ESS is a powerlifting based gym in Melbourne’s West. Founded in 2022 by Michael Porsovigan, Tony Nguyen and Vinning Mak, their gym is an inclusive and open space for powerlifters, strength athletes and regular gym-goers.

Head coach, Michael, has guided ESS to second place in 2024 and third place in 2023. Climbing the ranks, the team is hungry to take the W in 2025.

Bringing a whole new quad to 2025, their team will consists of John Chan, Aaron Tran-Hoang, Steven Hoang and Carmen De Dominico.

Apex Strength are a strength and powerlifting club located in Coburg, Melbourne. Owned and operated by head coach Tyler Seabrook, this will be Apex’s third showing at the Team Champs.

Apex are a hot contender at Team Champs, having placed third in 2025. With three of their four lifters from last year returning in 2025, Apex will again be one to look out for.

Representing Apex this year will be Lota Leinberga, Gabriel Lattouf and Tony Reinmuth (all returning from 2024), and Adwoah Hammond joining the ranks.

MSC is a long-standing strength based gym situated in Moorabbin, Melbourne. They’ve been coaching athletes and running comps in Melbourne for the last nine years and have a strong presence both in Melbourne and in the online space. Their YouTube content and regular podcast reaches well outside of the powerlifting world too, into other areas of fitness.

2025 will be their fourth Team Champs appearance, and the team will be coached by Dider Vassou for the fourth time. Consistently fielding a strong team, most recently taking fifth place in 2024, MSC will be represented in 2025 by Constance Pandousis, Micah Frahmien, Dean Antoniadis and Callan Beaton.

The Crundall Crew are a powerlifting team led by coach Matt Crundall. A successful competitive powerlifter in his own right, Matt has a firm reputation as a knowledgeable and successful coach with numerous lifters competing at the national level.

Crundall Crew are yet to podium at Team Champs but are always right up in there in the mix, taking sixth place in 2024. An excellent game-day coach, Matt takes the competitive aspect of powerlifting very seriously and you know that his attempt selection will be absolutely clutch to score the maximum points possible.

Their team of four will this year consist of Jessica Lam, Victor Mey, Stephanie Hong and Conor Warren.

Sim Strength is the coaching brand run by Melbourne based powerlifting coach Josh Sim. Josh has a long history in powerlifting and has recently had a successful dalliance in the bodybuilding world, giving him a unique perspective and understanding of training. His coaching team include a wide variety of athletes and their team are always a force to be reckoned with.

Sim Strength took out second place in 2023 and are looking sharp to get back on to the podium, with three of their four lifters returning from 20244.

Their team in 2025 will consist of Thuy Vy Pham, Demetrius Metaxas and Timothy Wang (all returning from 2024), plus Rodney Pham added to the mix.

Uplift Performance (formerly Liu Lift) is the coaching brainchild of Melbourne based powerlifting Coach Victor Liu. A decorated athlete himself, Victor has developed a healthy portfolio of successful athletes including numerous Australian Champions.

Liu Lift will be returning for their third battle at the Team Champs. Having won 2023, Uplift will be hungry to reclaim their crown.

With Victor coaching at The IPF World Championships in June, the team will be coached this year by Charles Sanders. Representing Uplift are Frank Bacetta, Janson Trinh, Amanda Lay and Isabelle Makris.

SR Strength Collective is a strength and powerlifting gym located in Altona. They are one of two teams competing in the Premier Bracket for the first time, following successful promotion from the Challengers in 2024.

Co-owner and Coach Daniel Featherstone coached the 2024 team to this result, and previously coached the Melbourne University Powerlifting Club Team at the Team Champs 2023. With a wealth of experience, Daniel will be eager to leave his mark from the Premier Bracket.

SR is to be represented in 2025 by a whole new team of four: Aaron Carew, Lagi Fruean, Edgar Degay and Dani Biscocho.

Stronghold Ballarat, formerly Ben’s Army, is a Ballarat based gym. Their huge 1000 square meter facility is a haven for all sorts of strength and fitness pursuits from powerlifting to strongman to bodybuilding and weightlifting.

Stronghold will be battling it out in the the Premier Bracket for the first timein 2025 following a successful promotion from the Challengers Bracket in their 2024 debut.

Headed by Chris Whyte, they will be represented by lifters Tracy Keough, Tyson Andrews, Aaron Grant and Jason Oakley.

On home turf, TSF took the win in the first two years of the Team Champs in 2018 and 2019.

In 2024, we were relegated from the Premier Bracket to Challengers and this year we are damn hungry to prove ourselves and reclaim our spot among the top teams.

This year we will be proudly represented by Head Coach Josh Luu, and Minh Duong, Pam Alcantara, Lachlan Norberg and Kaley Nguyen.

Paragon Strength and Performance is a gym based in Artarmon, Sydney, owned and operated by Nick Cheadle and Bec Chambers. The boutique gym space specialises in powerlifting, physique and strength-based training.

Paragon is returning for their fourth Team Champs appearance. Headed by coach Bec Chambers, they will be represented this year by lifters Ashleigh Armanasco, Antonia Wong, Ashish Madhyastha and Nikita Brigitte McBryde.

Avia is a warehouse gym based in Coburg Melbourne. Owned and operated by Vinay Srinivasan and Luke Troiani, their holistic approach to training attracts diverse clientele with goals ranging from rehabilitation to sports performance, powerlifting and more general health and fitness. Avia have long been a huge contributor to the powerlifting scene in Melbourne, hosting 2-3 competitions per year themselves.

Representing them in 2025 are Ahlem Hammoud, Emily Cano, Nicholas Love and Samantha Sutton.

Groove Lifting Club is the lifting and social club, headed by Alex Dellaportas, based out of 3-Point Performance in Port Melbourne.

2025 marks Groove’s third appearance at Team Champs, although the team formally competed under the 3-Point Performance brand. The team have represented themselves beautifully over the last two years, really cementing themselves as the lifting and social club, with equal parts professionalism and vibes.

Groove will be represented this year by Jonathan Fung, Brochelle Georgeson, Wendy Waddell and Kane Daniel.

Elevate Performance return for their second year at The Team Champs.

Formerly DB Health and Performance, Elevate is the Coaching Team headed by coach and osteopath, David Barross, based in Reservoir in Melbourne’s Northern Suburbs.

Elevate return in the Challengers Bracket in 2025 and will be represented by lifters Connor Anthony McCaig, Ryan Codin, Dale Verdon and Jett Bolton.

Making the trip over from Tasmania, Compound Training is the coaching team headed by powerlifting coach Jack Dunn. Jack competed at Team Champs in 2024 representing DB Health and Performance (now Elevate) and really valued the team nature of the competition. His lifters catching on to his enthusiasm about the competition, rallied to assemble their own team for 2025.

Compound Training will be represented in 2025 by lifters Sophie Dobson, Natalie Lesczynski, Liam Cubitt, Declan Giltjes.

VA Strength is the coaching team headed by coach Veronica Azer and based out of Pro Raw Gym in Doncaster and T1 Gym in Reservoir.

A well-respected lifter herself, Veronica has established a commendable coaching portfolio in recent years, building a reputation for herself in Melbourne’s powerlifting scene.

2025 marks VA Strength’s first year at the Team Champs. They make their debut represented by lifters Eleni Konidaris, Shaneen Sagrado, Elija Truong and Leroy Bailey.

Wide Bois are the final team making their debut in the 2025 Team Champs. Coached by Brian Ong, the Wide Bois are a powerlifting team based here in Melbourne. Brian competed in the 2024 Team Champs representing Crundall Crew. Much like the story with Compound, Brian’s team caught wind of the team nature of the comp and were eager to contend with a team of their own.

In their Team Champs debut, Wide Bois will be represented by lifters Atif Hossain, Yama O’Keeffe, Emanuele Torrefiel and Brian Ong.

The Bench Warmers are coached by Aiden Meehan, an exercise and sport science student at Deakin University. Aiden is totally new to powerlifting, has coached a little before and has never competed himself, but has rallied some of his own strength clients and a weightlifter (?!) interested in powerlifting and will make their debut at Team Champs in 2025. We are so eager to see the team they field!

The lifter line up is coach Aiden Meehan, Steve Bisignano, Aston Lamport and Joshua Geijsels.

Melbourne University Lifting Club returns to Team Champs 2025 following a two year hiatus. A very-longstanding powerlifting club, one of the oldest in Melbourne, but with new leadership and coaching staff, the team will be coached this year by Jonah Summersell and represented by Jessica Arambe, Ethan Aw, Fiona Wu and Stefan Solagratio.

Returning to Team Champs after a six year hiatus, the Process returns for the first time since 2019 where they last competed as Team Hayes.

The Process Powerlifting Club is the coaching team headed by Alex Hayes. Alex has been heavily involved in Australia’s powerlifting scene as lifter, coach, referee, podcaster and more since 2014, so we are thrilled to have him and his team back at Team Champs.

Process will be represented in 2025 by Jordan Di Stefano, Beau Merdanovic, Charles Kaufusi and Alex Hayes himself.