Process Powerlifting is returning to Team Champs to defend their 2025 title. Following a six year hiatus, Process Powerlifting returned to Team Champs in 2025 with a hugely dominant performance, taking out both the Challengers Bracket on Day One, and the overall competition.

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 2026 by Jordan De Stefano, Kelvin Tran, Richard Chalik and Charles Kaufusi.

Making the trip over from Tasmania, Compound Training is the coaching team headed by powerlifting coach Jack Dunn.

The team made their Team Champs debut in 2025 with a very impressive performance, taking out the overall second place from the Challengers Bracket.

Compound Training are returning in 2026 with a team as, if not more forceful than their last. They are to be represented by an all female team of lifters: Sophie Dobson, Abby Drummond, Natalia Leszczynski and Kaitlyn Krahe.

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 fourth showing at the Team Champs.

Apex are always one to look out for at Team Champs, having placed third in both 2025 and 2026.

With plenty of Team Champs experience among the team, representing Apex this year will be Daichi Furukawa, Will Woodrow, Gabriel Lattouf and Tony Reinmuth.

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

Head coach, Michael, has led ESS to a two previous podium performances with a second place in 2024 and third place in 2023.

With a few Team Champs veterans among their team, ESS will be represented in 2026 by Annabelle D’Cruz, Aaron Tran-Hoang, Justin Polychronopolous and Hung Phan.

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.

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 Simon Li, Stefan Krozian, Yoshi Abey and William Roshier.

SR Strength Collective is a strength and powerlifting gym located in Altona. They’ve been making moves in the Melbourne powerlifting scene, newly moving in to a much larger warehouse space just this month.

SR narrowly missed the podium and the prize pool in 2025, taking out fourth place. Knowing what they’re capable of, we expect they’ll be very hungry for a result this year.

SR is to be represented in 2026 by a whole new team of four: Leah Wu, Lagi Fruean, Gary Cheung and Aaron Carew.

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 have really made their mark on Team Champs, with a promotion from the Challengers Bracket in their 2024 debut and a fifth place finish in 2025.

In 2026 they will be represented by lifters Corey Rowe, Tyson Andrews, Toby Taylor and Jason Oakley.

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

Paragon is returning for their fifth Team Champs, competing in the Premier Bracket for the first time following a very successful performance and a promotion in 2025.

Headed by coach Bec Chambers, they will be represented this year by lifters Sophie D’Amico, Kristyn Bennett and Ashish Madhyastha, with their fourth lifter yet to be named.

The Wide Bois are a powerlifting team based here in Melbourne. Headed by Brian Ong, the team made their Team Champs debut in 2025, and scraped through made a Premier Bracket promotion.

Their 2026 team will feature Emanuele Torrefiel, Atif Hossain, Lisa Mai and Yamato O’Keeffe.

Melbourne University Lifting Club is one of the oldest powerlifting clubs in Melbourne. The team returned to Team Champs following a two year in 2025 and stamped their ticket to the premier bracket with a strong 7th place finish.

The team will be coached this year by Jonah Summersell and represented by Mischa Monteiro, Jessica Arambe, Aidan Hai Au Loughan and Stefan Solagratio Simanjuntak,

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 to Challengers Bracket and we remain 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 Kaley Nguyen, Dani Cheng, Bernie Yap and Paul Llanes.

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 fourth appearance at Team Champs. The team have represented themselves beautifully over the last three years, really cementing themselves as the lifting and social club, with equal parts professionalism and vibes.

Groove will be represented this year by Constance Pandousis, Rebecca Chambers, Brochelle Georgeson and Dean Antoniadis.

The Strength Syndicate is a strength and powerlifting club located in Canberra, owned and operated by Schae Zarew, multiple time Aus champion.

2026 will be their first appearance at the Team Champs and they have a strong team with which to make their debut.

Representing them in 2026 are Caitlyn Baljak, Haynes Crossley, William McAlonan and Schae Zarew herself.

Nexus Performance is new to the Melbourne Powerlifting Scene. Very established in Queensland and online, their third site opened in Brunswick in the north of Melbourne earlier this year.

They are making their debut at Team Champs in 2026, represented by Elizabeth Nguyen, Victoria Alexiadis, Samuel Russell and James Cooper.

Didier, formerly Head Coach of Melbourne Strength Culture has fielded a strong team at Team Champs since the competitions inception. With the gym closing down earlier this year, Didier will bring his own team to the 2026 competition.

His team will be represented by Melissa-Jane Robb, Fletcher Teelow, Callan Beaton and Micah Framien.

The Average Joes are the Powerlifting Team Brad Scott Personal Training.

Brad is a personal trainer based in Melbourne who’s quickly making a name for himself in the powerlifting scene. Though not a particularly competitive team, Brad is aiming to put together the best personal performances possible for his squad and enjoy being part of this big contest for the first time.

They will be represented in 2026 by Alisha Balbul, Phoebe Moresby, Jacob Hall and Brad Scott himself.

The Blunt Force Baddies are a foursome of friends who’ve put together their team specifically to compete at Team Champs 2026.

Training out of a number of different gyms in Melbourne’s East, the four consist of Kimberley Szeredi, Alyse Salib, Madison Snowden and Victoria Talaina

Stoic Systems is the coaching brand run by Francesco Liberti and his wife India Liberti.

Based in Wollongong, Francesco coaches his squad both online and in person.

He’s bringing his best four lifters, including himself to Team Champs for the first time in 2026. His team is completed by by Marli Brodbeck, Jackson Mitchell and Samuel Burbury.

That’s right, the Stoic Systems brand are actually bringing TWO teams to Team Champs in 2026. Their second team, dubbed the Stoic Systers are made up of four women coached under the Stoic Brand, including coach India.

Hungry to make their mark and take out both first and second place in their first Team Champs, the all woman quad features India Liberti, Emily Gasson, Jasmyn Connell and Annalise Carter.

Summit Systems is the coaching team headed by Tony Nguyen. No stranger to Team Champs, Tony has been involved since the competition’s inception, previously with Elemtental Strength Society.

Fielding his own team for the first time, Tony will represent Summit himself alongside Yvonne Dai, Carlos Bucu and Logan Quinn.

Jessica Lui is no stranger to TSF as someone who has competed at our venue many times before as a Melbourne based powerlifter.

An exceptional athlete in her own right, this up and coming coach has put together her team, Defy Coaching, to compete at Team Champs for the very first time

Defy will be represented by Jess Liu, Rebecca Nguyen, Karly Rosenbrock and Jett Bolton.

Chris Yip is a well established powerlifter and coach based out of the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne. He has a long history at Team Champs, having previously represented Uplift Performance (formerly Liu Lift) as an athlete and as the head coach of Dark Horse Powerlifting in 2024.

In 2026, he’s again bringing his team to compete on day one. Dark Horse this year will be represented by Samantha Huang, Anthea Lam, Jevan Tan and Alex O’Connor.

Resilience Performance is a personal training brand run by Lina Tran out of Preston Melbourne.

As someone who’s competed at Team Champs twice before representing Melbourne Strength Culture, Lina recognises the power and value of lifting at our comp. For the first time as a coach though, she brings her team, Resilience Performance to compete at Team Champs.

Representing Resilience are Sara Grano, Su Ling Ching, Nick Love and Natasha Viselka.

Husla Gym is a premier strength and bodybuilding facility located in Moorabbin, in the east of Melbourne.

Their Team Champs team has been fielded by the members themselves, with several of them having represented other Teams at Team Champs previously.

They will be coached by Justin Allen and represented by Carol Chew, Jayden Truong, Jack Scott and Ruben Trevisan.

Jacob Duong was a Sydney based lifter and coach who’s been in the game since 2019. After moving to Melbourne less than two years ago, he’s bringing his team, Adaptive Strength Coaching, to Team Champs for the very first time. Having never competed or coached at our venue, let alone a Team Champs, before, he’ll have his work cut out to keep up with the high pace and standard.

Representing Adaptive Strength are Alex Street, Sara Diblasi, Bernadette Chuan and Tyson Lam.