Coach Hank

I grew up just down the mountain from Asheville, NC. My primary focus during my elementary years was running up our staircase as fast as I could, usually by bounding up as many steps as possible. My mom loved it.

In 8th grade I hung up my soccer cleats for shoulder pads when my small (very small) school started a football team. I think we had 14 kids on the team and we won one (as in “1”) game that year. In fact, we lost most games by 50+ points. But my coaches were always looking for an edge and never let us believe that we didn’t have something that the other team lacked. It’s one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever been given.

After college (Go Friars), I started coaching at a friend’s CrossFit gym. I didn’t have enough money for the CrossFit certification, so I signed up for USA Weightlifting’s L1 Sports Performance seminar. Within a few months, I had ditched yet another pair of shoes (R.I.P Nano’s) for weightlifting shoes and joined a weightlifting team where I spent the next several years developing as an athlete, teammate, and coach. Eventually I accomplished my goal of qualifying for and competing in the American Open Finals. And guess what I did after that?