When Christine Girard speaks, her students tend to listen.
“Obviously when I tell them what to do, they don’t say I am wrong,” she said with a laugh.
“I know what I am talking about.”
After all, Girard has a sparkling resume in the sport of weightlifting.
The 28-year-old was the first Canadian female to win a medal in weightlifting when she won bronze at the 2012 London Olympics. She is also the reigning Commonwealth Games champion and Pan American Games in her weight class (63 kg), as well as winning multiple medals on both competitions.
And it was after her London experience that Girard decided she wanted to give back and get more youth involved in the sport.
She started her club — the Kilophile — which consists of 10 adults and trains at different locations around the Lower Mainland.
And then in January, the decision was made to expand the club to high-school aged athletes.
“Weightlifting is getting more and more popular, mainly because of Crossfit,” she explained.
“But in B.C., it is not well known yet. We don’t have a lot of clubs, so we wanted to see how the kids would respond.”
Alongside Girard are three other coaches: Joel Hugh, Geoff Yee and Lisa Hansen. All of the coaches are volunteers and not paid.
“For us, starting a new club is like sharing our passion,” Girard said.
“We love our sport so to be able to share that with kids, is great.
“And the reception from them has been very good, they have all enjoyed it,” she added.
Hansen, who is a recreational lifter and just learning the sport herself, played a role in helping bring Girard and the Kilophile club to Brookswood Secondary.
“She was looking for a place to train high school kids because she wants to bring more attention to the sport,” said Hansen, an art and English teacher at Brookswood.
“I don’t know if the kids know how lucky they are,” she added, referencing the fact they were learning from such an accomplished lifter.
“She came and talked to the kids and she recruited 13 athletes. The kids are really into it.”
Of the 13 in the club, 11 are female.
For the students, the thing that really drew them in was a chance to stay physically active and in shape.
“Being a former gymnast, it is a good to try new ways of gaining muscle,” explained Carissa Chmelyk.
Both Chmelyk and another Brookswood Grade 12 student, Tiera Naber, love the atmosphere around the club.
“Everyone is so encouraging and supportive,” Taber said.
“Everyone works so hard and you always get motivated by seeing other people work hard.”
“The payoff is to see the kids improve every single week,” Girard said.
And as the athletes have shown improvement in their ability to lift greater amounts each week, the coach said she could notice a difference in their attitudes.
“That proved to them that they are doing the right things,” Girard said.
“It is neat to see how weightlifting can change teenagers.”
•••••
The season wrapped up on Saturday with 10 of the athletes competing at the B.C. high school weightlifting championships held at Universal Fitness Centre in Surrey. 
Boaz Joseph/Black Press
Brookswood’s Tiera Naber was all smiles, as she won gold at the B.C. high school weightlifing championships on Saturday in Surrey.Tiera Naber, Leslie Campbell and Morgan Rossi all won gold.
Hannah Loewen won silver.
Hunter Nixon, Jayson Savard, Brianne Kucey and Jessica Fettback won bronze.
Kierra Miller (fourth) and Breanne Anderson (fifth) just missed the podium.