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Jessica Klein,
18
years old
State Power LIfting Champion |
When Terry and Terri Klein adopted their daughter Jessica nearly 18 years
ago, family outings to restaurants often drew stares. The Klein’s are white
and Jessica is bi-racial (of black and white decent). “People never said
anything, but they’d just look at us like where did that dark skin baby come
from,” said her mom, Terri. That was in 1984 when Jessica was only four
months old, but today, Jessica is 18 years old and she is still drawing
public attention, but now as a champion power lifter.
This Summer in Lincoln, Jessica won her second consecutive Cornhusker State
Games power lifting championship in the women’s heavyweight division. She
has begun to build quite a resume in local power lifting circles as she is
also the 2002 Nebraska State Power lifting champion. The 2002 Bellevue West
High School grad took first place in the meet held at Dana College in Blair,
Nebraska last May by posting personal bests of 358 pounds in the dead lift,
303 pounds in the squat, and 143 pounds in the bench press for a total of
804 pounds. Her accomplishments have placed her in position to qualify for
the Women’s National USGA Power Lifting Championships next year. She’ll
first have to qualify by competing in a tournament in Killeen, Texas, but no
one seems to think Jessica will have any problems overcoming that obstacle.
Jim Hart of Hart’s House of Power in Lincoln, believes that despite this
early stage of Jessica’s career, there may only be one or two teenage girls
in the nation that might be able to beat her. “She has a lot of natural
ability,” he said. “She is lifting a tremendous amount of weight with little
experience and coaching.” Hart has had some experience in evaluating
talented lifters through the years with over 50 individual national and
world records associated with lifter’s from his program.
Despite all of the hoopla surrounding her accomplishments, Jessica seems to
take it all in stride and appears to be your average teenager. “I like the
guys,” she said when I asked her what she enjoys most about power lifting.
Yet she also pointed out it is something she likes to do and that she can
also beat some of the guys! “When I first started out I didn’t want to do it
because it was too hard, but I stuck with it and it got easier and easier,”
she said. One of the most phenomenal aspects about Jessica’s accomplishments
is that she is also a Special Olympics athlete. Because of the stigmas that
society sometimes places on people with disabilities, Jessica avoids sharing
this fact with others. Because she told me that her mom was an area director
for Special Olympics, I asked her if she was a Special Olympics athlete,
otherwise I might not have ever known. Nevertheless, Jessica is not only
winning in the Special Olympics division, but the overall women’s divisions
too. As a matter of fact she won the Special Olympics title on May 24th and
turned around and took the women’s state title the very next day.
Jessica agreed to allow me to share her story with others, only after I told
her how others of us need to hear it and how inspirational it is. She gives
a lot of credit to her mom for really encouraging her to hang in there when
she wanted to quit power lifting initially. “At first I complained, but
sticking with it really helped my self esteem,” she said. “It’s really not
hard, if you practice. Even when I get stressed out, I go to the gym and
work out and it helps a lot.” But make no mistake about it, Jessica desires
to take power lifting well beyond the level of a mere fitness or stress
relief program. She says her goals are to make a national team and travel
the world. According to Hart, that goal should already be manifesting. He
said as the USA Special Olympics Champion, Jessica should have qualified for
the World Championships in Ireland, but Nebraska was not given any slots for
females. “If she’d lived in another state, she’d be going,” he said.
Actually, Jessica has already had a taste of what it’s like to be on a world
stage as a sport’s competitor. She was a member of the 1999 Team USA tennis
squad for the Special Olympics World Games. That’s right, she plays tennis
too! In the Games she won a gold medal in doubles and a bronze in the
singles competition in the 15-year old division. Her mom said as a member of
the Junior Varsity tennis squad at Bellevue West her teammates called her
“Killer” because she hit the ball so hard. I’ll bet her serve is one that
Serena and Venus would be proud of!
While Jessica’s accomplishments are many in just a short period of time,
she’s worked hard and while she’s got the support of her parents and also
her three brothers, Ken, Phil, and Carl, she has often found herself having
to lift things she hasn’t quite understood. Jessica is such an example
because just like a rack of 45- pound plates on a bending bar, she has done
repetitions with the issues of life. The bewilderment of being an adopted
child, the racial prejudice of strangers, the cultural rejection of “your
people,” and the stigma of a disability; you better believe God has graced
her with strength.
Jessica don’t ever be ashamed to tell anyone about the great feats of
strength you’ve accomplished, but especially don’t forget to tell them about
the workouts, the repetitions and the sets(backs) that led to the titles and
accolades. We need more examples like you that teach us to press, squat, and
lift heavy things. Oh yeah, they might like to hear something about your
power lifting exploits too!
-Dan Goodwin Jr-
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