Yuma powerlifting meet brings more than 40 Special Olympics athletes together

The Foothills gym has become a steady home for Yuma’s Special Olympics powerlifting meet, and this year it welcomed more than 40 athletes from Yuma and Kingman for the fifth time. At 4th Avenue Gym, competitors tested themselves in the squat, bench press and deadlift while families, volunteers and supporters filled in the rest of the scene around them.

The meet has been held at the gym’s Foothills location every April since 2022, giving Special Olympics athletes a familiar place to train and compete as spring arrives in Yuma County. Athletes began preparing in early February, working one day a week for the April competition. That routine has turned the event into more than a one-day tournament. It has become a recurring part of the local Special Olympics calendar, one that athletes and their supporters can count on from year to year.

Special Olympics Arizona runs year-round sports training and competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, and powerlifting remains one of the signature local events in that program. In earlier local coverage, the Yuma meet also served as a qualifier for state competition in Glendale, adding another layer of importance for athletes trying to move on after the regional event.

For 4th Avenue Gym owner Justin Haile, the meet is about more than the lifts. He has said he enjoys giving back and is especially struck by the athletes’ smiles and excitement. That commitment has helped make the gym a reliable partner for Special Olympics Yuma and Kingman Special Olympics, and it reflects the broader support that has surrounded local Special Olympics efforts in Yuma, from families and volunteers to civic groups that back related events such as the annual torch run.

Athlete Isabel Camacho has said the Special Olympics always feels like a family reunion, a description that fit the atmosphere at the Foothills gym as lifters, coaches and supporters moved through another April meet. With the fifth hosting now in the books, 4th Avenue Gym has taken on a role that reaches beyond fitness: it has become part of the community’s sporting identity, a place where repetition, preparation and encouragement matter as much as the numbers on the bar.