Sports Spotlight: Amer Amer, Windermere High weightlifting

As a senior on the Windermere High weightlifting — as well as the track-and-field team and football teams — Amer Amer has become a leader and champion in his sport. Amer — who benches about 360 pounds and has a clean-and-jerk of 315 pounds — recently won the state title in the 219-pound division.
 

When did you first get into weightlifting?

I started when I was a freshman, so I was about 13 years old. I basically started because I was using it as a way to get stronger for football. In the offseason, it was a great way to stay in shape and keep my strength accelerating without losing any muscle. I also enjoyed the atmosphere — it was really, really fun going to competitions, competing against my teammates and getting better as a whole. 
 

What’s it like being No. 1 in your weight class?

Honestly, it was kind of surprising, because I envisioned people being able to hit the numbers that I was hitting. But things haven’t been so constant lately — especially with social distancing. My coach kind of had the bar set high for me, saying I needed to hit around 700 pounds to be able to be top three in the state, and I guess I’ve been working really hard in the offseason to get that up there.
 

Do you have a highlight moment for you the last four years?

A highlight moment would definitely be when I was an underclassman. The upperclassmen — I used to try and compete with them; pick out the best person and lift and train with them, and envision myself beating them. So I was always trying to find competition. That was the highlight for me — I loved the competition.
 

What is your favorite part about lifting? The most challenging part?

My favorite part about weightlifting is definitely being able to make a lot of friends through your opponents. Obviously, during the meets, you are enemies. But after the meets and stuff, you are friends — cheering each other on and hoping you guys see each other as you keep on climbing and climbing until the very end. The challenging parts, I think one of them would have to be plateauing or not being able to hit the crazy numbers and keep going up every single week. That’s my strive — to be able to go up and PR every week.
 

Coming into this season, did you have any goals in mind?

My goal in mind was to hit a total of 700 pounds, and currently, I’m at 675 pounds. Obviously, I’m still striving for 700 pounds, but I was talking with my coach, and we were kind of straight forward on the idea of, “All right, I need to win first,” before I can go and try to hit those crazy numbers.