NorthTec Novice delighted with NZ Powerlifting team call up

NorthTec Novice delighted with NZ Powerlifting team call up

Sport and Recreation student Kane McKenzie says his education at NorthTec is playing a key role in his development as a long-term New Zealand Powerlifting representative.

Kane, 19, says he is delighted to be named in the New Zealand Powerlifting squad for the Commonwealth Oceania Powerlifting and Benchpress championships in Auckland in December.

Without a formal coach or trainer (he trains with his girlfriend) and funded on a shoestring budget by his father who lives and works in Perth, the first year diploma student says being at NorthTec is a major factor in him being able to manage his approach to competitive sport.

“I’m using all the advice and learning I’m getting here at NorthTec to prepare me as I go along. It’s not easy in terms of needing equipment and funding but I get along. Certainly doing the diploma course is a big help,” Kane says.

What makes him special is that he is in his novice year as a lifter and even more extraordinary is that as a student at Whangarei Boys High he was never into competitive or representative sport because of his size.

“I guess most people would have thought I was too small at school to do anything, then one day while I was at the swimming pools I saw they had a gym, I went and had a look and thought I’d give it a go and build up some muscle,” Kane says. “It was a bit of a surprise but I found I was quite strong at lifting weights.

He says the Sport and Recreation diploma programme encouraged him to think seriously about lifting competitively at representative level.

“Coming here to NorthTec helped me think that maybe I could give this a go competitively so I entered the Northland championships in Dargaville in the 66kg-and-under class and won first place in the junior championships.”

The real eye-opener for him however came when he travelled to Wellington for the equipped Nationals in August where, not only was he a rookie but he competed unequipped.

“Unequipped is when you aren’t using any assistance equipment to help support you in your lifts,” he says.

At the Nationals the young Northlander benchpressed 95kg; squatted 150kg and deadlifted 195kg for an impressive total of 440kg to finish second in his weight class and third overall in the open -66kg division.

“I thought I had a chance of making the New Zealand team and it was just really something to make it, but now I can compete with the best in the Commonwealth. Personally what I want to do there is set new personal bests.

“I’ve been exceeding my competition lifts in training but then competition is a very different when you’re under time restrictions and you’ve got the pressure of being up against other lifters.

“What I’d like to do is get somewhere between 160-170kg in the Squat, 100kg in the bench and get a New Zealand record Deadlift of 200kg,” Kane says.

Kane says testing himself on the big stage, especially against the Australians, who are among 25 countries who will be at the Telstra Pacific Events Centre in Manukau from 4 December to 8 December, will give him a clearer picture of how high he will need to keep setting the bar as he grows into his sport.

“At the end of the day, while I keep doing this, I want to make sure I graduate with my diploma so it takes me places in the future,” he says.

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