18 Years of Weightlifting: Congratulations on a Career, Phil!

“Over 18 years, both as a lifter and a coach, you just get so caught up in the passion and the drive behind wanting to succeed. There's rarely ever a time where you get to stop and smell the roses, and this has allowed me to do that.”

At age 42, Phil Sabatini officially announced his retirement at the 2024 USAW National Championships, and now he gets to look back at all that he accomplished as a competitor. He competed at 94 kg for a majority of his career, and reached personal records of 157/192/346. Sabatini placed in the top-three in 15 national competitions, and took gold in the 2010 National Championships. Perhaps more impressive is the fact that he won his first North American Open in 2009 and stayed diligent in the gym for over a decade until his second North American Open gold in 2021.

After symbolically leaving his shoes on the platform, Sabatini decided that Pittsburgh would be the last city to see him compete as a weightlifter. It was also the first.

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A baseball player at Ohio University, Sabatini always had aspirations for professional sports. It wasn’t until he had finished his college career and was pursuing his master’s in 2007 that he found weightlifting. He wanted to be a strength and conditioning coach, but Ohio U strength coach Joe Fondale had something else in mind.

“He said, ‘I know you're a super competitive dude and I'm sure you're missing competing. I think you'd be pretty good at weightlifting if you give it a shot.’ So, I said ‘Yeah, why not?’”

Fondale worked with Sabatini later that year through his first competition in hometown Pittsburgh. That’s where Fondale’s coach, Leo Totten, saw Sabatini power snatch and power clean and jerk for about 115/150/265. The raw talent was there, and Totten decided to take Sabatini over from his student. Sabatini qualified for the North American Open in Pittsburgh, and went on to qualify for the National Championships.

“That's when I really caught the bug. A combination of having potential and falling in love with the sport,” Sabatini said of those first competitions, “That really just set the tone for the next 18 years.”

That potential turned to reality very quickly. Sabatini earned a spot on the 2010 Pan American Championships team where he ultimately finished fourth overall, and went on to earn gold at the 2010 National Championships. He again made the Pan-Am squad in 2012, but soon after, a major challenge forced him to change his perspective on life.

Sabatini’s first daughter came prematurely, weighing only one pound, 14 ounces. His wife stayed in the NICU for three months until the baby was healthy. Sabatini had just finished in second place at the National Championships, and now he had to learn how to balance managing stress, supporting his wife, and training for the Pan-Ams.

“There were just so many variables at that time, but even just training two times a week was something that really kept my head in a good space throughout all of that,” Sabatini reflected.

Throughout this time, Sabatini had been the head football strength and conditioning coach for Virginia Military Institute and a member of their physical education faculty. His desire for higher education then led him to becoming the newest senior lecturer of exercise science at Old Dominion University in 2014. Two years later, Leo Totten approached Sabatini to help out with East Coast Gold Weightlifting, and Sabatini agreed to headquarter out of his gym, Crossfit Rife, in Virginia Beach and take on the role of president and associate head coach. His perspective continued to shape during these years.

“I didn't realize I would like coaching as much, if not more, as I do competing,” Sabatini comments on his role as a coach, “I find so much joy in watching my athletes do great things.” He found that coaching taught him a lot about being an athlete, and that he would often have to remind himself of perspectives and advice that he gave to his athletes.

He put the mindset that he brings to the gym on full display at the 2018 National Championships where he faced one of the biggest challenges of his career. Sabatini badly injured his shoulder on the first snatch of the competition, but didn’t know the extent of his injury at the time. He kept lifting, and eventually earned gold in the clean and jerk and silver overall. After the competition, he learned that he had torn part of his rotator cuff off the bone and had two labral tears.

“That was a really defining moment for me,” Sabatini said. “That I was able to do something like that from a mental standpoint and a physical standpoint, it's pretty indicative of who I am and how I try to go about my business as a lifter and the culture that I try to create in the gym and among our team.” Within six months of surgery, he was snatching over 136 kg and cleaning 181 kg. And three years later, he earned his second North American Open crown.

Add another three years and it’s June 2024 and we’re back in Pittsburgh where it all began. Sabatini removes his shoes for the final time as a competitor, and the praise starts to roll in.

“The outpouring and the sentiments that have been sent to me have been a reminder of what this sport is all about and all the great people that you meet along the way. That has been really overwhelming,” Sabatini said.

While his competition days are in the rearview, Sabatini will not be absent from the sport or the classroom. He plans to continue coaching through East Coast Gold Weightlifting, and was recently elevated to master lecturer after ten years at Old Dominion.

“Most of my time and energy will go to the team and to my family, as my kids are getting older and getting into a bunch of things,” Sabatini said of his near future, “So, it's a perfect time and I'm in a really good place with everything.”