Driftwood Weightlifting Club

Mihaela Westlind was born in Romania and raised in British Columbia. Her experience as classical ballerina has had a profound influence on her growth as an Olympic Weightlifter. She has a special eye for detail and a solid understanding of what is required of the body to perform these intricate lifts. She is currently number one in British Columbia for her weight class of 53kg and number 3 in Western Canada.

Mihaela trains with the Ultimate Weightlifting Club at SFU in Burnaby. Her coach Danjuma Gad, former coach of the Nigerian National Olympic Weightlifting Team is her main coach. Danjuma's presence in the International Olympic Weightlifting community is impressive to say the least. Mihaela has also trained in Romania with members of the National Olympic Weightlifting Team. She has been coached by Ficzi Anton and Paul Stoichita. Ficzi Anton is recently responsible for Cristina Iovu's (of Romania) first place finish at the European Weightlifting championships.

The combination of Mihaela's weightlifting training locally and internationally along with her being coached by elite level coaches brings a dynamic approach to her students. She views lifting as an open ended discussion. There is always room for improvement, adjustment, and growth.

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MICHAEL ENGLISH

Weightlifting Coach, CrossFit Coach

NCCP Olympic Weightlifting Certified

For Michael being active has been second nature since he was a child. He played high school and College Football. He is an active member in the fitness community having completed the Spartan Race competition, local Crossfit events, and Olympic weightlifting competitions. Michael has also trained in mixed martial arts; he will be competing in the 2017 World Police and Fire Games, which is the second largest sporting event in the world outside of the Olympics. However, his major claim to fame is beating Hector in the race to a 225lbs Snatch.

After graduating from New Westminster Secondary, Michael began to work towards a career in Law Enforcement., Michael is consistently working towards bettering himself in all aspects of life( Education, fitness, etc.) becoming a Law Enforcement Officer. On his downtime, he can be found playing flag football, hanging with his family, or reading his favourite book. In a bubble, Michael loves helping others become the best version of them possible in and outside of the gym and will give you the shirt off his back in a snow storm. That is what Driftwood is.