US weightlifting hopeful in Beijing

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Julius Cassels

NW Louisiana, USA

A few excerpts:

After a few workouts, some words lit a fuse. Pierce, the center's director,

told the 11-year-old that, hard as it might be to believe, if he stuck with

this, he had a chance to see the world.

" I'd never heard that, " Farris said. " 'You can see the world.' was the

first person to show me that. I wasn't hearing that playing any other sport. "

Ten years ago this summer, he went to his first Junior Olympics. Virginia Beach,

Va. Pierce and others loaded about a dozen kids, all the ones who were working

out and eligible, into a convoy of cars.

" We thought that was going to be a much shorter drive, " Pierce said. " Man!, that

was a long way. "

But Farris and Pierce have been much farther since. Canada. Los Angeles. Puerto

Rico. Missouri. Florida. The Beijing Games won't even be his first trip to

China. He finished eighth overall at the World Junior championships in Hangzhou

in 2006.

Every trip, every meet and every competitive lift, he's earned.

" I feel, " he said, " that my life is one long workout. "

He didn't always win. Early on, he rarely won at all.

" He's got some genetics; you don't get this far without that, " Pierce said. " But

what he's got the most of is persistence. There were a couple of kids better

than Kendrick early on. But even when he was getting beat, he hung in there. He

outlasted the rest of them. "

Sometimes Pierce had to send a graduate assistant to go pick Farris up so he

wouldn't miss a workout. Sometimes Pierce went and snatched Farris up himself.

Or a fellow lifter would give him a ride. Either way, Farris was always ready.

There was the meet when he got " dusted " by the talented son of a former Soviet

Olympic champion, Pierce remembers. It made Farris just angry enough to " crank

it up " that year at Junior Nationals.

" Smoked everybody, " Pierce said.

This was a boy who showed up tiny at 11 years old. " We used to joke that we were

going to take him to Louisiana Downs and see if we could get him on as a

jockey, " Pierce said.

Now he's a tall 5-foot-6 and a hard 185 pounds. His arms are a little long for

the " perfect " weightlifter. Most champions have short legs and short arms and

long torsos, all better for leverage in the " snatch, " when the bar is lifted

from the floor to over the head in one motion. In the clean and jerk, Farris'

premier event, the bar is brought first to the chest, then over the head.

But he manages. He manages with a lifting style slightly unconventional. Just

like his life.

After high school graduation, he moved in with Pierce, whose house is part home,

part storage space for lifters Pierce helps train. Somewhat of a free spirit —

you might remember him as the Pirate mascot for Shreveport's old Canadian

Football League pro team — Pierce might be the only Ph.D. in town to have once

owned a 1983 lemon-colored Coupe de Ville.

But he's a tireless worker and a calming and passionate presence in the gym, the

main reason the weightlifting center has flourished and drawn athletes from all

across the country.

" He's been there for me all these years, " Farris said. " It's the type of

relationship I always wanted with my dad. I can be open with him and tell him I

love him. He's one of the quality people I've been blessed with in my life. My

mom. My aunt. My grandma. My uncle. 's right up there. "

The lack of a rent payment has helped Farris continue to train and attend LSUS —

he'll attend this fall after skipping the spring — in hopes of getting his

degree and becoming a radio talk show host. He's had part-time jobs. The United

States Olympic Committee has provided him with a $1,000-a-month stipend since he

made the '08 team at the trials in Atlanta.

His car is an old Pontiac. His workout gear, sweats and a T-shirt.

His most important possession, he said, is his son, 2-year-old Khalil, who goes

back and forth between his unmarried parents.

" I can tell he's going to be strong, " Farris said. " I don't know what he'll be

interested in, but he walks around trying to lift things up. Me and his mom get

along now; we're building a strong and better friendship. We've got to raise

this little one up right..... "