The pandemic was a nightmare for most athletes, costing them two years of competition, but Tate Commandeur used the break to become the strongest 17-year-old in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ and fourth strongest in the world after his mom suggested that the Victoria Mariners baseball player set up a home weights gym in the garage to get through that dark time.
“It hit me that ‘Hey, I’m good at this.’ And I fell in love with powerlifting,” said Commandeur.
“When I analyzed it, it was evident lifting would provide me more opportunities than baseball and gave me more optimism for the future.”
So he went from throwing and catching balls to lifting barbells in a rise that has been short but remarkably sharp. Commandeur won the bronze medal in the bench press and was fourth overall in the sub-junior (Under-18) class at the recent world junior and sub-junior powerlifting championships in Malta. He returned from Malta to clean up all the gold medals in the 120-kilo sub-junior class this month in the Canadian championships in Prince Edward Island.
“The worlds in Malta were an important learning step for me and I though I performed well,” said Commandeur, who graduated from Lambrick Park Secondary last spring.
Also qualifying to compete at the worlds in sub-junior was Ryan Semkiw, who trains with Commandeur at Victoria Barbell Gym in Colwood.
Although Commandeur and Semkiw are in the version of the sport not in the Olympics, powerlifting has really taken off.
“There’s been a huge explosion in participation and viewership and the amount of cash in terms of purse has grown fast,” said Commandeur.
Olympic lifting is more technical and requires two over-the-head lifts known as the snatch and clean and jerk. Powerlifting does not require over-the-head lifting is more about basic strength and heavy lifting in the squat, bench press and deadlift formations.
“It just came down to what I was introduced to first and I like lifting as much weight as possible while the Olympic version is more technical,” said Commandeur.
“Because of powerlifting’s growth, there is a lobby movement to added it to the Olympics.”
It seems Commandeur has found the sport at just the right moment in his and the sport’s evolution as he looks to move up to the junior ranks [18-23] and then the open category: “I see a bright future. It seems I have started out in the sport at the right time.”
But for him, it comes back to what he fell in love with in his home garage.
“I have long-term goals in the sport after sub-junior and junior, including the world championships eventually in the open class,” said Commandeur.
“But just being in the gym and lifting is relaxing for me.”
