PAUL   COFFA

In June 1967, at the age of seventeen, Ray Rigby pressed 175kg for an Australian Senior and Junior record. At that time, it was only a few kilos off the world junior record. In 1967 he was selected to compete at the Olympic Test event in Mexico City, where he finished 6th overall in the super-heavy category. I was not with him at that event. The Australian Weightlifting Federation did not select me as the coach and, in fact, they made me wait nine years before I was allowed to wear the green jacket as a coach. Possibly the longest serving apprentice, keeping in mind that during those nine years,   I was coaching some of the greatest lifters Australia had. Therefore, it was not until 1974, when I first got the chance to coach an Australian team. Even though, in those nine years, lifters of mine competed at Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games as well as World Championships and winning Australian titles.     

All of the success of Ray Rigby in those initial years produced enormous publicity, which brought in a lot of new lifters to the Hawthorn Club.

 

Bill Frew, Colin Fairlie, John Gilbert, Les Duchon and John Kassios were amongst the first intake. Followed by Ian Laurie, Chris Wood, Ivan Katz, Don Morelli, Robert Kabbas, Enzo Cacciotti and the list just went on.  

 

I was lucky enough to coach 56 lifters at the Hawthorn Weightlifting Club in my first ten years. It certainly was a challenge, especially when you needed to set up programs.  At that time, there was no such thing as coaching certificates or coaching seminars. So, I had to develop my own system. Mind you, I did take a lot of notice from Sam Coffa, Les Martyn and Brian Marsden training programs, therefore, I picked up quite a few ideas and implemented them in my own system.  

 

As I said, it was a challenge. However, what made my job easier was that the 56 lifters trusted me. This was due to the fact that Ray Rigby, my very first lifter, was a super success and was producing world standard lifts within the first two years of his career. Therefore, the stage was set for all the newcomers to trust in my programs and coaching methods.  

 

One of the key elements of success in that era, was the comradeship developed amongst the lifters and within the club. I was able to instil a great degree of discipline for them to understand the importance of commitment and to not miss training sessions. Within the first ten-year period, Hawthorn became a second home for them. Their training partners became their extended family. The mutual respect between the lifters, was undoubtedly one of the key elements in making Hawthorn at that time, the best club in Australia.  

 

All the 56 lifters contributed to the success of the Hawthorn Club. There is no question and no doubt about this. However, twelve of them went above and beyond of what was expected. Those twelve lifters were Ray Rigby, Ivan Katz, Les Duchon, Ian Laurie, Robert Kabbas, Chris Wood, David Mansour, John Phillips, Adrian Kebbe, Bob Edmond, Ross Mendan and Henry Altman. 

• The nicknames given to many club lifters come from Les Duchon and Bob Edmond.

• Special thanks must go to Robert Kabbas for providing me with so many photos of the past.