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Family connection in Sardis Strongman

The legacy of Strongman founder Bob Fitzsimmons lives on in the lives of former Sardis students who live life the Fitz way.
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Supergirl - AKA Roxanna Froese (above) - as she appeared during a Sardis Strongman event in either 2002 or 2003. Roxanna’s back next week to compete in the Strongman alumni event while her youngest brother Jesse tackles the school challenge for the first time.

It’s been 13 years since Roxanna Froese last roamed the halls of Sardis secondary school as a student.

But every time she walks into the old gymnasium with the Falcon logo on the wall, she is filled with a feeling of inspiration.

Not because of the building, but because of someone else who once called this place home.

It was Bob Fitzsimmons, former Sardis phys-ed teacher and Sardis Strongman founder, who had the greatest impact on teenaged Roxanna.

It was Fitz, who passed away two years ago after a battle with cancer, who showed Roxanna and many other Sardis students that anything was possible as long as they believed in themselves.

It was Fitz who encouraged her to enter one of the first Strongman competitions.

“Fitz was always so full of energy right? So his spirit filled the whole thing and it was really fun,” Roxanna said. “Especially being a woman in it. That was great, being allowed to show strength and be encouraged for it. It affected the rest of my life.”

Roxanna describes her teenaged self as socially shy, someone who needed a push out of her comfort zones.

Fitz wasn’t the sort to provided a gentle nudge.

He’d give students a shove, refusing to let them settle for anything less than their best.

“I was socially shy but very active and I knew I was strong in a farm-girl strength sort of way,” she said. “And I always loved challenges, then and now. I remember it being fun to show who I really was. People didn’t normally see me like that because I was so shy.”

Roxanna flourished in the spotlight.

Her favourite event was one that no longer exists. The school had a 1983 Toyota Tercel and every weight class had to do something different with it.

The big boys in the heavyweight division had to get the entire back end of the car off the ground.

For Roxanna’s division, it was  enough to grab a wheel-well and get one of the tires off the ground for as long as possible.

“That was a physical test but it was also a mental test, and that’s why I liked it so much,” she recalled. “My dad told us that pain is just weakness coming out, which might sound like a terrible thing for a parent to say to kids.”

“But when you actually have to go through pain in life and you think about it that way, it can really help you through.”

“Feeling the pain of lifting that car and holding on when your muscles just wanted to die, thinking it was just weakness coming out made me stronger and kept me going.”

In an interesting twist, when that event was taken out of the Strongman soon after, Roxanna ended up with the car.

“I liked telling people I could lift my own car,” she laughed.

There was one event Roxanna would have punted to the moon years ago and it’s one that still exists — the dreaded sandbag shuttle.

“That was so hard because it was about speed and technique, and the strongest people often didn’t do well,” she said. “You couldn’t just rely on your mental and physical capabilities.”

But she couldn’t quit or give any less than 100 per cent with Fitz yelling words of encouragement.

It is an enduring memory for years of Strongman competitors — Fitz, barking at the top of his lungs with such intensity one could almost picture his head popping off and spinning into space.

“This was a special place because of Fitz,” Roxanna said. “A lot of schools could do Strongman and probably have fun with it. But it would be different anywhere else.”

Roxanna ‘did well’ at Strongman, which is her understated way of saying she wrecked her competition.

Roxanna’s older brother, Josh Hooge, competed in the very first Strongman in 1999.

She did two.

Younger brother Micah followed in her footsteps and this year another brother does Strongman for the first time.

Eighteen year old Jesse Hooge was just a wee lad watching from the stands when his older siblings did their thing.

Now, the hulking teen takes his turn in the spotlight.

Regrettably, he’ll never have the ‘Beast-Mode Fitz’ experience, but he’s got his own reasons to look forward to it.

“There is a legacy to it with my family, and I want to be a part of that,” Jesse said. “Most of it is continuing that legacy.”

“I didn’t participate in this last year because I didn’t feel my strength was up to par, but this time I’m looking forward to showing my friends what I can do.”

Monday is the sled pull.

Tuesday is sandbag shuttle.

Wednesday  is the tire flip.

Thursday is the sled push and Friday the farmer’s carry.

Events Monday through  Thursday run from 11:04 a.m. to 12:11 p.m.

Friday’s event starts at 12:50 p.m.

“I think I’m actually looking forward to the sandbag shuttle, just to see how I do,” Jesse said.

“Probably because he’s more about technique than I am,” Roxanna added.

But if he had to go to Vegas and put money on himself to win one of the five events, it certainly wouldn’t be the sandbag shuttle.

It’d be the sled pull.

“Coordination of hand movement is important along with strength, and speed isn’t as important,” Jesse explained.

What he doesn’t know, yet, is whether he has the same ‘pain is weakness coming out’ mentality his siblings have shown.

He knows what it means.

But until the moment, he won’t really know.

“It’s always been great watching them compete, and seeing the same strength in them that my dad has,” Jesse said. “My sister is so strong and so determined. And she has so much joy doing this.”

Jesse feels the atmosphere around Strongman has diminished since Fitz passed away.

The energy’s not the same.

He and Roxanna are united in their desire to bring it back.

If Fitz can’t be there in person to carry on, they want his spirit to be on full display every time this event is held.

“Some students are just in the gym for something to do and they’re not really cheering anyone on,” Jesse said. “I think there needs to be a willingness to do that, to get behind someone who’s putting themselves out there in a public display.”

“My goal is to bring back the spirit of Fitz and do whatever I do in a way that he would want me to,” Roxanna echoed. “It doesn’t matter what it is, if it’s just the way I smile as I do it or how long I last or how fast I can go.”

“I just want it to be memorable in a way that’s totally Fitz.”

The alumni event takes place Wednesday night at 6 p.m.

Organizer Alison Fitzsimmons said entrants can expect some new wrinkles.

Email alisonfitz_2003@hotmail.com for more info or to register.



Eric Welsh

About the Author: Eric Welsh

I joined the Chilliwack Progress in 2007, originally hired as a sports reporter.
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