High School Powerlifting

I was browsing through a Texas High School powerlifting website checking out how much these kids lift, and I realized my son is lifting weights that could put him at the state level. He hasn’t been training for powerlifting, just sports. He weighs between 165 and 170 he is a junior this year, his bench is around 310, his squat is in the high 400s, never really maxes out much and doesn’t use a belt or anything, but I know for sure he can do a 450 legal squat, and about the same for deadlift.

His passion is football and track, but he isn’t gonna play football at the next level with his size, possibly a track scholarship in his future. My question is what does it take to get a scholarship for powerlifting? He enjoys weightlifting and knows if he concentrated on it could up his numbers quite a bit. His high school doesn’t have a powerlifting team but could enter him in meets.

Right now his goal is to get some kind of athletic scholarship, we’ve been thinking track, we will see this year as he had a torn ACL last year, but before that he ran the 200 in the high 21s. With his current numbers does it seem feasible that he could work at it and be good enough for powerlifting at the next level?

I would be surprised if there were any colleges that handed out scholarships for powerlifting. It sounds to me like he could have a definite future in the sport, just realize it is a sport without much money.

If there is a chance he could get a track scholarship, I would pursue that. He can always go back to powerlifting after track.

If your son can really do those lifts, yes he is strong as hell! Colleges don’t give scholarships, but they recruit like crazy. LSU, LA Tech, Ball State, and A&M are all good schools with good powerlifting teams. I didn’t check to see where you are from. Good luck to you and your son.

Louisiana Tech has the best PL program in College, at least they did several years ago, but I don’t know if they give out scholarships. You can look up USAPL collegiate and junior nationals if you want to see what people are lifting in those meets (with gear).

Also not sure what your experience is and if you already know this forgive me but judging in PL can pretty strict, especially on the squat (and really strict at Nationals) so just make sure you know what to expect when going into it.