Senior Zia’Yiah Bookman’s heart raced as she stood behind the lifter platform. She squinted at the barbell ahead, counting the plates. It was 390 pounds – 15 pounds heavier than her max two weeks prior.

Doubt crept in. Her hands began to shake.

“Me? Are you sure?” Bookman asked herself.

Regardless of her mindset, it was now or never. Bookman nestled the barbell into her back, took a breath, went down and rose as the region champion.

“I was in shock,” Bookman said. “I really did it – by myself.”

Bookman won the Texas High School Women’s Powerlifting Association’s 6A region champion title March 3 and just two weeks later snagged sixth in the state tournament March 18.

“All my emotions,” Bookman said. “I put them into this year’s season, and I was really satisfied with how things came out in the end.”

To Be Perfect

Emotion drove Bookman since birth as a self-titled perfectionist. Bookman’s mother had her at 16 years old, which she said instilled a desire for social acceptance growing up.

“If I can’t get it right the first time, it’s just like, why am I even doing it?” Bookman said. “I think it’s because my mom. My mom felt like she would be judged for us not being a perfect family. She was like ‘We have to wear that certain type of clothes.’”

Perfectionism manifested through Bookman’s sports as she grew up, joining her first basketball team at 3 years old. At 10 years old, Bookman said watching her older cousins compete further rooted her desire to win.

“Looking up to them doing that and seeing how they felt on the court, it made me want to go out and try,” Bookman said. “They always said that mindset that ‘If I’m not doing the work, what am I gaining from that?’ Them telling me that stuck with me.”

Bookman continued her basketball career in high school, but a concussion against Cleveland High School only a month into the season placed her on the bench. Watching from the sidelines challenged her confidence, so she quit the team.

“It felt like the sport was becoming a chore and something I didn’t want to have to continue doing throughout high school,” Bookman said. “It didn’t feel good because I went from being a starter to not playing at all.”

Quitting basketball meant losing her pride. But as she recovered through concussion protocol, Bookman found a new source of pride in weight lifting.

“It helped me cope mentally with my injury,” Bookman said. “It was something that I was around and that was there for most of my injury. Me just being in the weight room made me realize that it might take time to recover, but if I really want it I’ll have to go for it.”

Taking Opportunity

Bookman filled her afternoons with pumping iron and sophomore year, that consistency caught former Powerlifting Head Coach Kendall Hineman’s attention. Hineman convinced her to try out, but Bookman’s first taste of powerlifting was mediocre.

“I wasn’t lifting as much as people, and I had a lot of people around lifting more,” Bookman said. “It upset me because when I join something, I want to be good at it when I first start.”

Bookman’s max lifts accumulated to 570 pounds and increased weekly as did her confidence. But even more than muscle, powerlifting strengthened the relationships she made.

“Even outside the sport, we’re like a family,” Bookman said. “You gain people you can talk to. And there’s support. They’ve pulled me aside and had real talks with me and told me they’re proud of me, even when I don’t feel that myself.”

The momentum collapsed after Bookman partially ripped her ACL while stretching. She, along with the self-doubt, returned to the sideline.

“I don’t talk about it because I can get emotional at times,” Bookman said. “Because taking that year off and seeing people get stronger and better through the sport hurt. Of course, I was encouraging them, but deep down, I was thinking, ‘Can I really, like, come back?’”

A Change

Although this time, Bookman refused to quit thanks to the support from the team.

“It felt like out of nowhere she became strong (after being injured),” Senior Ricardo Pulido said. “Not a lot of people are able to work out with an injured ACL. I remember I told her, ‘I promise you I won’t let you down because I know you have a lot of potential to go to state for us.’”

All Bookman’s max lifts fell by half when she returned and she failed the first tournament lifts of the year. But after two months, her bench shot from 135 pounds to 190 pounds, which head powerlifting coach Demarcus Widemon called extraordinary.

“By the second meet of the year she already got better,” Widemon said. “We knew so much more room to grow and just continue to talk and encourage and push her through. So that weight increase was a huge jump for her. ”

The THSWPA regional tournament approached, as did Bookman’s chance for state. Her teammates and coaches knew she had a shot, but she still felt the weight of self doubt. So Widemon intentionally kept the total weight she would lift a secret.

“When I first started moving I was like, ‘Can I really do it? Can I, like, finish this off?’” Bookman said. “I was stressing about something I could do, that I didn’t even know I could do. I was really proud of myself at that moment. It was a big jump for me”

Bookman said the squat proved to herself she was capable of victory. Carrying her momentum into THSWPA state in Edinburgh, Texas two weeks later, Bookman squatted 375 pounds and benched 205 pounds.

With her final lift of the season – a deadlift – Bookman took a risk, trusted months of training and attempted a 40 pounds increase over the region weight she lifted.

“I was already there in the moment and was like, ‘What is there to lose?’ Just jump the gun and do it,” Bookman said. “Even though I never did it before, some felt like I could probably get it up. So I was just like, ‘Why not just do it?’”

The risk paid off. Bookman cleared the deadlift and shot to sixth with a total of 940 pounds. Even then, Bookman felt like she could’ve done more.

“After a few conversations with Timothy (Williams, a senior) and Ricardo (Pulido), they made me realize that not a lot of people get the opportunity to say they even qualified for state and got to lift,” Bookman said. “In the end I am very proud.”

That pride, and a newfound trust in herself, joined the medal around her neck. Bookman said her powerlifting experience changed her perspective on sports.

“Sports is not just something physical, It’s also mental,” Bookman said. “You have to keep pushing to get to what you want. And if you want to win, you have to be in your head telling yourself you can do it instead of doubting yourself. Trust your work.”

This story was originally published on Creek Compass on March 30, 2026.