Changing Lives Through Weightlifting

How Performance Initiatives’ Olympic weightlifting program positively impacts underserved youth in Savannah, Georgia. 

Kerri Goodrich retired from Olympic weightlifting in the early 2000s after winning USA Weightlifting’s national championships in 1993 and 1996. As she thought about what her next steps would be, she looked around at the weightlifting world and noticed a lack of mindful coaching. 

Kerri saw coaches pushing kids too fast, thinking only about their performance, “not about developing a long-term athlete through all the stages of their life and creating that passion for health and wellness and helping them reach their potential,” Kerri said. 

As a result, Kerri said, athletes were often burnt out by age 16, either turning to drinking to cope with their stress or getting injured and feeling like a failure after their coach dropped them for not performing well. 

Knowing she wanted to give back to her community and hoping to build something with meaning and purpose, Kerri started Performance Initiatives in 2005 – a nonprofit that teaches weightlifting to underserved youth from age seven until college. 

She started with just a few kids, but it quickly grew as those kids brought their friends into the program. As she gained more community support, Kerri began adding additional services, including tutors and counseling. Eventually someone donated a van so they could pick up kids after school and take them to the gym for training, and then they began running summer camp programs. 

Soon Kerri had a successful – and highly competitive – youth weightlifting program in her home of Savannah, Georgia.

Life Beyond the Weight Room

In the 19 years it’s been open, Performance Initiatives has trained more than 2,000 kids and teens.

And while the weightlifting accomplishments are impressive – at the 2023 USA Weightlifting National Championships, Performance Initiatives athletes brought home 15 gold medals and broke 12 personal records – when Kerri talks about the program, the medals and records are not her focus.

Instead, she sees the training offered by Performance Initiatives as a resource and a tool to keep the kids in school and give them opportunities to travel and understand other cultures. This is important because many of the kids in her program have not only never left the state, they’ve never left the city of Savannah.

“When you're a kid and you're struggling with a lot of things in life and you don't have a lot of resources, it's hard to see the bigger picture or the importance of your education,” Kerri said. 

Every time they travel, Kerri makes a point of taking the kids to art museums, universities, and science museums. 

“Not every kid is going to be an Olympian or a team USA gold medalist, but every kid has greatness in them,” Kerri said, “and if you can unlock that you can use the sport as a tool to give them incentive to see other things.”

The youth also travel to other countries, where they are able to experience different cultures and appreciate the opportunities and standard of living in the United States. 

“We come back learning why we study second languages,” Kerri said. 

Teamwork and Leadership

Much has changed in the culture since 2005, including more girls and women becoming interested in weightlifting. While the girls usually come to Performance Initiatives ready to lift weights and train hard, Kerri said in the early days of the program their parents often needed convincing, worried their young girls would become “too muscular.” However, once Kerri showed them her female athletes and they saw the supportive, positive environment in the gym they were reassured, and over the years more girls began participating in her program. 

Unlike many other sports, at Performance Initiatives the girls and boys train together in the same space, putting the boys and girls on equal footing and resulting in some friendly competition. The younger girls often challenge the boys, telling them they can front squat more, or encouraging the boys to have a positive mindset. 

At the end of the day, however, the kids support each other and work as teammates, Kerri said. Even though weightlifting is an individual sport, the athletes at Performance Initiatives work together – as a team they learn how to travel, how to be leaders, and how to help the next generation. 

Influencing Future Generations of Athletes

Kerri said she’s found great inspiration among her students, impressed by the way they handle life’s challenges. 

“A lot of my students, sometimes they don't have food to eat, they don't have electricity. Sometimes they don't have a place to live,” Kerri said, “but you would never know because they don't ever say anything, they just inspire and motivate everybody and want to know how to get better.”

Often, tough conversations happen at Performance Initiatives, but when the kids begin talking about the painful realities of their lives at home, Kerri ensures they are in a supportive, empathetic space.  

“They feel safe having those conversations, and they don't feel like it's their fault,” Kerri said. 

“They know they can talk about it and figure it out, and then pass what they’ve learned to the next generation and the next kids that come through and help them grow,” she said. 

Even though she’s a senior international weightlifting coach with many years of experience, Kerri said she’s always learning from her students – from their resilience, their tenacity, and their optimism. 

“If they keep growing and developing, then they're gonna start breaking generational issues in their family dynamics,” Kerri said.

While weightlifting gets the kids in the door, keeps them coming back and working hard, the awards and the trophies aren’t at the center of Kerri’s passion. What she wants more than anything is to help these kids find confidence, a sense of purpose, and a way out of situations that might get in the way of their goals.

And then, she hopes, they can pass along what they’ve learned to the next generation, sharing this message of strength in all its forms.

About Author, Hilary Achauer

Hilary is a renowned fitness business writer, marketing content writer, and journalist. She’s written content for start-ups, entrepreneurs, executive coaches, wellness providers, gyms, and CrossFit. Her focus is always on telling the best story with a clear, compelling style and being able to engage readers, bring in new customers, or build an audience.