EAST LONGMEADOW – Mike Zolkiewicz has always loved strength sports. More than that, though, he loves training others to be their best.

 “I’ve been very successful in a number of sports and to give these guys a chance to excel at the sport, that’s what I really enjoy,” Zolkiewicz said of his reasons for coaching. He said he gets joy from seeing the look on someone’s face when they lift a heavier weight for the first time.

That’s why when Zolkiewicz moved to Massachusetts and opened Powerclean Fitness in 2012, he knew he wanted to start training a Special Olympics power lifting team.

He had done some training with Special Olympics athletes when he lived in Connecticut. Now that he had the facility at 45 Baldwin St. in East Longmeadow, Zolkiewicz wanted to begin training a team in this area.

Unfortunately, Zolkiewicz said, there wasn’t much of a Special Olympics infrastructure in the area.

“There was nothing to build off of. We were starting from scratch,” he said.

In 2017, with the help of Elliot Greenberg, a local doctor whose son has competed in several sports in the Special Olympics, Zolkiewicz began training a powerlifting team of eight or nine individuals.

“We kind of run a little trial from January to March, where we only meet once a week, so people can get a feel for it,” he said

After that training is two days per week for just over an hour at a time until competition begins at the beginning of June.

Zolkiewicz says he spends an additional hour per week designing workouts tailored to each person on his team.

Rather than competing in trials, Zolkiewicz said USA Powerlifting runs the entire competition in a single day.

“If you are on the team you will get to compete,” he said.

At a meet on Dec. 8, the 2019 USA Powerlifting Western MASSacre, one of the members of Zolkiewicz’s team will be competing in an open class against abled and disabled athletes alike.

The athletes he coaches have a variety of disabilities including cerebral palsy, down syndrome and autism. Zolkiewicz said all of them share one thing, though – a determination to improve.

“These guys are driven,” Zolkiewicz said.

“This year, I’m really hoping to grow the team and even get a female,” Zolkiewicz said. He said there are currently only two Special Olympic female powerlifters in Massachusetts.

Those interested in training with Zolkiewicz can contact him at mike@powercleanfitness.com or at facebook.com/PowerClean-Fitness-154742887925637.