Local athletes competing in strongman competition
Fundraiser to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

Central New Jersey high school football players will compete in a strongman competition/fundraiser on Sunday at The Underground Strength Coach Gym in Edison to benefit The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

All athletes are required to donate a minimum of $25 to enter the fundraiser competition. Local families and friends are encouraged to come watch and support these young athletes as they contribute to a worthy cause.

The fundraiser will begin at 9 a.m. (registration and contest rules) and the contest will begin at 9:30 a.m.

The contest/fundraiser will be in the form of a strongman contest, which is what many people have witnessed before on ESPN where the strongest men in the world flip thousand-pound tires and press 300-pound logs over their head. This strongman contest will have four events, one of which will be an unannounced surprise for the athletes entering the contest.

The athletes who will be taking part in the fundraiser will be local high school football players coming from high schools such as Edison High School, J.P. Stevens High School, Piscataway High School, Metuchen High School and Bishop George Ahr High School.

This fundraiser is being organized by the owner of The Underground Strength Coach Gym, Zach Even-Esh. Even-Esh is a world-renowned strength coach who focuses on improving the athletic performance of high school and collegiate athletes.

Years ago, when Even-Esh was getting started in the fitness profession, he was lost and had no direction. Even-Esh had contacted the top coaches in the field for guidance with no luck, until one man stepped forward, and that man is Alwyn Cosgrove, one of the most sought-after performance and fat-loss coaches in the world.

Even-Esh received endless hours of priceless coaching from Cosgrove, all of which kick-started Even-Esh's career into high gear. Through regular contact, Cosgrove and Even-Esh became close friends. Even-Esh promised Cosgrove that he would one day find a way to pay him back for all his coaching, support and most of all his selfless friendship.

Little did Even-Esh know that the entire time Cosgrove was coaching him through phone and e-mail, Cosgrove was going through cancer.

Cosgrove, a former international taekwondo champion, was no stranger to fighting, so he battled his way through cancer and chemotherapy to come out on top. One year after remission, the cancer had grown back again and Cosgrove was back in the "ring" for his second battle with cancer.

Cosgrove refused to bow down and be defeated, so he beat cancer for a second time. Staying true to his nature of "pay it forward," Cosgrove spearheaded a project to benefit The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which was called "Lift Strong," similar to Lance Armstrong's "Live Strong."

The main thing Even-Esh learned from Cosgrove was to "pay it forward," pass on what you have learned to the next up-and-coming hungry kid in the industry and give back to others who are in need.

Now that Even-Esh has opened his own athletic training facility in Edison, he is kicking it off immediately with what he was taught, and that is to "pay it forward."

The strongman fundraiser will be followed by a free question-and-answer session with Even-Esh and the athletes competing, as well as any of the people who come to watch. The athletes will get a chance to experience a great competition, the beauty of "paying it forward" through their contribution to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and priceless information on how to skyrocket their athletic performance through Even-Esh's innovative training methods, which he calls "Underground Strength Training."