The Growing Success of Coach Ricky & The Invictus Weightlifting Team
Written by Michele Vieux
You may know him by other names, such as Lil’ Ricky, the loud little guy, the guy who never goes home, Mr. Dance-A-Lot, and Rudy. For those of you who don’t know him, Ricky Moore is a coach at Invictus Sorrento Valley and a two time CrossFit Games team athlete. His energy is enough to captivate an entire room whether while coaching or on the competition floor. He also founded and coaches the Invictus Weightlifting team who has been causing it in training and at competitions this past year despite the unusual circumstances which attests to his ability to bring energy and positivity to any situation.
Born and raised in St.Petersburg, Florida, Ricky has been competing ever since he could walk. He’s played every sport throughout my life. In high school, he found wrestling and was able to continue his wrestling career in college. In July 2010, he enlisted in the United States Navy and was blessed to be stationed in San Diego. He found CrossFit through a friend when he came in on a Bring A Friend Day Saturday and joined that day, cancelling his membership at his other gym within the hour of signing up at Invictus! Just about 6 months later, he qualified as an Individual for the 2013 CrossFit SoCal Regional.
Ricky Moore on The Invictus Mindset Podcast
Ricky recently sat down with Bryce Smith for the Invictus Mindset podcast to discuss trials, tribulations, his love of coaching, the success of his Invictus Weightlifting Team, and how he maintains such a high level of positive energy all the time. Listen now!
Invictus Weightlifting Team at the North American Open!
Congratulations to Cynthia Yantz, Nairobi Romero, Ashlie Pankonin, Samantha Clark, LeslieAnne Pester, Stephen Shahbazian, Dave Cormier, Noah Mancini, and Marqueze Lutz! These members of the Invictus Weightlifting Team will be competing at the 2021 Nike North American Open Series this weekend, which transitioned to a hybrid event with an online competition (this is how the Invictus lifters will participate) and in-person event happening simultaneously in Salt Lake City, Utah.
We will again use Sorrento Valley as the location for our athlete’s private meet and they will use a Zoom video conference system to perform. This innovative event will allow athletes to compete with others from both the in-person venue in Salt Lake City and those lifting at home at the same time, in the same session.
When it’s an athlete’s time to lift, the bar will be loaded at their declared weight, no matter if they are competing in-venue or remotely via Zoom so everyone participates in the meet as they would if they were there. This is cool for a number of reasons but one is that our lifters now have the ability to strategize their next lift’s weight to pull ahead. They will be lifting all weekend and you can view the live stream on the USA Weightlifting Livestream.
Invictus Weightlifting Team Start List
Friday March 5th
Cynthia Yantz – 59kg C session – 3PM Start on Red Platform
Saturday March 6th
Noah Mancini – 81kg D session – 9AM Start on Red Platform
Stephen Shahbazian – 81kg C session – 11AM Start on Red Platform
Leslie Pester – 76kg F session – 5PM Start on White Platform
Samantha Clark – 71kg E session – 5PM Start on Stars Platform
Nairobi Romero – 64kg A session – 7PM Start on Blue Platform
Sunday March 7th
Ashlie Pankonin – 71kg C session – 7AM Start on Blue Platform
Marqueze Lutz – 96kg B session – 11Am Start on Red Platform