Team Savannah was established in 1988 by Michael Cohen, a physical education instructor at Jenkins High School and a member of the 1980 United States Olympic Weightlifting Team. The Team Savannah program began with 4 students who asked Cohen to teach them the type of weightlifting he had performed for the Olympics. After just 3 months of training, the original team members competed in the Tar Heel open Championships in North Carolina. They won one silver and 2 gold medals!

Over the next 2 years, Team Savannah grew to about 30 students, all of whom were required to maintain or improve their grade point average to 3.0. By this time, Team Savannah was well on its way to becoming one of the top 5 weightlifting teams in the country.

From 1990 to the present, Team Savannah has grown to over 200 members. Nationally, the team quickly became the #1 ranked
Junior team and one of the top three senior teams. Without a permanent facility, Team Savannah utilized space generously donated by the Savannah Chatham County Board of Education. A new facility, funded by a portion of local sales tax revenue for Olympic legacy, was completed at Memorial Stadium in January 1995.

Since then Team Savannah has expanded to provide programs involving weightlifting for special needs individuals, physical therapy and rehab, sports specific training, masters programs, senior citizen stretching programs, etc., and produced 3 of the 5 Olympic team members for weightlifting in 2000. Not everyone who trains with Team Savannah will become an Olympic athlete, but all who train with us can benefit from the Olympic ideals of goal setting, positive self esteem, good citizenship and American values.

Weightlifting lends itself to young and old, small and large, male and female. Even our disabled citizens can feel comfortable training with us since we are the only weightlifting center in the U.S. that is handicap accessible.

Team Savannah is a 501-C3 corporation and is governed by a Board of Directors.