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A movement powered by grit and a shared purpose is growing across South Florida. A culture less focused on looks and more about building community. Athletes are finding their passion through weightlifting, calisthenics and grid competitions.
Team Omnia is a youth weightlifting team led by Olympian coach Paul Behar in Pembroke Pines. Coach Behar has been guiding athletes for at least six years and now leads some of the top-ranked youth athletes in the country.
“What makes me the most proud is when athletes follow the process,” Behar explained. “They set a goal and do the right things to try to get there.”
Many of the lifters at Team Omnia are in their early teens. Mathias “Mati” Navarrete is 14 years old and has been competing for two years. He recently placed third in the snatch and sixth overall at the 2025 National Championship in Colorado.
“After my first competition, I knew that my team and I were here for a reason,” Navarrette said. “It’s a lot different than other sports. You have to build up good coordination with your whole body.”
Anthony “The Fridge” Caceres, another rising athlete, began weightlifting just six months before his national competition debut in Colorado. At 13-years-old he earned second place in all major categories and nearly set an American record.
“I’m training to compete,” said Cáceres. “I’m training to be the number one in the world.”
His sister, Lily Cáceres is also 13-years-old and has trained at Omnia with Coach Behar for three years. She is newer to competitions, but has realized how transformative the sport is when it comes to practicing consistency and gaining strength.
“I can be kind of lazy sometimes, but Paul pushes me to be my best,” she said.
She has found strong role models through the sport, especially in the powerful women who “have gone beyond men” with their fitness. This team has become like a family with people she can rely on for help.
“It may look hard, but if you keep pushing yourself you might surprise yourself,” she added.
While Omnia trains within four walls, movement is also thriving outdoors at parks and beaches. Yohann Offredo and Alex Leviton are the co-owners of Kenguru Pro US, a company that designs and installs calisthenics equipment. Their installations can be found throughout South Florida, including at the well-known Muscle Beach in Miami.
“The idea behind what we’re trying to do is bring more of the community aspect back by creating more workout clusters,” Offredo said.
Offredo’s journey began during high school at a military academy where he was inspired by a friend training for the Navy SEALs. During the pandemic, he met Leviton and realized expanding the sports infrastructure was key to its growth.
“There needs to be more areas to train,” Offredo explained. “There needs to be something more predominant that really pulls people and attracts people to the sports.”
Leviton said the parks built don’t create communities, but rather amplify them. Their ultimate goal is to create spaces where the sport can thrive, host events, build culture and inspire others.
That same team-driven energy powers the United Grid League, a competitive fitness league that blends Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics, and functional training into high-speed co-ed races.
Mather Wiswall, head of media and commissioner for the United Grid League, played a key role in shaping the sport since it first emerged. Wiswall believes that co-ed teams enhance team cohesion and social skills amongst a broad range of personalities, genders and body types.
“All the other team sports were not designed to be fun to watch, they were designed to be fun to play,” Wiswall said.
The format for GRID challenges the standard for modern sport with its inclusive, tactical and strategy driven approach that makes it fun for both the viewers and players.
Eric Cardona, a standout athlete for the Fort Lauderdale Lions GRID team, started practicing the sport in 2012 after years of gymnastics and CrossFit training.
“I thought it would be really fun to be part of a team like that,” Cardona explained. “You’re representing your home gym, which is really cool.”
The goal of the sport is to win races by completing a series of tasks faster than the opponents. The teams are made up of players with specific roles and Cardona liked how he could focus on his specialty while his team had his back in his weakness. He envisions a future where the sport achieves professional status, with high-paid athletes and championships on national television.
“To have high paid players and agents, that’s the goal,” Cardona said.
Olympic lifting, calisthenics and GRID are some of the movements shaping the fitness landscape in South Florida. They all share a message that remains the same: discipline, effort, and movement can transform lives.
This story is part of a collaboration between Miami’s Community Newspapers and the Lee Caplin School of Journalism & Media at Florida International University.
