Coach J.T. Silvers watches members of his weightlifting team perform lifts during a session at Tipton Lakes Athletic Club in Columbus, Ind., Friday, July 11, 2025.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Editor’s note: This story is a followup to a sports story published July 16 regarding J.T. Silvers and his current status after the conclusion of a domestic violence case in Bartholomew Superior Court 1.
COLUMBUS, Ind. — A weightlifting coach at the Tipton Lakes Athletic Club who was recently a source of a story in The Republic’s sports section about a club there has confirmed he is continuing employment there following the conclusion of a court case in which he pleaded guilty to confinement and was sentenced to probation after a domestic violence incident.
J.T. Silvers confirmed Thursday that two charges were filed against him in 2023 in Bartholomew Superior Court 1, confinement and domestic battery, stemming from an incident between Silvers and his former girlfriend. The charges were initially Level 6 felonies, but in a plea bargain agreement, the domestic battery charge was dismissed and he pleaded guilty to criminal confinement.
Silvers was placed on a year of probation after the sentencing on June 23 and was ordered to have no contact with his former girlfriend as part of the disposition of the case.
“From the moment that the incident occurred, everyone that I am employed by and work with has been aware. The parents of the children that I work with I also work with themselves, they’ve been aware and have stood by me and supported me,” Silvers said by phone Thursday.
According to court records, in the 2023 incident, a local woman was arrested after her boyfriend reported a stabbing in the 1900 block of Shellbark Court.
Bartholomew County Sheriff deputies were sent to the address after the victim alleged his girlfriend came at him with a knife and stabbed him in the leg, according to investigators. The victim, who was treated by medical staff on scene and released, also told investigators his then-girlfriend sprayed him with pepper spray during the incident.
Deputies attempted to make contact with the woman over the phone as well as verbally through the doors and windows of the home, but there was no answer at the residence which was locked. Deputies continued to make efforts to contact her but were unsuccessful, according to investigators.
A short time later, a family member of the woman arrived on scene and told deputies that he told her not to come outside until he was there. At this time, she exited the residence and was detained by deputies without incident.
She declined to speak about the incident with deputies and was then transported to the Bartholomew County Jail on the charges of domestic battery with deadly weapon, domestic battery with moderate injury and domestic battery, according to court records. Those charges were later dropped by the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s office. At that time, prosecutors said the victim had recanted and would not cooperate as a witness in the prosecution of the case against the woman, resulting in the charges being dismissed.
“The charges that were levied against me did occur,” Silvers stated. “The court case has been settled. I’ve been entered with a misdemeanor in this case because it was pled down due to a lack of evidence being that neither party filed a police report or gave a written statement.”
ORIGINAL STORY published on July 16, 2025
Hitting Their Stride: Columbus weightlifting club growing after two years of existence
J.T. Silvers originally started with a group of adults with weightlifting at Tipton Lakes Athletic Club, but once interest spread to the high school students, he decided to form a weightlifting club.
Silvers helps out with high school kids and adults in the club for two years. The members have competed in several competitions and hope to grow the membership in the future.
Silvers grew up in southwest Indiana and graduated from Mount Vernon High School in Posey County in 2013. He obtained a bachelor’s degree from Hanover College in physiology and a master’s degree from the University of Indianapolis in kinesiology and exercise science. He played football at Hanover until an injury ended his career.
Silvers discussed with a group of high school kids if they were interested in a club. That was when it took off. Silvers had four members initially, but when word started to spread, the membership grew.
“As we started getting them into competition, they bought in and they wanted to pursue a little bit further. It’s been a really cool process. We’ve always had sometime between three-to-eight adults as part of the team as well, either folks that had athletic experience or are looking for different ways to do resistance training,” Silvers said. “This energy of having more mature folks around as having high school has been really cool because it gives them an opportunity to learn from some young professionals with much of them in their 30s. It’s really helped push both sets of groups outside their comfort zone and continue to build and continue to rise through the ranks as far as the lifts are concerned.”
Silvers found interest in weightlifting when a former teammate and a lifelong friend from high school and college guided him into the transition of weightlifting. Silvers was apprehensive about it at first. It only took him a month to get comfortable, dedicated and confident in the sport.
“My big motivation was to try to get involved in sports, whether it was at the youth or middle school level or high school level. Being I was a high school and collegiate athlete, I wanted to give back to sports in a way,” Silvers said. “I have had a little bit of experience doing some speed and agility training. As far as sports performance is concerned, I wanted to get a little bit more background, a little bit more education on it. When I was in college to get my Masters degree at UIndy, I also was going to pursue the certification and become a weightlifting coach.”
Elijah Clark, an incoming senior at Columbus North is one of the experienced members of the club. He’s participated in five Olympic weightlifting competitions. He’s been weightlifting for 2 1/2 years.
“When I first got a tour of the gym, J.T. talked to my dad and I, and that’s when we started. I got all signed up,” Clark said. “It was a really good environment. I had some friends doing it prior to me doing it. It was good for me sports, so I started doing it and ended up getting better and better and fell in love with it.”
Along with weightlifting, Clark plays on the golf team for the Bull Dogs. He said he trains three times a week during the season.
“It’s something you could do every day if you wanted. You’re not going to get fatigued or sore,” he said. “You could do it and get better and better every day still. It’s not something I dread to do, it’s something that I look forward to do.”
Another incoming senior at North, Jackson Brewer, said his interest in weightlifting spiked after his freshman year. After meeting with Silvers, he gave it a try and has fallen in love since.
Brewer said weightlifting has kept him constant in many parameters. He plays baseball for the Bull Dogs and will play on the football team for the first time this fall.
“I feel like weightlifting helped me out with consistency as a person and giving a consistent efforts and trying to get better at something and staying committed to something,” he said. “It’s helped me, as a whole, made me stronger and made me better at my sport. I feel like it’s going to correlate very well with the strength and the movements, and it will instill on the qualities in football.”
Brewer and Clark both said they would like to continue with weightlifting following high school graduation next year.
“I’ve progressed a lot. It’s definitely something I’ll keep doing in the future. It’s good for your body. If you play sports, it’s really good. It helps train your explosiveness and strength. It can really help you with any sport you play,” Clark said. “As time went on, I got to know a lot of new people that I’m really good friends with now. I got to bring some of my friends in and got to grow them in their strength. The environment here is great. Everyone is friends with each other and rooting each other on. We all try to push each other to get better.”
