A USAW Community Development Site
As a club, Keep Pulling has been chosen three times as the Southeast USA Weightlifting Community Development Training Site for 2019, 2020, and 2021! This selection by the governing body of the sport in the United States is based on outstanding achievements and community outreach programs to promote and grow the sport of Olympic Weightlifting.
Each year, only 24 clubs in the nation are selected. Learn more about this designation below!
2021 USAW Community Development Training Site
2020 USAW Community Development Training Site
2019 USAW Community Development Training Site
"Becoming a Resource" - Article published by USA Weightlifting (May 2019)
Patrick Costello
Club Director & Head Coach
Coaching Weightlifting since 2009
USA Weightlifting Level 3 National Coach (2015)
Girls' Weightlifting Head Coach, Land O' Lakes High School (2020-present)
Team USA: 2022 Junior Pan American Team, Lima, Peru (F81KG)
Treasurer, Florida Weightlifting Federation Board of Directors (2016-2020)
USA Weightlifting Level 2 Advanced Coach (2014)
USA Weightlifting Level 1 Sports Performance Coach (2010)
Keep Pulling Level 5 Weightlifting Coach
MuscleDriver Level 1 Weightlifting Course (2011)
MuscleDriver Level 2 Advanced Coach’s Course (2012)
USA Weightlifting Certification Assistant Instructor (2014-2016)
USA Weightlifting LWC Certified Referee
USA Volleyball Florida Chaperone
USOC SafeSport Certified
Heartsaver First Aid, CPR, AED Certified (AHA)
USADA Coach’s Advantage
Event Director for over 25 USAW competitions
Coached 100's of Local Level Competitors
Produced 40+ National Competitors
Produced Dozens of State Medalists & State Champions
20+ National Medals & Podium Finishes
Produced 2 International Team Prospects & 1 Junior Pan Am Team Member
Introduced thousands of new athletes to the sport of Weightlifting
Weightlifting Photographer, LiftingLife (2016-2020)
B.S. Digital Media & Advertising from the University of West Florida
Patrick moved to Tampa in 2007 and joined a local CrossFit gym to lose weight and get back in shape. After a year and a half of doing CrossFit and losing 40 pounds, he attended a Weightlifting seminar with Glenn Pendlay and his 94kg national champion Jon North and was instantly hooked. After that seminar, he has focused primarily on training the Olympic lifts and becoming a student of the sport.
Patrick has been coaching Weightlifting since 2009 and created Keep Pulling in late 2013 to serve as a resource of the sport of Olympic Weightlifting. Since then, Keep Pulling has helped hundreds of recreational and competitive lifters alike by working with novice lifters to building state champions, national medalists, and international team prospects all while fostering a community of inclusion and opportunity for all athletes in the Tampa Bay Area and beyond.
Patrick has traveled to spend time training with and learning from some of the biggest names in the sport including Alex Krychev and Ivan Abadjiev at the Eleiko Weightlifting Academy, Glenn Pendlay from California Strength and MDUSA, as well as Catalyst Athletics in Sunnyvale, CA. He has also served as an Assistant Instructor for USA Weightlifting Level 1 and Level 2 Certification Courses and has conducted Weightlifting seminars around the state of Florida.
In 2016, he was elected to the Florida Weightlifting Federation (LWC #14) Board of Directors and served as Treasurer for the organization for two terms until June of 2020. Patrick is always seeking out new information and learning from everyone that he can while passing that information on to other lifters and coaches. Patrick’s mission with Keep Pulling is to provide opportunities and outlets for Weightlifters to find the sport and train in a positive gym environment. He believes that lifters should not be forced to train alone but rather embraced into a flourishing community of like-minded athletes.
Patrick was a three-sport I.B. high school varsity athlete (soccer, tennis, golf) and graduated from the University of West Florida with a degree in Digital Media and Advertising.
Elizabeth Klauka
Assistant to the Director
Coaching Weightlifting since 2015
USA Weightlifting Level 2 Advanced Coach (2019)
USA Weightlifting Level 1 Sport Performance Coach (2016)
Keep Pulling Level 4 Weightlifting Coach
USA Volleyball Coach (2005)
Team Lead & Head Coach, OTVA Volleyball Academy (2016-present)
Head Volleyball Coach, Bishop McLaughlin High School (2022-present)
AAU Volleyball National Championship Team (U13, 2020)
CrossFit Level 1 (2014)
NSCA-CPT Certification (2014)
CPR/AED Certified (AHA)
Coaching Volleyball since 2005
Bachelors of Science in Biology
Liz is originally from Michigan and spent her life playing competitive sports. She played volleyball as her main sport through high school and college and after that, began training for her first NPC Bikini show. After over a year of competing in physique shows, she discovered a CrossFit gym near her home town of Lansing, MI in 2013 and shifted her focus to CrossFit and Olympic Weightlifting.
Coaching has always been a passion for Elizabeth. She has been coaching volleyball since 2005 and is the Girls' Volleyball Head Coach for Bishop McLaughlin High School, Head Coach with Orlando/Tampa Volleyball Academy (OTVA), and is an instructor during competitive volleyball camps at the University of Tampa. She has also spent two years working as a Strength and Conditioning Coach for a Division 3 college in Michigan, coached group fitness classes and weekly barbell classes in a CrossFit environment since 2015, and has coached Keep Pulling athletes at multiple local, state, and national-level Weightlifting competitions.
Elizabeth currently works full-time as a middle school science teacher in the Tampa Bay Area in addition to chasing her passion for coaching.
Andrea Barrows
Weightlifting Coach
B.S. Exercise Science, University of South Florida (2023)
Exercise Science Master's Student and Teaching Assistant, University of South Florida
Girls’ Weightlifting Assistant Coach – Wiregrass Ranch High School (2021 to present)
Assistant Weightlifting Coach – East Ridge High School (2020-2021)
USA Weightlifting Level 1 Sports Performance Coach (2021)
2023 National Champion (-76KG, Open)
2022 Junior Pan American Team USA Member (-76KG)
5th Place, Junior Pan American Championships (-76KG)
2022 Junior National Champion (-81kg)
2022 University National Champion (-81KG)
Set eleven (11) Florida State Records across two weight categories
2022 Florida State Silver Medalist (Junior in Open Division, -76KG)
2021 Florida State Champion (Junior, 71kg, USAW)
Keep Pulling Level 2 Weightlifting Coach
Keep Pulling Mentorship & Coach Development Program (2022)
Event Coordinator – Sweat Factory Lift Off
American Health Care Academy – CPR and AED Certification
2021 CrossFit Quarterfinalist
Andrea has lived in Florida since she was three years old. She attended Montverde Academy in Montverde, FL for her K-12 education and is currently a junior in USF’s Exercise Science program.
Andrea started her fitness journey at the age of 13 in a teen CrossFit class. Two years later, she decided to start training for competitive CrossFit and during this time Andrea discovered the sport of Olympic Weightlifting. While still training primarily for CrossFit, she began doing local Weightlifting meets in 2018 and fell in love with the sport very quickly.
In 2020, Andrea shifted her focus away from CrossFit and made Weightlifting her primary sport, but you can still find her keeping in touch with her roots in the occasional CrossFit class.
Andrea began as the Assistant Girls’ Weightlifting at East Ridge High School in November of 2020 and served as head judge at the District and Regional Championships of that year. After moving to Tampa in late 2021, Andrea accepted a position as the Assistant Girls’ Weightlifting Coach Wiregrass Ranch High School in Pasco County. She truly enjoys working with the new lifters and teaching them the fundamentals of Weightlifting.
Andrea was also the event coordinator for the 2021 SFC Lift Off; a two-weekend, in-house Weightlifting meet at Sweat Factory CrossFit designed to introduce CrossFit athletes to the sport.
Andrea is the 2021 Junior 71KG Florida State Champion and finished 4th overall at the Junior National Championships as a 76KG lifter.
what are lifters saying?
Being a part of Keep Pulling is an experience that I didn’t know I needed. They are so involved with the community and have the best coaches! Weightlifting is all about bringing people together and everyone at Keep Pulling keeps the door open for anyone and everyone. We have such a diverse and amazing club because of it but the best part of it all is the atmosphere lifting with everyone and just having fun!
When I first walked into Keep Pulling for a community meetup, I was honestly intimidated. I was still a newbie lifter with only two years under my belt and walking into a new gym still made me anxious. I came looking for a new friend or two but quickly found a welcoming community of like-minded lifters. Nobody made me feel weird being the new kid and honestly, I’ve had more fun than I thought possible inside this gym!
Something lacking in a lot of remote teams is community. I don’t feel like that’s the case with KP. All of our workouts are tracked with the TrainHeroic app and it gives us a space to comment on the workouts to see how everyone else did and there are also certain exercises with a leaderboard to compare your numbers with other members.
Keep Pulling also runs a Remote Athlete Facebook page for us to post our videos/how we feel about the workouts. This way we can also comment and interact on other lifters’ videos even if they are thousands of miles away.
