AnnaBrooke Rainey
The Troy University Lifting Club had its first meeting Wednesday afternoon on the second floor of the Rec Center, aiming to create a community for experienced and beginner lifters.
After developing a passion for lifting in 2022, Davis Humphrey, a social science graduate student from Helena, Alabama, noticed there was a powerlifting club on campus that had been out of operation for a few years. Alongside Carson Merritt and Kacey Morgan, he decided to bring the old club back to life.
“I think Troy prides itself on if there isn’t a club that doesn’t have a passion for your interests, start it yourself,” Humphrey said.
The club had its first interest meeting back in October of 2024. Since then, Humphrey, Merritt and Morgan have been hard at work setting goals and finalizing the club.
“The goal is to create good group of people who all like to work out together and push each other,” said Merritt, a third-year Geomatics student from Gray, Georgia.
“This gives students the opportunity to be in an encouraging and informative atmosphere around weightlifting and weight training,” Humphrey said.
The club also has other aspirations aside from creating a supportive community for lifters.
“My long-term goal is to be a competitive DI club that would compete against other DI schools,” said Morgan, a freshman exercise physiology major from Troy.
The club wants to support beginners and competitors alike.
Wes Taylor, the recreation center’s coordinator of fitness and wellness, said he was ecstatic when Humphrey asked him to be the staff sponsor for the club.
“The more important benefit to look at in regards to a lifting club is the community it creates,” Taylor said. “There are a lot of students who are involved in organizations, fraternities, sororities, things like that, but there’s also a large portion of the population that is not involved in those types of organizations.
“I think that the community, the friendship and the fellowship something like a lifting club can create for somebody is one of the biggest benefits that they’ll see out of this.”
Taylor will be working with the club to help curate programs for the club and teach proper form.
Morgan said one of the biggest benefits of the club can be summarized in one word: comradery.
“The atmosphere of having everyone together, doing something where they all have the same goal in mind, that’s comradery,” Morgan said.
Each week, members will meet to work out together. Their tentative meeting time is 7 p.m. on Fridays at the Rec Center. The dues are $20 per semester.
Humphrey, Merritt and Morgan encourage all students regardless of experience or gender to check out the Troy Lifting Club. The club is open to students of any skill level.
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