Peformance Initiatives

Performance Initiatives featured in Savannah Morning News Hart to Heart Column
January 31, 2010

We read about teens involved in crime or about the obesity problem among local youths and think: "Something needs to be done to save our kids."

Former competitive weightlifter Kerri Goodrich isn't just thinking about it.

She's doing something.

Inside a gym that was once boarded up and empty, Kerri and a team of trained and certified volunteers provide Savannah youngsters ages 7 and older with a structured afterschool program that aims to build healthier hearts, minds and bodies.

Performance Initiatives uses weightlifting, tutoring, art and nutritional coaching to help youngsters make the right decisions. Without Performance Initiatives, Kerri believes, some kids in the program would be in the juvenile detention center.

"The belief you have in these kids makes them believe in themselves," Kerri said.

She does it all through volunteer efforts and donations, starting with the gym that neighboring Aldersgate United Methodist Church generously provides rent-free.

You can help, too, by purchasing a block on the Performance Initiatives gym wall. Your company logo or family name can be hand-painted on the block or on a banner.

Proceeds from the Buy A Block, Build A Champion program will be used for program needs, including new gear and uniforms for the Coastal Empire Weightlifting competitions and after-school program materials.

Racially diverse, community-based

Located in a Savannah eastside neighborhood all too familiar with what happens when children lack discipline and focus, the Performance Initiatives gym is where about 60 students come every week to gain that discipline and work toward goals.

What sets Performance Initiatives apart from some programs is that its inclusive.

Kids involved are Asian and Hispanic and black and white. They come from private and public schools. Some come to slim down and muscle up. Others come to leave their problems at the door.

Visit the gym during one of the program's Coastal Empire Weightlifting competitions and you'll see a diverse group of families cheering on the students together, said Lee Cobb, whose home-schooled teenager lost 15 pounds in the program and no longer needs asthma medication.

In a city that has voluntarily segregated churches, summer camps, even funeral homes, that kind of racial unity is rather rare.

Those who compete nationally in weightlifting mentor those new to the sport.

The more involved in the PI family every student becomes, the more pride and ownership they take. Kids clean the gym, wash the towels and painted the gym blue and gold with donated paint, of course.

Almost everything in the gym is donated by local organizations and businesses or made by people who want to help. No one gets paid, including Kerri.

Volunteers teach Jiu Jitsu or tutor a student in reading. A trained counselor partners with PI to help kids struggling with anger or abuse.

Every student learns weightlifting, not necessarily to compete, but to gain strength and to build confidence. Artistic expression through painting and poetry also are encouraged. Tutors evaluate students' report cards and develop action plans on where to focus academically.

The gym mantra is "Education first. Athletics second."

"It's not about turning these kids into Olympians. It's all about building well-rounded kids," Kerri said. "Some of our best athletes are great writers and artists."

'Kerri's brainchild'

Competing in weightlifting helped Kerri meet mentors, develop leadership skills and enrich her relationship with Christ. Today, Kerri, 40, says the sport gives a similar boost to those in her program.

Such as the 15-year-old girl from an abusive family. When she arrived at the gym, she initially refused to lift weights, hanging her head and saying "The only place for a girl is in the kitchen."

The kids encouraged her. Three weeks after joining PI, the teen became stronger than some guys in the program.

"Now when you ask her what she wants to do in life, she says "I don't know, but I can do anything I want to do," Kerri said.

Some kids start the program overweight, hooked on junk food and a sedentary lifestyle playing video games. But being in a gym surrounded by kids working out propels them to change.

One such triumph is Kerri's 13-year-old niece, Nikki, who came to stay with Kerri and her husband, Robert, because Nikki had problems at home in Missouri. After dropping 30 pounds and developing a love for weight-lifting, Nikki's thriving.

"When I got here, I was obnoxious. And fat. And depressed," Nikki said.

Reading the angry poetry she wrote in the PI program about her past life, she feels like an entirely different person from the girl who wrote it.

The gym's teeming with similar success stories.

Weightlifting coach Robbie Harper, whose two sons are in the program, best sums up parents' take on what's unfolding in the gym: "Thank God for Kerri's brainchild."

Contact Anne Hart at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .