Fairmont State's third annual Lift-A-Thon raises money for strength and conditioning department

Apr. 25—FAIRMONT — In a cause to raise money for strength and conditioning, Fairmont State University held its third annual Lift-A-Thon from Monday to Wednesday. Student athletes from fall and winter sports teams lifted weights in an effort to raise funds for new equipment.

Head strength and conditioning coach Adam Kolberg spearheaded the event. It's happened every spring that he's been at Fairmont State since arriving in February of 2021.

"It's our main fundraiser for our strength and conditioning department," Kolberg said. "The way that we run it is very similar to like a walk-a-thon. Basically, for every pound that our athletes lift during their lift-a-thon, we're trying to raise a certain monetary amount for every pound."

Kolberg gave the example of an athlete squatting 400 pounds for one rep and bench pressing 200 pounds for one rep to total 600 pounds. Donors and sponsors, usually people like coaches, professors and family, would make a donation of around five to 10 cents per pound to total $30-$60. Donors could also give a flat donation of a specific amount such as $50.

As of early Wednesday afternoon, the Lift-A-Thon had raised $7,500, nearing the $9,000 goal Kolberg was hoping for. Previous years have seen varying amounts of money raised at the end.

"Last year we raised $9,000," Kolberg said. "In our first year, we actually raised over $17,000, which was a big initial first year mainly because we were trying to install some indoor turf upstairs for our speed training room."

Fairmont State also had a smaller Lift-A-Thon in the fall from Nov. 14-17. Kolberg explained the fall event was for spring sport athletes who couldn't compete during the main event.

Student-athletes are highly encouraged to participate in the Lift-A-Thon, according to Kolberg. He said Fairmont State has 400 student athletes, and anywhere between 325 to 375 showed up to lift for this year's Lift-A-Thon.

There's also a team competition in the Lift-A-Thon. Sports are split by sport into two teams: Maroon and White. This year's Maroon team had acrobatics and tumbling, cross country, football, men's basketball, softball and volleyball, and the White team had baseball, golf, soccer, swim, tennis wrestling and women's basketball, according to the university athletics page.

"Adam splits the teams ... and we all compete to see who lifts the most weight, and then he adds it all up," Evan Thompson, a sophomore wrestler from Berkeley Springs, said. "Whoever lifts the most weight out of those teams on the Maroon team or the teams on the White team is the winning team, and they get a little special something."

Thompson competed in this year's and last year's Lift-A-Thons. His team won last year, and he said the prize for the winning team is gifts like Chipotle catering and Chick-fil-A gift cards.

It wouldn't be a competition without a healthy rivalry included. Thompson said that the wrestling team had a rivalry with the football and men's basketball players this year.

"We're always trying to outdo each other and lift the most weight and just perform at our best," Thompson said. "So it's always a nice little rivalry."

The lifting part of the Lift-A-Thon ended Tuesday, but Kolberg took some of the participating student athletes and had a friendly game of kickball on the softball side of Duvall-Rosier Field on Wednesday.

It's not how the Lift-A-Thon usually ends, but Kolberg explained it's a fun thing to do at the semester's end and keeps everyone out of the gym as Fairmont State prepares to host the national acrobatics and tumbling championships.

Kolberg said the money raised for this year's Lift-A-Thon will pay for replacing dumbbells, barbells and medicine balls and to further enhance the training experience for student-athletes at Fairmont State. Kolberg's mindset is to provide Division I and professional level strength and conditioning based on his background of working with Major League Baseball teams before coming to Fairmont State.

"This is my tenth year as a strength coach," Kolberg said. "Kind of working backwards, I spent two years working for the Colorado Rockies, two years working for the New York Yankees and their minor league organization as a strength coach, and then I spent time as a strength coach at the University of Tampa. I worked in a couple private facilities, one being Pro Performance in Morgantown, and then my initial start was working at WVU as an intern with their football program."

With the third ever Lift-A-Thon just finished, Kolberg wants to continue to provide better strength and conditioning for the student-athletes, and he believes the program at Fairmont State is trending upward. For him, it's about helping the athletes reach new levels of success no matter the sport.

Kolberg said he'd like to thank the supporters from this year and past years as well as the student athletes who participated.

Reach Colin C. Rhodes at 304-367-2548.