Meet Coach Rabiu Ibrahim, the coach of the Nasarawa State weightlifting team! Aged just 35, he currently holds the distinction of being the youngest weightlifting state coach in all of Nigeria.
His journey into the realm of physical culture started in the year 2001, when, inspired by friends who were based in Lafia, the capital of Nasarawa State in North-Central Nigeria, he took up the sport of bodybuilding, which he still engages in (albeit at low intensity) to this day. In 2002, he was introduced to weightlifting by a friend who had just transferred to the Nasarawa State Sports Council from Plateau State. Picking up interest in weightlifting in addition to bodybuilding, he started to go to the Lafia City stadium to watch the Nasarawa State weightlifting team train. With time, he was encouraged to join the team by the then state coach, Suleman Garba, and began to flourish, representing Nasarawa in the 69kg category at the 2004 National Sports Festival in Abuja. He eventually went on to feature at Ogun 2006, Kada 2009, Rivers 2011 and finally Eko 2012, moving up to the 77kg category.
Having retired from competitive weightlifting as an athlete, Ibrahim decided to contribute to the growth of the game in his state in another way, enrolling self-sponsored for a 1-year Advanced Coaching course in weightlifting at the National Institute for Sports (NIS), Lagos in January 2018 and was awarded with an Advanced Certificate in coaching. During this period, the then state coach sadly passed on and upon his return to Lafia in 2019, Ibrahim became the interim state coach before becoming confirmed as the substantive head coach in 2020, helping hone the talents therein while helping bring up the next generation of athletes.
Despite his achievements and relative heights attained so far in the sport of weightlifting, Coach Ibrahim still engages in bodybuilding on the sidelines, and also offers personal training in muscle building. He can be contacted via email: ibrahimrabiu635@gmail.com for consultation, or you could be lucky enough to catch him taking a training session live upon visiting the Lafia City stadium if you happen to be in town!
The NBD