Lee Trawick
Reporter2@riverbendnews.org
The Suwannee High School weightlifting teams have been a force to recon with for several years now, and are built for continued success in years to come. Their success is due in large part to their coaches.
Brittany Shearer began her coaching career in 2015, before officially becoming the head coach of the Bulldogs’ girls weightlifting team in 2017. Since then, her team has won five straight State Championships, including one in 2022. “Winning last year was sweet, we got to win with the girls who were really great lifters individually. We claimed three individual State Champions last year and they helped seal the deal for the team title,” Shearer explained. “This year was extra special because it was a complete team effort. We told them all year it would take everyone, and it did.
We grew as a family this year. Every girl wanted to see the girl beside her win. It was special.” When encouraging her team, her advice is simple, “Trust the process. In this sport, the effort that you put in will directly affect the results you get. No matter your God-given talent, in this sport, if you work and trust the process, you will be successful.” All season she challenged her team to “Be here.”
“It may not sound like much, but the challenge was for them to be 'here' and not 'there.’ They learned how to focus on the prize before them. They learned how to fight through really tough obstacles and come out victorious on the other side of it,” Shearer said. Therefore, upon the conclusion of the girls weightlifting season, it was of little debate for the Florida Dairy Farmers Association to select Shearer as the 2022-23 back- to-back Girls Weightlifting Coach of the Year.
Dan Marsee also entered this season as the reigning Coach of the Year for the Bulldogs’ boys weightlifting team. He is in his second stint with the Bulldogs. This season, his team captured back- to-back State Championships. Entering this season, Coach Marsee understood the challenges he faced with losing so many talented seniors a season ago. Therefore, he could not rely on three or four guys, but a total team effort in meets to accumulate a total team win. “Our biggest obstacles this year was dealing with the loss of several great lifters the year before and convincing these young lifters they could also be great,” Marsee said. He would end the 2023 season with his seventh State Championship and being nominated as the National Coach of the Year, of which the results will be announced in June in Nebraska. While he waits to find out the results, he has also earned a back-to back nomination as the Florida Dairy Farmers Association Boys Weightlifting Coach of the Year.