Weightlifting

What Weightlifting is

• School weightlifting with training sessions and FHSAA competition where the school enters.
• Girls and boys seasons sit on different FHSAA calendars.
• Some OCPS schools publicly list powerlifting alongside or instead of the weightlifting label — same door for parents, different meet rules. Ask the coach which one you are signing up for.

What Weightlifting is not

• Not the same as optional weight-room access for football only.
• Not a private powerlifting gym membership.
• Not one combined year-round FHSAA season for boys and girls.

Who runs it

A school coach runs the program (sometimes football or other sport staff double as weightlifting coaches). The athletic director owns clearance. FHSAA State Series: girls weightlifting (winter), boys weightlifting (spring).

Season and calendar

Girls: winter. Boys: spring. Timber Creek has publicly posted boys weightlifting dates in its spring tryout and meet schedules. Confirm locally.

How kids get on Weightlifting

• Ask the athletic director when tryouts are — dates vary by school and season.
• Finish athletic clearance before the first tryout or practice. High school athletes typically need a current FHSAA EL2 physical (valid about 365 days from the exam), parent permissions, and the school's online clearance upload.
• Many OCPS high schools also require an ECG once in high school, plus yearly NFHS Learn courses (concussion, heat illness, sudden cardiac arrest, sportsmanship). Exact checklists live on the school's athletics page.
• Ask about participation fees, spirit packs, travel and booster dues before you commit.
• No clearance, no tryout — most schools hold students out until paperwork is approved.
• Ask whether the school competes in FHSAA weightlifting, powerlifting, or both — and which season applies to your child.
• Ask about weight classes and meet-day expectations.
• Middle school weightlifting is not part of the usual OCPS middle school athletics set — confirm locally.

Private gyms are a separate path. See Public activities. Gym PRs do not replace school clearance.

A school coach and the athletic director run the program. Not every OCPS school offers this, and availability changes year to year — confirm at your child's school before you plan around it.

Who coaches this at your child's school is a school question. Ask the athletic director or the front office. OCPS Insider does not keep a live coach or roster list and cannot tell you who the coach is, when tryouts are, or who made the team. Please do not email us for coach contact, tryout dates, or rosters.

Questions to ask the school

1. Do you offer girls weightlifting, boys weightlifting, powerlifting, or a mix?
2. Which FHSAA season applies, and when do tryouts or first practices start?
3. What clearance is required before the first lift session?
4. What do singlets, fees and meet travel cost?
5. How are weight classes and meet entries decided?

Schools we have seen list Weightlifting

This list is incomplete on purpose and is not a directory. We only list what we have actually seen a school publish, so a school missing here may still field the sport — and a school listed here can drop it.

Schools that have publicly listed weightlifting include West Orange High School (girls winter; boys spring), Horizon High School (boys and girls) and Timber Creek High School (boys weightlifting tryouts/meets). Boone High School has publicly listed powerlifting in athletics materials — ask Boone whether that is the competition path this year. Browse school athletics pages or tell us what your school offers.