Diaz says don’t worry about your height, start lifting at eight

CONTRARY to folklore, lifting heavy weights won’t stunt your growth, according to Rio Olympics silver medalist Hidilyn Diaz.

“It just so happened that I’m small,” said the country’s brand-new sporting sweetheart during yesterday’s launch of her weightlifting school to be jointly funded by Alsons Power Group.

The best time to start getting into wight-lifting is at 8 years old, according to Diaz, thus provoking concerns that a small child would no longer reach his or her height potential with all that heavy lifting.

But Diaz knows what she’s talking about. She is the only Filipino woman and Mindanaoan to have won a medal in the Olympiad. She also broke a 20-yearold dry spell for the Philippines.

“It is best to teach them the proper technic at that very young age,” added Diaz. “I’m very excited to see them (young weightlifters) achieve what I have achieved in five to eight years time.”

Diaz is in the process of purchasing a 300-square-meter lot in front of their family house in Zamboanga City to be turned into a weightlifting school for young children.

Zamboanga City councilor Bong Atilano said the city government is giving her money to buy the property as part of her incentive. Diaz, a three-time Olympian, has been teaching young kids in her own backyard since 2012.

Alsons Power Group’s Tirso Santillan Jr. said his company will fund the tuition, uniform and books for at least five students per batch. Alsons has a plant in Zamboanga City.

The company has a scholarship program in place and he said they will just modify it for the Alsons Power Group-Hidilyn Diaz Scholarship.

Diaz, who was accompanied by fellow Olympian Nestor Colonia and coach Alfonsito Aldanete, said that though she’s not retiring yet, she wants to pay it forward by teaching young kids to follow her footsteps.

“I don’t want to be overwhelmed because I don’t want to think this is just about me,” said Diaz in Filipino, adding she is going for gold in Tokyo 2020. “I want to teach because being an athlete has a time frame.”