KISSIMMEE, Fla.— Weightlifting involves mental and physical preparation.
“Everybody can talk about it and then some people can be about it,” said Rob Weilert, the Tohopekaliga High School Girls Weightlifting head coach.
Tohopekaliga Senior, Hanna Yilmaz-Rodriguez has that down.
“The numbers she is putting up are some of the best in Osceola county history never the less just our school history,” said Coach Weilert.
Yilmaz-Rodriguez recently became Tohopekaliga’s first state placer after finishing third in the FHSAA Girls Weightlifting State Championship.
“It’s just nice to see my hard work pay off,” said Hanna Yilmaz-Rodriguez, a Senior weightlifter at Tohopekaliga.
The even more impressive part is the fact that this is Yilmaz-Rodriguez’s first year on the weightlifting team.
“It’s about just finding yourself and it’s about being confident in yourself to do things. Like if you want to lift the bar you have to be confident to lift the bar and I feel like weightlifting brings out that confidence,” said Yilmaz-Rodriguez.
The Senior leader sets the bar for the rest of the team.
“Someone like Hanna can really set the tone for everything you want to do. From the way she works. The way she lifts. How she approaches things and the kind of teammate she was always willing to help,” said Coach Weilert.
Her ultimate goal is to inspire the future of the sport.
“I hope one day that one day I hope to inspire somebody,” Yilmaz-Rodriguez.