JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================uK" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?fF[sz6-cK3nNx RIll ;+Y4RZ_CVIT|bg>k+?G}q!j5U.#2OJ)-zsE۲#[Vu_ Gju <wǭ$^/'9b1c$Y 7NjŇ巷[xt95!BKT(HNTh>TaLՒ4H*3'_iq]Fo*hAޚe}7kwkMuxk>1ʑ I gYO 2Cȏ+ZMiN+ȆC4HLko[[y:4UOZHY 9Cҩ.洢ڙOou#*SIX'qZƚyt@%A W;w$Fdv#8Z_63,b ge!1Zt";shیs֞-|4QHOq /UP;K-Pceptions has paid his own way to national and world competitions.<br><br>The Education <br>of a Weightlifting Coach<br><br>Although Schmitz had lifted weights sincu#e-ղ[}8nA! ?sZ֙iWPݔc]ȱja48g*E UP"[!v V__Hd<^G}=c1>Sq^GY ޔjN牭Xºtٻq mʸ+ã>dg 2oq]n5mL(ie!jib꺅۲˜3[jVVVwQ`xEJK{IAzaT#EڹkBUipAz[@mKP:yp}+gl[L31}7aiWoOPvoQhL6@4_I;F l^0-q8^as those by Joe Bonomo. A 1968 graduate of San Francisco State College, Schmitz played on the defensive line and earned MVP honors for his team. But at 5 10 and 200 pounds he didn t have the size to play in the NFL, so when his final season ended on the college gridiron he decided to change his athletic focus to Olympic-style weightlifting.<br>After receiving his degree in physical education in 1968, Schmitz became a co-owner of Alex s Sports Palace Gym in San Francisco on Mission Street. The gym was a hardcore, free weight facility, or as Schmitz says,  The Sports Palace was a triceps and biceps, squat and bench, snatch and clean-and-jerk type of gym. It had two lifting platforms, but when Schmitz came on board there was only one member who practiced competitive weightlifting, Walt Gioseffi. Gioseffi and Schmitz became good friends, and Gioseffi helped Schmitz learn many of the finer points of the classical lifts: the Olympic press (which was dropped from lifting competition after the 1972 Olympics),