USAWA

By Al Myers, USAWA Secretary

2017 Annual General Meeting Minutes

The 2017 Annual Meeting of the USAWA was called to order by USAWA President Denny Habecker at 4:30 PM on June 24th, 2017 at the West Park YMCA in Cleveland following the days lifting.  Roll call was taken with these members in attendance: Denny Habecker, Al Myers, Dennis Mitchell, Cale Dunlap, Cody Lokken, Brandon Rein, Frank Ciavattone, Kathy Schmidt, Scott Schmidt, Roger LaPointe, Jackson LaPointe, Bob Geib, Susan Sees, LaVerne Myers, Tim Moore, Judy Habecker, and Randy Smith. Previous years minutes were read by Al Myers, Secretary. Frank moved to accept the minutes with a second by Judy.  It passed unanimously. The treasurers report was given by Al Myers, Treasurer. A break even year was reported for the USAWA in 2017. Frank moved to accept the report, with a second by Bob, and it passed unanimously. Next a report from website director Al Myers was given. A long listing of things the website provides was given. Judy moved to accept, a second was made by Frank, and it passed with unanimous vote. The report from the Awards Director Al Myers was given next, which included the function of the awards program and the presentation of the annual awards. Frank moved to accept the report, a second was given by Randy, and it passed unanimously. The report from Records Director Al Myers was given next which included how the record list is now online, that a sort function by Rocky Morrison was added to help sort and identify records, and a call to the membership if errors are noticed please notify the director so errors can be fixed.  Frank moved to accept, a second was given by Bob, and it passed unanimously. The Drug Enforcement Director report was given next.  Chad Ullom was not in attendance but prepared a report for Al Myers to give on his behalf. Close to 20 drug tests in over 10 competitions were done during the past year, with all negative results.  Intentions are to do the same number of tests during the next year.  Frank moved to accept, with a second by Judy, and it passed with unanimous vote.  The next agenda item was the Officials Report.  The USAWA Officials Director is Joe Garcia, who was not in attendance and had not forwarded his report to anyone to give on his behalf, so no Officials Report was given.  Al Myers commented that giving a Directors Report is expected of a USAWA Director, and not giving one is not fulfilling the expectations of the position.  Denny Habecker, the Postal Meet Director, gave his report next. Denny explained how the postal meets function, with one every quarter.  He made a call to the membership for more participation.  Frank moved to accept the report, a second was made by Scott, and it passed with unanimous vote.  The report from the IAWA Technical Committee Chairman Dennis Mitchell was given next. Dennis commented that no complaints have been made to the committee and nothing new has been presented. Frank moved to accept the report, a second was made by Bob, and it passed unanimously. The presentation of three new proposed lifts were the next agenda item. The rule of the  first lift, the Clark Lift proposed by Bill Clark, was read to the membership by Al Myers. All new proposed lifts must first be reviewed and voted on by the Executive Board in order to be presented to the membership for vote. Discussion included Randy Smith asking about the height of the bar at the lifters 1/3rd height being used, and wondered if a set height like the Peoples Deadlift should be used instead.  Al Myers commented that a fraction of a person’s height has been used in other lifts like the Anderson Squat and Anderson Press.  Randy then asked if the Clark Lift has every been done in competiton as an exhibition lift to see how it went.  No one in attendance had a comment on this question. The general concensus of the members in attendance felt that it should be tried out first as an exhibition lift before being passed as a new official lift of the USAWA.  Bob moved to table the vote, a second was made by Randy, and it passed unanimously. The next proposed lifts were the Pinch Grip Deadlift and the Pinch Grip Strict, proposed and presented by Al Myers. I read the new proposed rules of each. I explained how the current rules for the Pinch Grip have been lacking in description, and that the lift has turned into a Pinch Grip Deadlift with the excessive front hang being used. The proposal was to rename the current Pinch Grip as the Pinch Grip Deadlift with some minor rule changes so current records would not be lost, and the introduction of a new Stict Pinch Grip which would not allow fronthang/backhang which was the original intent of the Pinch Grip Lift. There was no discussion amongst the membership. Frank moved to accept these two new lifts with a second by Bob, and it passed with unanimous vote.  Discussion and vote on some rule changes was next. The first rule change was the addition of the Thumb Lift to the rule book as it had been previously passed years ago as a official lift but never added to the Rulebook.  Frank moved to accept, with a second by Bob, and it passed unanimously. The second rule change was to add the word “strict” to the name of the Reverse Curl for clarification of the lift.  Bob moved to accept, a second was made by Scott, and it passed with unanimous vote.  New Business was the next agenda item. There was no new business.  Election of officers were next.  A call by the President to current officers if they wanted to remain in office was made.  Frank Ciavattone requested that he not run for re-election. All other officers agreed to run again for their current position. Frank nominated Rocky Morrison to the Executive Board to replace his position. No other nominations were made by any member in attendance. A vote was taken to retain the current officers and Rocky to the Executive Board as all officers/executive board members were running unopposed.  It passed with unanimous vote. The officers of the USAWA for the next two years are: President Denny Habecker, Vice President Chad Ullom, Secretary/Treasurer Al Myers, At Large Executive Board Members Dennis Mitchell and Rocky Morrison. Nationals meet director Bob Geib then gave a short report on the weekends events and the upcoming banquet.  Bob thanked Scott for his help in planning the Nationals.  Bob then moved to adjourn the meeting with a second by Frank, and it passed unanimously.  The meeting ended at 4:55 PM making it the shortest Annual Meeting of the USAWA in history, which was a good thing as we had to be out of the facility by 5:00PM.