Record-breaking athletes find the power of family through lifting

You’ve heard of power couples, but how about a power family as in a powerlifiting family?

KENOSHA COUNTY, Wis. - You’ve heard of power couples, but how about a power family as in a powerlifiting family?

"We come every day," said Amy Richter.

Richter steps into her basement where the home gym is the family meeting place.

"It’s turned into something that is way more than anything I expected and changed me in ways I never thought it would," Amy said.

Usually she’s joined by her daughters Chloe, Caralee and Sommer. Sometimes her son Tyler is there. And always her husband Chris is leading the workouts as their coach.

"Five days a week we come together," said Chris.

But it’s not just them. Seven others are always hanging around.

"It would be really odd not to have a dog sitting right there," Amy said.

Soon, the dogs would be part of the program. And the combined family would become a powerlifting team.

"7Tails is our team name," said Amy.

It’s a name that is now synonymous with champions. Chloe, a junior in high school, cleaned up at the state meet.

"I won best lifter as well and first place," said Chloe.

Years before her success, her step-sister Sommer was taking title after title as well.

"We went all the way to South Africa, and she represented the United States as a 97 pound world team member," Chris said.

One by one, the others followed, as did the wins.

"They hold American records," said Chris. "They were the best at their age in that weight class for that time period. They set the American record. That’s all 50 states."

"As a mom, I’ll get emotional and all of that," said Amy. "But, every one of these kids you know, they’ve had that meet. That meet that’s going to be their biggest record. Then there’s sometimes, the next one that’s the biggest meet."

"It was a lot of fun," said Tyler. "I remember going to meets, everybody coming to talk to me. I really enjoyed doing it."

"There’s just an energy to competing," said Caralee. "And it’s not even competing with other people. It’s competing with yourself that just motivates you."

The records and trophies are celebrated, but their shared passion has brought something bigger.

"It’s definitely allowed us to grow closer and just have a great relationship," said Chloe.

"We have a lot of love for each other," Caralee said. "I don’t know. It just brings us all together."

It's the power of family.

"All of them have amazed me," Chris said. "Yes, I’m beaming."

The family owns a pet boarding company named 7 Tails in Kenosha County which is why they took the name for their team.

Also, every one of the kids and Amy have won championships in powerlfiting at some level.