WEIGHT-LIFTING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 April 1939, Page 2

WEIGHT-LIFTING

GROWING POPULARITY IN NEW ZEALAND.

CONTRIBUTION TO NATIONAL FITNESS. (Contributed.) Too little is known in this country of the grand sport of weight-lifting, but, as Mr Keith R. Mitchell, hon. secretary of the New Zealand Weight Lifters’ Association said recently: "We have been carrying on the work of national fitness since 1935.” The N.Z.W.L.A. formed in that year, with branches throughout the country,- is pledged to the furtherance of scientific body-cul-ture and healthful living. National championships are held each Labour Day weekend and from the increasing number of entries since the association took over control of both the amateur and professional sides of the game may be gained an idea of its popularity. The first championships were held in Auckland in 1935 when twenty weightlifters competed. The 1936 events were again held in Auckland, with 24 competitors. Thirty-six competed in Wellington in 1937 and 45 in Napier in 1938. In four years, therefore, the sport has gradually increased while the public interest has quickened as evidenced by the large crowd which attended to witness the championships at Napier. There are over 200 members of the N.Z.W.L.A. and it is estimated that at least another 500 youths participate in "the iron game” for physical culture and health, apart from competition.

Weight-lifting offers the best means of attaining physical fitness and robust health, and, contrary to general opinion, one does not have to display any degree of unusual strength to take it on. In fact the medical fraternity, at all times conservative, is looking more closely into its principles from the point of view that it is an excellent means by which physical weaklings may regain strength and vitality.