- April 25, 2024
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A few weeks ago, Tim Scott was handing out water bottles to players at a Matanzas High School football game.
Scott, a graduate of Matanzas, wasn’t working to become an athletic trainer. In fact, he wasn’t even supposed to be in Palm Coast. But, for the last nine months, he has been back here, in his hometown, regaining focus on what he is: a championship-caliber weightlifter who needed to take a long, hard look at himself.
As a senior at Matanzas, Scott claimed the school’s first state championship in weightlifting. He clean-and-jerked 300 pounds en route to the title.
Upon graduation, he earned a scholarship to attend the U.S. Olympic Education Center, which is a government-funded program housed at Northern Michigan University.
The facility offered training for five sports, including men’s weightlifting.
But in January 2011, budget cuts dried up funds that were distributed to the facility.
Scott stayed for as long as he could, but going to school full time, lifting full time and working a part-time weekend job added up. It proved too much.
And so, Scott came back home.
“It sounds bad, but I didn’t want to be stuck in Palm Coast,” Scott said Thursday in a phone interview. “Going back home, it was a shock and a time to say, 'I lost an opportunity, and let’s make sure I never lose one again.'”
When he returned home, he visited with Matanzas weightlifting coach Joey Lippo.
“Tim came home and needed to come to analyze his life and weightlifting future,” Lippo said. “He needed to reevaluate what was most important to him.”
Lippo and Scott met. The message was clear: The coach didn’t want to hear from him until Scott was confident and committed to the course he wanted to take with his life.
Scott enrolled at Daytona State College to pursue an associate’s degree. He was working full-time as a busboy at Ruby Tuesday.
After nearly two months of not touching a bar in a weightroom, Lippo’s phone rang. Scott told him he was refocused and committed to pursuing his goal of becoming an Olympic weightlifter.
Scott got in touch with a coach at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The coach wrote workouts and sent them to Scott via email. Then, Scott would record his workouts, upload them to his YouTube channel and get critiques from the coach.
Eventually, Scott flew out to Colorado Springs and stayed in the dorms for a training camp. Then, the team headed to London for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
A few weeks after the games ended, Scott got the news he had been waiting for. He had been offered a full-time resident athlete’s spot on campus. His nine-month stay in Palm Coast was over.
Scott is now in Colorado Springs training several times a day, six days a week. He lives on campus and eats on campus, both of which are fully funded.
Scott, who will turn 21 in December, will be too old to qualify for the junior world championships. He’s currently training for the World University Games, which will take place next year in Russia.
After that, he’ll take it year by year leading up to his ultimate goal: the 2016 Summer Olympics, in Rio.
Making the adjustment, with faith
In high school weightlifting competitions, lifters do a bench press and a clean-and-jerk. At the Olympic level, lifters do a clean-and-jerk and a snatch — which is similar to the clean-and-jerk, but is one fluid motion without stopping at the chest.
Scott is lifting 330 pounds in the clean-and-jerk although he’s remained in the same weight class — 69 kilograms, or 152.4 pounds.
Scott said Thursday before a training session that his faith is what helped him refocus.
“Weightlifting is a very big passion of mine,” he said. “I let my passion become my purpose for pursuing the passion, which doesn’t work. It’s just a circular reasoning. I started to refocus when I got back (home), and it’s amazing how things fall in line when you’re pursuing God.”
It’s been one year since Scott hit his weightlifting apex and left Northern Michigan.
Lippo sees his former weightlifter focused, a man with goals, both in weightlifting and life.
“I now see someone who is committed and determined to succeed, because he knows the feeling of failure,” Lippo said.
It’s just up to Scott to maintain his focus and dedication.
“The biggest part is making sure I’m on track with life — on track with my life with God,” Scott said. “As long as I’m on track there, I know that things are going to work out.”
