USAWA

by Al Myers, USAWA Secretary

MINUTES FROM THE 2013 ANNUAL NATIONAL MEETING

The 2013 USAWA Annual National Meeting was called to order by President Denny Habecker at 6:30 PM, Saturday, June 29th at the residence of the Habeckers.  Roll call was taken and there were 14 members in attendance:  Al Myers, Denny Habecker, Chad Ullom, James Fuller, Frank Ciavattone, Dennis Mitchell, Bob Geib, Susan Sees, Randy Smith, Judy Habecker, Scott Schmidt, Dick Durante, Colleen Lane, and Art Montini.  Minutes from the 2012 meeting  in Las Vegas were read by USAWA secretary Al Myers.  Chad moved to accept the minutes with a second by Scott Schmidt.  The minutes passed unanimously.  A treasurer report was then read by Al Myers. A 2013 income and expense report was discussed, along with a 2013 budget which has been previously reviewed and approved by the USAWA executive board. Highlights of the report included a net loss for 2012 of $631.18, and budget plans for how to not lose money for the USAWA in 2013.  Memberships for 2012 were 116 members, which membership dues is the largest source of income for the organization. Bob moved to accept the report, James gave a second, and it passed unanimously. The Officials Report was next read by Denny Habecker, on behalf of the Officials Director Joe Garcia who was not in attendance.  Highlights included the addition of two new Level 2 officials, Chad Ullom and Thom Van Vleck, and the status of 7 officials who let their official certification status lapse by not renewing by retaking the Rules Test.  The report ended with an apology from Joe for not being able to be in attendance, as he had business conflicts.  Chad moved to accept the report, James gave a second, and it passed unanimously.  Next  was the Website  Directors Report by Website Director Al Myers.  Highlights included the reporting over over 1000 blogs on the website, the average hits on the site being over 500 daily, and the status of the online USAWA store which has generated $900 in annual sales last year.  The report included the hope to eventually get sponsors to help offset the website expenses.  Frank moved to accept the report, Scott gave a second, and it passed unanimously.  The next report was the reading of the Records Directors Report by Denny Habecker, again on behalf of Joe Garcia the Records Director.  Highlights of the report included the addition of over 750 records over the past year, trivia record information on the amount of records in different catagories, and the top USAWA record holders.  Joe ended by mentioning that if anyone wants a copy of the record list they should just send him an email and he will send them a current list in Excel format.  James moved to accept the report, Chad gave a second, and it passed unanimously.  The Awards Directors Report was read next by Awards Director Al Myers.  Highlights of the report included how the awards program works,  the purpose of it, with the main purpose being the presentation of the annual USAWA awards.  A budget of $1000 is allocated to the awards program, and in 2012 that entire amount was used to buy the awards presented on behalf of the USAWA.  Chad moved to accept, James gave a second, and it passed unanimously.  Next up was the report from the Drug Enforcement Director Chad Ullom.  Chad stated that 20 drug tests were conducted over this past year at 8 competitions, with no positive tests found.  Discussion included one statement from Scott Schmidt that Chad’s report was very comprehensive, which generated  a very chuckles from the membership. Bob moved to accept the report, Scott gave a second, and it passed unanimously.  The last report was the Postal Meet Directors report read by Al Myers on behalf of John Wilmot, who was not in attendance. Al read a letter to the membership from John in which John stated his goals in developing the postal meets and how he feels they have been well received over the past year, and how he greatly supports the postal series concept which includes a yearly ranking of all lifters who have competed in at least one of the quarterly postal meets.   Chad moved to accept the report, Scott gave a second, and it passed unanimously. Next up on the agenda was the discussion and proposal of one new lift to the membership, the Hackenschmidt Floor Press.  This new Old Time Strongman lift was originally proposed to the Executive Board by Al Myers following it being contested as an exhibition lift in the Dino Challenge Old Time Strongman meet in January.  A written rule for the lift was read which had been previously reviewed and approved by the Executive Board.  There was no discussion.  Frank moved to accept the lift, a second was made by Chad, and it passed unanimously.  Al then moved that the records set at the Dino Challenge be accepted as records retroactively, as the same rule was used at that time for this lift.  Chad gave a second.  There was no discussion and an unanimous vote in favor was taken. At this point, a call to the membership was made by USAWA secretary Al Myers if anyone had any official USAWA lift they would like to see presented to IAWA to be voted on for official IAWA lift status at the IAWA meeting.  This is mandated by the USAWA rules if new lifts are to be presented to IAWA on behalf of the USAWA – they must receive majority membership support at the annual meeting before being presented.  No lifts were proposed by the USAWA memberships to be presented for IAWA lift acceptance.  The next order of business was the discussion of USAWA Rulebook changes.  Al read a short list of proposed changes, which included:  state 18″ max height for seat in seated clean and press, add scoring guidelines to the rulebook, add to measure to the bottom of bar in the Anderson Press, Peoples Deadlift, and the Anderson Squat, develop a different section for guidelines in the rulebook for the National Championships, and add a deadline for turning in meet results to the USAWA Secretary of 1 week following a competition/event or it will result in loss of sanction.  There was no discussion.  Chad moved to accept the rulebook changes, Judy gave a second, and it passed unanimously. Next was any other New Business brought up by the membership. Art brought up a discussion asking why two weighins are required for two day meets (one on each day).  Al explained that the rules state that weighins are not required both days, but a second day weighin is required if a lifter wants to set records on that day, but the first day weighin determines the official weight for the entire two day competition.  Arguments in support of having a one day weighin were made, with several feeling that  a lifters bodyweight is generally not much different the second day than the first.  Art then moved to allow for a weighin on the first day for two day meets which would allow records to be set on the second day under the weighin of the first day.  Scott gave a second.  Discussion continued with those opposed not feeling that it was fair to those current record holders who’s records could be broken by someone who did not weighin that same day as previously been required.  A vote was taken and the motion failed.  Five were in favor – Art, Scott, Dick, Chad, and James.  Nine were against – Al, Denny, Judy, Frank, Susan, Bob, Dennis, Randy, and Colleen.  The next item for discussion was brought up by Chad as to why the USAWA Record List was not on the website yet, considering this issue was discussed at last years Annual National Meeting as well.  Al responded with the same answer  he gave the prior year. Al stated firmly that three criteria must be met for the record list to be included on the website, which are: 1. only official USAWA  lifts recorded in the record list, 2. all lifts be named the same in the record list as in the USAWA rulebook, and 3. overall records kept that are required by the rulebook.   Al went on to state that these requests are minimal requirements for the record list, and if the current record list is placed online as is it would result in a barrage of questions and complaints to himself, the webmaster. Scott moved that these record list requirements be directed to Joe Garcia, the Record List Director, and that compliance is obtained in 90 days or the Executive Board has the authorization to find a replacement. The motion included that this directive be performed by President Denny Habecker. Frank gave the second. There was no further discussion and a vote was taken.  It passed unanimously.  The next agenda item was taking bids for the 2014 USAWA National Championships. Only one bid was submitted, and it was from Tim Piper of the Salvation Army Gym in Macomb, Illinois.  The bid was read by Al, since Tim was not able to be in attendance.  Al went on to state his support of Tim’s bid, and how he feels this would be an excellent venue for the Nationals.  There was no discussion.  Scott moved to accept the bid, James gave a second, and it passed unanimously.  The last agenda item was the election of new officers and executive board members.  Elections are held in the USAWA every two years, on odd-numbered years.   Discussion included support of the current officers and executive board members, and nobody  in attendance voiced any desire to want to run for any position. Bob moved to retain the current officers and executive board members for another term.  Randy gave a second, and it passed unanimously.  Officers and Executive Board members include: President Denny Habecker, Vice President Chad Ullom, Secretary/Treasurer Al Myers, at large Executive Board member Dennis Mitchell, and at large Executive Board member Scott Schmidt.  This concluded the agenda items for the 2013 Annual National Meeting.  Chad moved to adjourn the meeting, James gave a second, and it passed unanimously.  President Denny Habecker declared the meeting adjourned at 7:50 PM.