The Little Lifter That COULD
Oh, to be a kid with a sled in winter. Zipping down a bunny hill. Wind in your face. Racing back up for another go.
Not quite. Tate Fegley’s sled is a heavy-duty steel power sled. Alone, it weighs 35 kg. On a sunny, snowless day in early December, Tate, age 10, drags it out of a hangar-like garage in suburban Minden, Louisiana. The space was originally designed to store a camper but has since been converted into a professional-looking gym, complete with power rack, gluteham developer, bench, walls of weights and plates, and banners reading ‘beat yesterday’ and ‘trust the process’.
Tate piles on a 20 kg plate, then a 10 kg one. After clipping into an over-the-shoulder harness, he leans forward and charges toward a busy parish road, dragging a load that weighs more than he does along the pavement.
He’s begun to sweat through his shirt, and he swings his arms in front of him for momentum. His trainer, Peyton Gray – a friendly, compact CrossFit trainer who will soon finish nursing school – and his dad, Brint Fegley, a nurse practitioner, don’t seem concerned about what the neighbours might think. “They’ve all seen the news and they know what goes on, and they just drive by and shake their heads,” Brint says.
In January 2020, Tate competed at the USA Powerlifting Louisiana State Championships, breaking four American records in his age group and weight class. Then nine, Tate
