This week, Chiefs Wire’s Ed Easton Jr. spoke with Team USA Weightlifter Kolbi Ferguson.
In his interview with Easton Jr., Ferguson discusses his recent offseason workout with Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jack Cochrane at USA Weightlifting’s National Team Camp at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. He revealed his interaction with Chiefs head strength and conditioning coach/director of sports science Ryan Reynolds and his favorite NFL team growing up.
“Yeah, we chopped it up for a little bit. It was very nice talking to him,” said Ferguson, “He was very knowledgeable about it (weightlifting), and he was, he was, he was excited to be there as well. So I love that this experience was very good.”
Reynolds is responsible for managing the Chiefs’ player training, using data to track strength and performance. He’s had a significant tenure with the team and has a connection with USA Weightlifting, as explained during the workout session with Cochrane.
Ferguson was an aspiring football player before entering the world of weightlifting, and he’s shared his thoughts on the NFL today, including the team he grew up supporting.
“So I actually don’t watch pros (NFL) as much as I used to, but I grew up a Pittsburgh Steelers fan—my whole life. My dad was a Steelers fan, so I became one. Football has changed a lot since I was growing up,” said Ferguson, “I stopped really watching it, because I remember when Troy Polamalu was hitting hard, and helmets were knocking off, but now you get a flag for that. So I don’t like it as much. It isn’t as aggressive as it used to be, which I understand why. That was fun to watch back then.”
USA Weightlifting’s Athlete Identification & Recruitment Initiative is not grassroots development and is not intended for mass participation. Its purpose is to support the high-performance pipeline by identifying outlier athletes—often nearing the end of high school or collegiate eligibility—who may be capable of transitioning into weightlifting and becoming difference-makers at the highest level of the sport.
For more information, visit the USA Weightlifting Athlete Identification & Recruitment Initiative and learn more about Ferguson on his Weightlifting profile.
This article originally appeared on Chiefs Wire: Kolbi Ferguson on speaking with Chiefs strength coach Ryan Reynolds
