the epitome of APU’s values and is as humble as anyone can be.

We have many other athletes standing up just as tall, which includes Martin Smith, a bronze medallist at the 2022 IPF World Masters Championships, switched over to Powerlifting after achieving successive Gold Medals at the Special Olympics Gymnastics in 2015 and 2019.

Jack Carroll has been competing in Powerlifting for over 3 years, and is not short of Gold Medals. During the same Commonwealth Championships, Jack took Gold in the 74kg weight division in the Special Olympics event with a total of 352.5kg.

With the support of people like coach Aiden Potts (Luke’s coach), Coach Colin Webb (Martin’s coach) and Phil Carroll (Jack’s Dad), a great standard has been established.

It is without a doubt that the lives of many have changed for the good because of this. APU values the opportunities that this sport provides for all.  We value the opportunities that we provide for our elite level athletes (IPF International Championships), right through to our grassroots athletes, where many beginner lifters get to meet their elite heroes.  I say this from my own experience, which I confess the sport of Powerlifting changed my direction. From a broken-down footballer, to stepping on the Powerlifting Platform to perform.

The sport of Powerlifting provides more opportunities across the lifespan of us all. Whether you are 10 years old or 90 years old, you are likely to be able to participate. Whether you live in the city or whether you live in the outback, you just need a combo rack and you can represent yourself, your gym, your town, your state, or your country. Our sport has so much opportunities to be a force in the IPF.

Myself, Max Bristow, Scott Peisley, and Lin Donevska will continue to strive to feed all levels of the sport including the grassroots.  This includes developing and holding ties with regional and remote areas of our country, working collaboratively with Special Olympics, and athletes with a disability, and providing a supportive and encouraging culture for “every” athlete.

To Luke, Martin and Jack, we are super proud of your achievements. To our many other super achievers, if you won, lost or drew, we are super proud of you all as well.

But to wrap, I would like to thank you all for 5 years of APU. My passion and commitment sometimes gets me into trouble, but it also got me into the sport, it got us to keep IPF in Australia.

 

Bring on 2023!

Happy 5th Anniversary to APU (8 Jan 2018 - 8 Jan 2023)

 

Yours in Strength

Sean Muir

5th-removebg-preview

<< Previous | Next >>