Powerlifters, novices and weekend warriors alike will converge on the courtyard of The Hangout in Gulf Shores this weekend for the fifth annual Alabama’s Strongest Man/Woman Contest, a grueling test of raw strength that has grown from a small local gathering into one of the region’s most anticipated amateur athletic events.
The competition is the brainchild of Chris Slater, owner of Alabama Strength gym in Foley, who serves as the Alabama chair for the North American Strongman Corporation. Slater said organizing the annual event is part of his broader mission to grow the sport of strongman competition along the Gulf Coast.
“This is our fifth year running this contest,” Slater said. “We went from 14 athletes in year one to 73 last year.”
That kind of growth reflects a rising interest in strongman-style competitions nationally, events that blend traditional powerlifting with unconventional feats such as axle deadlifts, duck walking, sandbag carrying, and keg carrying and loading. This year’s contest in Gulf Shores will feature all of those disciplines, testing competitors’ grip strength, explosiveness and endurance in front of a beachside crowd.
Organizers have split the field into six divisions to give athletes of varying experience and size a fair shot at hardware: Women, Novice, Masters, Lightweight Open, Middleweight Open and Heavyweight Open. Slater said he expects competitors from across the Gulf South, including Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana, to make the trip to Baldwin County for a chance to be crowned the region’s strongest.
Spectators can watch the entire event free of charge. Organizers said a portion of the proceeds raised through entry fees and donations will benefit the family of 3-year-old McKinley Turner, a local child battling anaplastic ependymoma, a rare and aggressive form of childhood brain cancer. The gesture reflects a common thread in Baldwin County’s amateur sports scene, where competitive events frequently double as fundraisers for neighbors facing medical hardship.
Anyone interested in learning more about the contest, registering to compete or supporting the fundraising effort can call 517-812-4143 or email alabamastrengthgym@gmail.com.
In college sports news around the region, the University of Mobile’s soccer programs are drawing high expectations from conference observers heading into the fall season. In the Southern States Athletic Conference preseason polls, the Lady Rams were picked to win the league title outright, edging out perennial powers Martin Methodist and William Carey with four first-place votes. Last season, Mobile and Martin Methodist shared the regular-season crown while William Carey claimed the conference tournament title.
Head coach Brian Person, entering his 11th season leading the program, guided last year’s squad to a 15-4-2 overall record and a trip to the Sweet Sixteen of the NAIA Championships. With several key contributors having graduated, Person said the program is embracing the challenge of defending its standing among the conference’s elite.
“Graduating as many players as we did last year, we know it will be very tough to hold onto the number one spot,” Person said, “but we will work very hard to attempt to be ranked number one in the conference at the end of the year as well.”
The Lady Rams return a deep and experienced roster, headlined by two-time NAIA third-team All-American Cayla Hebert. She’ll be joined by Noemi Mallet, last year’s SSAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year; Nikole Cruz, the conference’s reigning Newcomer of the Year; SSAC All-Freshman selection Cheyne Bush; along with Colleen Kennedy, Savannah Rommel and Adama Samura. Mobile opens its season Aug. 24 at home against Spring Hill, with kickoff set for 7 p.m.
On the men’s side, Mobile is picked to finish behind William Carey and Dalton State in the SSAC preseason poll. Coach Daniel Whelan, now entering his fourth season after leading the Rams to an 11-7 record last year, said the conference remains as competitive as ever.
“As always, the SSAC will be extremely competitive,” Whelan said. “It is a very hard league with a lot of good teams.”
Mobile returns 17 players overall, including eight starters, led by two-time Offensive Player of the Year and Golden Boot winner Newton Henry. Fellow all-conference performer Casey Culver, the program’s other senior standout, has combined with Henry for 37 goals and 12 assists over their careers. Additional returning all-league talent includes Jordan Sinclair, the 2015 Defensive Player of the Year and a 2016 first-team selection, and Lamine Conte, an SSAC All-Freshman pick. The Rams begin their season Aug. 25 at John Brown University in Arkansas before hosting their home opener Aug. 29 against Pensacola Christian.
Elsewhere on the local college sports calendar, the University of South Alabama has adjusted its soccer schedule to avoid a conflict with a Jaguars football game. The USA soccer team’s Sept. 8 match against Southeastern Louisiana will now be played a day earlier, though the 7 p.m. kickoff time remains unchanged. The scheduling shuffle comes after USA’s football matchup with Oklahoma State, originally slated for Sept. 9, was moved up to Friday at 7 p.m. at Ladd-Peebles Stadium for television. In addition, the Jaguars’ soccer match against Alabama on Sept. 1 has been set for 7:30 p.m.
At the United States Sports Academy, Dr. Brandon Spradley, the academy’s director of sports management, was recently featured in a national article examining the rapid growth of eSports, or competitive video gaming, within collegiate athletics. The piece, titled “Are Video Games the Next Big College Sport?”, was published by the “Learning English” program, a multimedia service that produces news and information for English-language learners around the world, with both text and audio versions available online. Spradley has built a body of scholarly research on the rise of eSports and recently co-authored an academic paper on the subject for The Sport Journal, the academy’s peer-reviewed publication.
Also drawing recognition is Kaitlyn Beans, a former University of South Alabama track and field standout, who is one of two women nominated by the Sun Belt Conference for the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. She is joined on the conference’s ballot by Haley Haden of Louisiana-Lafayette. The national award, which weighs academics, athletics, service and leadership among 145 nominees from across the country, will be announced Oct. 22.
During her collegiate career, Beans won six individual conference titles in the triple jump and long jump, earned second-team NCAA All-American honors, and was named the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Outstanding Field Athlete of the Year as well as South Alabama’s Female Student-Athlete of the Year. She was also a three-time recipient of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s All-Academic Award. Off the track, Beans volunteered at the Little Sisters of the Poor Nursing Home and St. Mary’s Orphanage and served on the university’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.