USAWA

by Al Myers, IAWA President

2016 IAWA Annual Meeting Minutes

The IAWA annual meeting was called to order at 7:30 PM at New York Fitness in Lebanon, PA on Friday, October 7th.  Roll call was taken and these members were attendance: Al Myers, Graham Saxton, Denny Habecker, Karen Gardner, George Dick, LaVerne Myers, Frank Ciavattone, Rocky Morrison, Art Montini, Dennis Mitchell, Timo Lauttamus, Kim Lydon, Peter Phillips, Steve Gardner, Dean Ross, and Mark Raymond. Roll call of the IAWA Vice Presidents was taken and these VP’s were not in attendance: Chad Ullom (US), Robin Lukosis (Australia), Cliff Harvey (New Zealand), and Jose Jara (Spain).

The first agenda item was reading of the 2015 IAWA minutes. IAWA General Secretary Frank Allen was not in attendance and had not delegated anyone to give the minutes on his behalf, thus no minutes were read.

The second agenda item was a report on the World Postal Championships by promoter Steve Gardner. Steve reported over 60 lifters competed representing 5 countries and felt the Postal Championships was very successful. Denny moved to accept the report, with a second by Dean, and it passed unanimously.

The next report was given by myself, on the upcoming Gold Cup held in Abilene, Kansas. I reported that plans are coming along according to schedule and that close to 20 competitors were entered. Dean moved to accept report, with a second by LaVerne, and it passed unanimously.

Next up was the report from the IAWA Technical Committee Chairman Dennis Mitchell.  Dennis informed the membership that a new lift was being proposed, called the Reg Park Bench Press (2-barbell bench press).  The membership had many questions regarding the rules of the lift.  A prior written rule was written and approved by the USAWA, but Dennis did not have that with him. I had brought copies of the rules for the Reg Park Bench Press and passed them amongst the membership at this point which answered all of the questions. Dennis said that this lift had passed the Technical Committee review. However, at this point Technical Committee members Steve Gardner and Peter Phillips replied that they had not been informed of this new lift being proposed. Technical Committee member Denny Habecker remarked that he was not in favor of it because this lift would require 4 spotters for a proper handoff and could not be easily done in a competition.  At this point I declared to the membership that the whole purpose of the Technical Committee was to prior evaluate and vote on a new proposed lift before the meeting, and in this case this was not done properly.  I then dropped this from the agenda and no vote was taken by the membership.

Next up was a report on the 2017 IAWA World Championships, held in Perth Australia. Peter Phillips reported that plans are underway, with the tentative date set for September 30th-October 1st. Lifts proposed were: Day 1 – Cheat Curl, 1 Hand DB Snatch, 1 hand Vertical Bar Lift, and Feet in the air bench press. Day 2- 2″ bar Clean and Press, 1 hand Hack Lift, and 2″ Bar Straddle Lift. Peter said more details will follow later. Dean moved to accept report, with a second by Rocky, and it passed unanimously.

A report by the 2017 Gold Cup promoter George Dick was given next. George reported that the Gold Cup would be held in Glasgow, Scotland on November 4th in their new gym facility. Dean moved to accept with a second by Denny, and it passed unanimously.

There was no old or new business.

Elections of new officers was up next.  Elections in the IAWA happen every 4 years. A call to the membership was made if anyone wanted to run for any postion. There were no takers. A call was then made to the current officers if they wanted to run for another term.  Agreement to stand for their current positions was made by those officers present. Dean moved to retain the current officers of the IAWA for another term. A second was made by LaVerne and it passed unanimously.

Next agenda item was accepting bids for future IAWA Worlds and the Gold Cup. The IAWA schedule is booked up through 2018, so bids would have to be for 2019. I explained that I thought that 3 years in advance was a little too long as lots of things can change between the time putting in the bid and the actual competition. No official bids were made but Frank Ciavattone expressed interest in the 2019 Worlds and George Dick for the 2019 Gold Cups.

2016 World meet promoter Denny Habecker then gave some notifications as applied to the weekend’s competiton and the banquet.

At this time all agenda items had been covered, so Dean moved to adjourn. Frank made a second and it passed unanimously. The meeting ended at 8:30 PM.