Necedah Powerlifting

An interview with Head Coach of Necedah Powerlifting, Erich Mach, and a look at one rural school’s story in growing the sport of Powerlifting in Wisconsin.

Throughout this interview I did my best to not be biased, and likely failed. That was so hard for me because my own blood, sweat, and tears helped build the organization that this article is focused on. The person I interviewed is a dear family friend, someone who feels like my favorite Uncle, except I still call him “Coach.” That “moniker” is where our discussion began.

The Interview

After allowing me to continue calling him coach during the interview Mach explained that to him that title has become a welcome “moniker” and that he will always answer to it. Then we got into the topic at hand. I asked how he got the idea to start up a Necedah Powerlifting club. Mach said that in 1995 Wisconsin Rapids Powerlifting coach Tony Biolo gave him some forms for a meet they were hosting. Mach and his assistant coach gathered up five of their football players knowing very little about the sport and went. From there the sport just organically grew.

Through the interview Mach emphasized that he viewed all of it as a process. He shouted out that assistant coach by name in the interview. Sergeant Bergh, Kris Bergh, my dad, was there assisting Mach during those fledgling stages of the process. Another very present person in the process is “Coach Mrs. Mach”. Joni Mach has been the girl’s team coach since 2011 or so, and before then was as involved as Erich was in getting the club off the ground. Her place in this story is foundational. Each year Necedah Powerlifting grew in size, the student athletes that joined as well as their families all working together to build the organization. The process was all hands on deck from the start, and it helped that each year added more hands.

Competing

The next question focused on which other schools in the state were taking part in the sport at the time. Mach mentioned that it was a much more popular sport in the Chippewa valley area, the Milwaukee area, Madison area, primarily. It wasn’t a small enterprise, but there weren’t many rural or central Wisconsin schools in the game yet. The team traveled to Racine-Horlick, Riverdale, and other bigger schools for meets in the first few years. Necedah hosted it’s first powerlifting meet in 1998, and have hosted at least 30 since. Three times they have hosted the Wisconsin State Powerlifting Meet.

A Personal Reassessment

When asked if he’s ever really taken a step back to appreciate what has grown there, he pointed to a time of pause. During the pandemic powerlifting as a sport had to take a pause, and Mach extended his pause a bit. During that time he got to experience the sport from the outside and could see clearer. He said that in the first season he returned he approached coaching differently. In the years that he was my coach the word I would have described him with was intense. It wasn’t that his focus was winning, it was in seeing his athletes really accomplish their goals. He pushed them to it, he pushed all of us to it. Upon his return he took that focus of the process to coaching. He is open about his growth and updates goals with the team. He found his process as “transactional”, and he is now choosing to be “transformative” instead. As someone who has seen him at recent meets and can compare to those early years, he is doing it differently. The athletes are still excelling, the team is still expanding. If you ask me, that says all that needs to be said.

Winning Isn’t The Point …

The conversation then discussed some of the high points. Mach’s first state champion was in 2002 and her name was Melissa Hood. I did ask him how many state champs he’s had, but that answer is tough. He estimated “40 or so”, and when I searched the internet for the answer I couldn’t come up with the answer either. Though powerlifting is a sport built on stats, they weren’t always great at archiving. Results from State and National meets prior to 2012 are not available. I would say that the “40 or so” number is a rather humble estimate. Mach took the opportunity to emphasize that winning isn’t the point, “it is about the process, winning is a byproduct of that.”

…But Make No Mistake, They are Winning

I followed by asking about his first national champion lifter. Audrey Karbowski in 2003, who was also the first Necedah lifter invited to compete at the World level. By his estimate he’s probably had “over 20” athletes invited to take part in the World championship meets with 15 World Championship lifters from the team. As someone covering the sport I want to be frustrated by his humility, but it’s part of why my family loves him so much. I would like to just point out why 15 World champs from Necedah is a big deal. Necedah has just over 1000 people residing in it. The school is so rural that it consists of a K-12 building which houses everything the school needs for events. There are not any other locations in town for football, baseball, or the arts. It is all at the school location. I cannot stress enough how small this town is, you might not even notice it as you drive through on hwy 21 or hwy 80. Yet, from this small and humble town have grown 15 world champion level student athletes.

A Look to the Future

As a former lifter coached by Mach that went out and coached the sport myself I couldn’t help but ask how he feels about all his former athletes that are continuing the tradition. Several teams in the state, and one in Winona, are coached by former Necedah Powerlifters. “Its that ripple effect,” Mach said when reflecting on it. The goal is to create the ripples with his work and that those ripples keep growing is a very cool thing to see.

When asked about the future of Necedah Powerlifting Coach Mach says he’s got a few World Champ quality lifters on the team. They plan to stick to the process and keep creating those ripples from their humble weightroom.

Helpful Links

What the heck is Powerlifting? Here are three articles I wrote to help you understand the sport. One. Two. Three.

Want to help support Necedah Powerlifting? Here is their official communications page.