“USC Unsung Heroes” is a column by Anthony Bottino that talks about elite USC athletes who aren’t on one of the school’s Division I teams.
The most basic requirement to do a sport is that you have to practice and exercise. For many sports, this comes in the form of going to the gym and lifting weights. Aside from athletes, countless people go to the gym to work out. It is such a common thing for so many people. However, very few people take it to the next level and compete in lifting weights. Unlike most, the Cooper twins have turned going to the gym into their sport by becoming powerlifters.
Brooklyn and Kingston Cooper, both 19 and sophomore business administration majors, originally from Texas but now living in California, hold state records in powerlifting. They both have the raw records in bench and deadlift for their respective weight classes (Kingston 52 kg and Brooklyn 56 kg) under the Teen III category (17-19 years old). The duo has had a love for lifting for most of their lives, but they didn’t start out as powerlifters.
Growing up and to this day, the two have been inseparable. They had the same interests and did everything together. This brought them to start their powerlifting journey together. Their love for the gym and lifting began in middle school with a strength and conditioning class. They loved the class and were immediately hooked, starting to go to the gym outside of class. Along with the help of their dad, they began going to the gym multiple times a week, and their competitive nature took over.
It was still a few years before they would make the jump to being full-fledged powerlifters, though, because they still had an interest in track and field. Brooklyn ran the mile, and Kingston ran the 400 meters. But as much as they enjoyed running, they still loved lifting even more. Even with the track season going on, they still continued to lift. Back and groin injuries sustained by both twins from track made lifting more viable. If there wasn’t enough motivation for them already to make the switch to powerlifting, then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Kingston and Brooklyn utilized their new free time by hitting the weights hard. They weren’t just lifting to stay in shape or simply to work out. Now they were doing it with the goal of getting stronger. As the year went on, their dad started to take notice. He did some research and discovered that for their age and weight, they were lifting a lot more than the average person. Their father turned into a coach, giving the twins the extra push they needed to finally become powerlifters.
“Even before we started powerlifting, he’s been coaching us in terms of our general lifting,” Brooklyn said. “He goes to the gym a lot and loves working out, so I think that influenced us a lot. He’s very passionate and did a lot of research, so he gave us that knowledge.”
With track behind them and the world of powerlifting ahead, it was time for them to join a team. Luckily, their high school had a powerlifting team. It wasn’t exactly like every other school team, though. It didn’t receive as much funding or attention as the other sports, so it was more informal. Most of the people on the team were athletes who saw it as a way to stay in shape and get stronger during the offseason. Brooklyn and Kingston were really the only ones with an actual interest in powerlifting and competing.
In fact, they were the only girls on the team. This created a unique dynamic for the team, but the twins found many positives from it. Being the only girls, they were able to get much more attention from the coaches at competitions since there was no one else for them to compete with. It allowed them to advance in their lifting and is what really grew their love for the sport. Not only that, but it was an experience that they got to share together.
Since they have a strong bond with each other, when it came time to apply for colleges, they immediately knew they wanted to go together. They both applied to the same universities with the same major and planned on rooming together.
“We are each other’s support system, even in the gym she is always there for me,” Brooklyn said. “In the gym and academically, she [Kingston] pushes me to do better.”
When they both got into USC, they decided to attend together due to academics, student life and the fact that its gyms had a slight edge over other schools. When they finally arrived at USC and discovered the Trojan Barbell Club, they knew they had to join. They were already well-versed in powerlifting competitions, and the club only elevated their training and performances, while also making competitions more accessible.
“They helped us go to our first meet with USAPPL (USA Powerlifting). At the meet, they help you, and it makes it a lot less stressful,” Kingston said. “They guided us through the USAPPL process and helped prepare us for the meet.”
With a year of the Trojan Barbell Club under their belt and learning how to compete through USAPPL, they decided to compete on their own throughout the summer. Now that their family had also moved to California, they could go for state records, too.
In the summer, they attended the SoCal Summer Smash competition. When the twins started powerlifting, they had no intention of breaking any state records, but they would end up pleasantly surprised. As they kept training and the meet got closer, they realized they both had a very good chance of breaking the state record.
“When we first got into it, I never thought about any records,” Brooklyn said. “When we saw how close we were, it was still kind of unbelievable for us, because it showed how far we had come.”
When the meet came, it was time to see if their dream could come true and if the training paid off. Kingston was up first in the 52kg Teen III division for raw bench. For Kingston, the barbell went up easily, and she became the first of the twins to break a California record. She benched 70 kg. Brooklyn would soon follow suit, but not without drama.
On the first of three tries, Brooklyn broke the record. On her second attempt, she added more weight but wasn’t able to lift it. The two were nervous for the third and final attempt, but this time, Brooklyn did it, benching 72.5 kg and officially becoming the raw bench California record holder in the 56kg Teen III category. In the same meet, they both broke records together and were able to celebrate their hard work paying off.
This wouldn’t be the only record they would go on to break, though. In the fall, at a meet with the Trojan Barbell Club, they both broke the California raw deadlift record for their weight classes. They had faith in themselves for the bench press record, but the deadlift came as a shock to them.
“I didn’t think I would come close to the deadlift record anytime soon. I didn’t think I was anywhere close to it,” Brooklyn said.
“Deadlift I didn’t expect because I have a pretty bad back, and I was stuck at the same weight. I just never expected to be able to deadlift as much as I can,” Kingston said.
Brooklyn and Kingston were able to achieve an amazing feat, and now they can call themselves state record holders. Their journey through powerlifting has only just begun, and with their passion, determination and work ethic, it seems like they will be shattering many more records. The most important thing to them, though, is that they are doing it together.
“Watching each other lift is really exciting, and we love watching each other,” Kingston said.
“It’s very special to be record holders, and it’s really cool to say we did it together,” Brooklyn added. “Doing it together as training partners, we both understand the journey we are on.”
“USC Unsung Heroes” runs every other Monday.