Spring Break
New professor serves as powerhouse for URI kinesiology
Mark Scialla
Issue date: 9/10/08 Section: News
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Hired in July as an assistant professor, Hatfield is a three-time powerlifting national champion and one of the world's strongest women. In her weight class, she ranks No. 2 nationally and fourth worldwide.
Hatfield said she doesn't think too much about being one of the world's strongest women. To her, powerlifting is a fun hobby. Her real sport is research and teaching. "Research is my love, but one of the reasons I was attracted to URI was that it gave me the opportunity to do both," Hatfield said.
Carrying a doctorate in exercise science from the University of Connecticut and two masters' degrees - one in psychology and another in kinesiology - Hatfield has all the bulk she needs to take on heavy research.
After completing her undergraduate degree, like many college students at that point in their lives, Hatfield was unsure of what she truly wanted to do. Her experience back at school inspired her to mentor other confused students find their way.
"Once I went there, the love of school kind of reinvented itself," Hatfield said. "I realized I did want to go back to school and I did want to be a professor."
Hatfield has performed many studies in the past focusing on resistance training. Because she is still new to the university, Hatfield has not yet started a line of research, but plans to publish her dissertation after performing follow up studies. Her dissertation focuses on two growth hormones found naturally in both men and women.
When Hatfield is not teaching students or coaching other powerlifters at Next Level Fitness in Scituate, she is very busy preparing her body for the Powerlifting World Championship, which will take place in Canada in November.
Hatfield said she never planned to be a powerlifter, but soon after college she found herself following in her father's footsteps. Her father, Fred "Dr. Squat" Hatfield was inducted into the Powerlifter Hall of Fame in 2000, and has been one of her strongest supporters.
Hatfield started lifting after she finished her undergraduate degree as a way to get in shape and stay motivated. She knew the sport and felt comfortable doing it. "It came to me when I graduated college," Hatfield said. "Like a lot of college students I was not active. I gained a lot of weight. I needed a way to get back in shape and back into the gym. When I graduated college, I weighed over 200 pounds."
Since she started lifting, Hatfield has been competing nationally and internationally for more than eight years. With the world championship coming up, Hatfield aspires to increase her rank to gain a spot on the U.S. Powerlifting Team for the World Games next August.
To claim the spot, she must drop from the 165-pound weight class to the 148-pound class.
Hatfield lifted a total of 1,190 pounds at the 2008 National Championships in Killeen, Texas, putting her in second place in the 75-kilogram weight class. She bench-pressed 292 pounds, dead lifted 440 pounds and squatted 440 pounds.
On top of constant training, torturous competing, coaching, performing research and assisting students, Hatfield teaches Kinesiology 275 and 325.
"Of course being strong, you get compared to men all the time," Hatfield said. "People are like, 'Oh my gosh, you bench press more than me,' but the reality is in my sport I compete against women. It's a different sport. It's not one that a lot of women take on. I compare myself to other women. Men who train are going to be stronger than me and I'm OK with that. I like being a woman."
