Pulling his weight
12-year-old Jolley competing in weightlifting at the Ontario Winter Games
Ashton Jolley, 12, competing at Ontario Winter Games.
Examiner Sports Director A visit to his uncle’s gym sparked a passion in 12-yearold Ashton Jolley that earned him a trip to the Ontario Winter Games. The Grade 7 pupil at Monsignor O’Donoghue School will compete in Olympic weightlifting at the OWG from Thursday to Sunday in Orillia. He is one of eight competitors aged 12 to 17 competing in the snatch and clean and jerk disciplined in the 54 kilogram weight class. “This is an invite only event so I am extremely excited and honoured to have been considered for this year’s games,” said Jolley, who is trained by coach Codi Armstrong at CrossFit PTBO on The Queensway. It has the only registered weightlifting club in Peterborough. Jolley’s uncle David Stewart and aunt Ruth Cheng opened CrossFit PTBO in 2015 and the youngster saw his uncle lifting during a visit. “When I first saw it, it looked kind of fun so I wanted to try it. Once I tried it I fell in love with the sport and began to train really hard,” said Jolley, the son of Krista and Ryan Jolley. Safety is an important component of weightlifting. Before any lifter is allowed to compete, Armstrong said, he must learn and become proficient in the technique required for the two disciplines. It’s not just about raw strength in Olympic lifting, it’s also about technique. Jolley picked it up quicker than most, Armstrong said. “It’s not an easy sport to learn,” Armstrong said. “I compare it a lot to golf. It can be frustrating sometimes because it’s very technical. For a kid to dedicate themselves to get over that technical aspect and spend the time working on the technique is impressive. You can’t lift the weights until you know how to lift and learning the technique takes time. “Ashton excels in his motor control and it just happens his strength matches up with that and he’s extremely strong for his age, too.” Jolley has entered four events since he started competing last year. He won a bronze medal at his first event at Bayside Secondary School in Belleville. He won silver medals at an event at Variety Village in Toronto and at his second event at Bayside. He also won a gold medal at a competition hosted by CrossFit PTBO. There aren’t a lot of competitors at Jolley’s age so he sometimes competes against lifters up to 17 years of age or has to compete above his 48kg weight class. The Ontario Weightlifting Association took note of his results and invited him to compete at the Ontario Winter Games. The multi-sport event attracts as many as 3,000 athletes competing in 25 sports. It has been held every two years since it originated in 1970 in Etobicoke. Jolley’s personal best lifts are 43kg, his body weight, in the snatch and 58kg in the clean and jerk. “If you ask the gym community here who can snatch their body weight, it’s a very small number,” Armstrong said. “It’s the first benchmark as a weightlifter where you know you’re at a level that is well above average.” Armstrong says Jolley exhibits a dedication to lifting and interest in learning that makes his potential unlimited. “With his mindset, not only while he’s in a class is he learning but when he’s outside a class he’s always watching and picking up every tidbit he can. His ability to learn things was accelerated by that,” Armstrong said. “Every competition he goes to his progression is consistent.” Jolley is excited about attending a multi-sport event and made a class presentation about it at school. He said of the Games: “For many of these young athletes the Ontario Winter Games is a high point of their sporting career and for others the games are a stepping-stone for the Canada Games, Pan Am Games and even the Olympics.” The latter is something the youngster already aspires to as he stated in his closing remarks to his class. “Something as simple as going to my uncle’s gym has possibly opened the door for me to one day, maybe, be a part of the Olympics.”