Lifting & Leadership

By Arthi Nithi (PC Spring ’16)

The Georgia Tech Barbell Club is a supportive community of dedicated fitness enthusiasts focused on supporting athletes of all skill levels and barbell related disciplines. The organization consists of newcomers to experienced athletes involved with powerlifting, olympic lifting, crossfit, strongman, and bodybuilding. GTBBC existed since the 1960s, but after a 9 year hiatus it was re-founded in 2013.

I joined this organization my freshman year in 2014 for the sake of having a supportive fitness community. I wanted to get more involved so I became Secretary my second year, Vice-president of Operations my third year, and now in my fourth year, I am President.

As VPO, my main goal was to develop the community we had internally since the organization initially consisted of mainly older males who were graduating. To bring structure and get other members involved, I created an org chart like the one AKPsi had. This established committees in which members could give back, while developing themselves outside of the gym. It also gave us the opportunity to grow in new directions. Under my responsibilities I had social events, social media, FASET, and marketing. I took a lot of what I had observed from AKPsi marketing and implemented these techniques when it came to creating content and posting online. I also worked briefly under Lois as a Special Events Director, where I saw how she utilized Excel spreadsheets to break down tasks. I used similar methods for the social events committee and to plan large scale events. Outside of my responsibilities as VPO, I streamlined processes with Google forms and made sure we got involved on campus with philanthropy– we even took part in Go Baby Go that year!

This year I moved up to President, where I mainly focus on external outreach through professional seminars, working with other universities, and getting sponsorships from fitness brands. I reached out to the AKPsi sponsorship directors this semester, and used the sponsorship packet and sample email to create our own versions. I also extended our annual mock powerlifting competition to UGA and GSU to establish and strengthen the relationships we had with the two schools. As I continue to lead as President this school year, I am thankful to take what I have learned from AKPsi and grow GTBBC.
-Arthi

Originally published at gtakpsite.com on November 26, 2017.