Author Archives: Al Myers

2024 Grip Championships

By Al Myers

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT – 2024 USAWA GRIP CHAMPIONSHIPS

The new year is now upon us and with that comes the announcement for the annual Grip Championships! The Grip Championships have always been the first Championship event in the USAWA every year.

This competition has been a popular one in the USAWA throughout the years.  At times it has been one of the largest events attended for the year in the USAWA.  I always try to “mix things up” with the chosen lifts, but have always kept them to official lifts of the USAWA.

MEET DETAILS:

Meet Director:            Al Myers  email: amyers@usawa.com

Meet Date:                 Saturday, February 17th, 2024  1:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Location:                    Dino Gym, 1126 Eden Road, Abilene, KS 67410

Sanction:                    USAWA  – Membership required

Weigh-ins:                  12:00-1:00 PM the day of the meet

Divisions:                   Juniors, Women, Masters, and Open

Awards:                     None

Entry:                        None – But please give advance notification if attending

Lifts:

Pinch Grip – Strict

Vertical Bar Deadlift – 1 Bar, 1″, One Hand

Deadlift – Fingers, Index 

Deadlift – Fulton Bar, Ciavattone Grip

Rim Lift

World Postal

By Al Myers, IAWA President

MEET RESULTS – 

2023 IAWA WORLD POSTAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Another great year for the IAWA World Postal Championships!!

This year we had 51 lifters compete from the United States, Australia, England, and Canada. This World Postal Championships is one of three (with the World Championships and the Gold Cup being the other two) promoted by IAWA.   I want to REALLY thank all those that participated. Your participation is what makes this a great event!  As per the tradition the past few years, the lifts of the first day Worlds were contested.  I’ve included all class winners and best lifters, individual overall rankings for men and women, 3 person team rankings, and club rankings.

I want to give special mention to the overall winners in each category.  The Overall Best Men’s Lifter was ABE SMITH, and the Overall Best Women’s Lifter was MAX ELL.  The Overall Best 3-person Team went to CLARK’S GYM (Abe Smith, Travis Luther, Tony Hose).  The Overall Best Club went to CLARK’S GYM, which had 11 members participate.   The Overall Best Association went to the USAWA, with the IAWAUK in second, and the ARWF in third.

The youngest lifter that entered was KYRAN VOCE at 5years of age. The oldest lifter in the completion was BILL CLARK at 91 years of age! I want to mention 2 lifters who competed as Exhibition Lifters (because of lack of an official to judge their lifts) just to show support to IAWA and the memory of Andy Goddard.  These lifters were Chad Ullom and Sylvia Stockall of Canada.

If anyone notices any errors in these results please let me know as soon as possible so I can get things corrected.  Sometimes I have difficulties reading the handwriting on the official scoresheets.

Again, I want to thank everyone for entering this meet and making it an outstanding annual event in IAWA.

MEET RESULTS (PDF) – 2023 World Postal Results

IAWA World Postal

By Al Myers, IAWA President

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT

2023 IAWA WORLD POSTAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The IAWA World Postal Championships has been announced! It will still be the “Andy Goddard Memorial”.  Andy was a great friend and supporter of the IAWA and as long as I’m involved promoting the World Postal Championships it will be done in Andy’s memory. As it has been the past few years, the lifts for this World Postal will be the first day lifts of the upcoming Worlds. Read the the info sheet as it outlines the “rules of the competition”.  Send your results to me at amyers@usawa.com. Also, please send in the official entry form with your club results. If you have more club entries than on the entry form just include extra entry forms.

INFORMATION SHEET (PDF) – 2023 World Postal Information Sheet

ENTRY FORM (PDF) – 2023 World Postal Entry Form

PLEASE READ THE INFORMATION SHEET

2023 Yearly Award Nominations

by Al Myers

It’s that time of the year again to nominate deserving lifters for the yearly awards!  The USAWA award program was started in 2009 to honor those individuals that displays outstanding achievements throughout the year in different categories.  I have been the USAWA Awards Director that entire time and was the one who started the USAWA Awards Program.  Part of the USAWA budget goes to these awards, which means that part of your membership dues support this program. These awards are awarded at the Annual General Meeting of the USAWA, which occurs at the same time as the National Championships.  Usually the USAWA Awards are “yearly” – meaning they are for the previous year’s accomplishments. I would consider “yearly” as being the time since (and including) last years National Championships.    Now for a little “overview” of the rules for nominations:

  • You  must be a USAWA member to make a nomination or cast a vote
  • Nominated individuals must be a USAWA members to be eligible
  • Only one individual may be nominated per person per award
  • Two nominations for each award may be submitted, one for your choice of the Winner and one for your choice of the runner-up.
  • The awards are for the accomplishments since last June
  • An individual may be nominated for more than one award

These are the different awards for which you should chose your nominations for:

 Athlete of the Year – This award is for the individual who has accomplished the most athletically within the last year in the USAWA. Top placings at the Nationals and World Championships should figure in high. Also, participation in other Championship  Competitions such as the Heavy Lift Championships, the Grip Championships, the Club Championships, the OTSM Championships, the Team Championships, or the National Postal Championships could factor in.  Participation in elite IAWA events such as the Gold Cup should make an influence on earning this award as well.

Leadership Award – This is for an individual that has shown exceptional leadership qualities within the USAWA during the past year. Things that should be looked at are: going above the level expected of an Officer position, promoting sanctioned events with emphasis being on promoting National or World Competitions, promoting the USAWA by developing a strong club, writing articles for publications about the USAWA, or through other means.

Sportsmanship Award – This goes to an individual who possesses and shows great sportsmanship within the USAWA. The act of sportsmanship may be by conduct at all events, or by an specific example of exceptional sportsmanship.

Courage Award – This goes to an individual who shows the courage to overcome an obstacle in order to return to competition. This may be a comeback from an injury, or just having to deal with difficult personal issues but still shows the courage to compete in the USAWA.

Newcomer Award– This award goes to an individual who in new to the USAWA or has become involved again. It doesn’t have to go to someone in their first year of being involved in the USAWA.

As stated earlier in the rules, I would like you to submit your choice for the WINNER and your choice for the RUNNER UP for each award.  I will score it this way:  for each nomination per award I will give 2 points for the nominated winner and 1 point for the nominated runner up.  I will then add up all the points from all nominations with the person receiving the most points declared the winner and the one with the second most points the runner up.  So you can see that the Award Winners are chosen by YOU THE MEMBERSHIP!   That’s the way it should be done.

Please email me at amyers@usawa.com with your nominations.  The deadline for nominations is April 30th.  That’s giving everyone a few weeks to make their decisions.  My experience with this is that if a person does not make their nominations shortly after reading this announcement, it never gets done.  So make it easy on yourself  (and me!) and turn your nominations in today!!!!

Grip Championships

By Al Myers

MEET RESULTS –

2023 USAWA GRIP CHAMPIONSHIPS

Group picture from the 2023 USAWA Grip Championships

Group picture from the 2023 USAWA Grip Championships

It was a great weekend for the USAWA Grip Championships!!

Kevin Fulton back in action lifting the 1" vertical bar

Kevin Fulton back in action lifting the 1″ vertical bar

Four brave grip lifters made an appearance.  The legendary gripster Kevin Fulton made his return to USAWA competition in this event.   It was definitely the highlight of the meet.  Many years ago Kevin would promote the “super grip” competition at his gym which inspired me to start promoting the USAWA Grip Championships, so having him in attendance was a special treat.   Kevin still has that strong grip and he didn’t miss a single lift because his grip failed.

Our president Denny Habecker made the trip again this year to attend the meet.  Denny has competed in several of the USAWA Grip Championships.

Lance Foster had just been to the Dino Gym for the Dino Challenge and he had so much fun he came back for the Grip Champs!

LaVerne Myers was the overall champion of the day.  This makes it his SIXTH time winning the overall – the most ever in Grip Championship history

 

Meet Results:

2023 Grip Championships
Saturday, February 11th
Dino Gym, Abilene, Kansas

Meet Director: Al Myers

Meet Official (1 official system used):  Al Myers

Lifts: Strict Pinch Grip, Vertical Bar Deadlift 1 bar 1″ one hand, Deadlift Fingers Index, Deadlift Fulton Bar Ciavattone Grip, Rim Lift

MENS DIVISION

Lifter Age BWT Pin VB DLIF DLFB Rim TOT PTS
LaVerne Myers 78 220 107 145R 160 231 275 918 1182.0
Denny Habecker 80 183 78 105R 100 198 195 676 988.9
Kevin Fulton 63 313 127 205R 160 220 245 957 843.6
Lance Foster 57 256 112 170R 170 176 215 843 779.1

EXTRA FOR RECORDS:
Lance Foster  Strict Pinch Grip 117#
Kevin Fulton Strict Pinch Grip 137#
Denny Habecker VB DL 1 bar 1″  115#
Denny Habecker Index Fingers DL  110#
Kevin Fulton DL FB, CG  242#

All lifts recorded in pounds.  BWT is bodyweight in pounds. R and L designate right and left hands. TOT is total pounds lifted. PTS are overall adjusted points corrected for age and bodyweight.

RECORD DAY LIFTS – 2 officials were used on each lift (Al Myers, LaVerne Myers, Denny Habecker)

Al Myers – 56 years old, 229# BWT
Rim Lift  325#
Bench Press Hands Together 190#
Foot Press 1050#
Bearhug 235#
Holdout Raised 50#

LaVerne Myers – 78 years old, 220# BWT
Curl Cheat Reverse Grip 80#
Curl Cheat  101#
Continental to Belt 155#
BearHug 185#
Hack Lift Left Arm  125#

Denny Habecker – 80 years old, 186# BWT
Curl Cheat Reverse Grip 80#
Bench Press Feet in Air  140#
Dumbbell Press Right Arm 45#
Hack Lift Right Arm 135#
Jefferson Lift 220#

 

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