By: Matthew Du; Sports Editor
The Weightlifting Club this year has been an overwhelming success and more students have joined their club than before. Many students have had positive reviews and feedback. This is also the first year the club operated consistently.
The Weightlifting Club was founded by former Mills Vikings Brandon Lum before he graduated in 2024, he passed it down to current senior Daniel Ingalsbe (12). Ingalsbe has gone above and beyond to elevate the club and make it better for the students.
Ingalsbe illuminated the process of starting the club. Originally, he wanted to do weightlifting, so he asked the office if he could go into the weight room and weightlift. However, the office refused to let him in and said only athletes could be in there. A friend told him that there’s a club for weightlifting that Lum started. The only problem was that it was “very inconsistent and kept on getting shut down.”
After Lum graduated, he handed the club down to Ingalsbe, where he got all the paperwork signed and then got the club officially registered for this school year.
Ingalsbe said in a statement, “It was a gift that I have and I just wanted to give that to other people.”
The Weightlifting Club is a co-advisor club with Dean Tim Christian as their official advisor and Mills campus safety specialist German Trujillo as their co-advisor. Trujillo helps open the doors and facilitates the weight room to make sure all the students follow the set rules. This is also the only club that operates during FLEX.
Ingalsbe mentions, “I always encourage people to do weightlifting…Basically, you walk in and you touch what you want. Then, if I see a struggle or if I see confusion, I definitely go to the person and then try to give him a mini intro and then see if they like it.”
Ingalsbe also adds, “People just seem to be really inclusive, like, ‘Hey, can I join?’ And then they join. So the club members are really inclusive.”
One of the club members, sophomore Aaron Wong (10) iterated, “It’s been more eventful than last year. Last year was kind of boring. There weren’t a lot of meetings at all. There weren’t a lot of opportunities for us to use the room and when we came, there weren’t a lot of people. Now we always have a lot of people.”
Wong explains why he joined the Weightlifting Club, “I didn’t really know a lot so I just figured, you know, this might be something I was interested in.”
Another member, sophomore Aryan Sen (10) states, “Everyone always helps each other and makes everyone stronger. I like that. It’s like everyone’s getting better.”
Sen encourages people who want to join the Weightlifting Club by saying, “I think you should go ahead and do it. Weightlifting has been one of the best things I’ve done in my life so I will always try it out.”
Freshman Patrick Olila (9) said, “I think the Weightlifting Club is a great club to unwind.”
Olila likes the freedom of doing whatever he wants whether that is lifting weights, bench presses, skating, playing basketball, or running around in the back.
The Weightlifting Club meets every FLEX in the weight room and if you want to join, head to the weight room and pop in. They are always looking for more people to join. For more information, you can go check out the Mills Weightlifting Club on Instagram @mills_weightlifting.
