Letter from Nick Frieders

Submitted by Bill Clark

LETTER FROM NICK FRIEDERS

Good morning Bill, and happy Sunday. I apologize for the lack of correspondence these last couple months, but I have been working through an extremely transitional period in my life. In summary, since graduating I have done the following:

Traveled to Wyoming with my father to hike the Tetons,

Traveled to Gulfport, Mississippi, with my childhood friends to celebrate our college graduations.

I returned to my old beer distribution job in Aurora to save money,

I landed a different beer distribution job as a relief salesman on the North side of Chicago.

Now, as of this month, I have moved to the northwest neighborhood of Albany Park in Chicago (I’m sure you ran a training camp here no doubt) and I have been training with the sales team in preparation for taking over my own sales route in the city.

Throughout all of the transition I am sure you would be happy to hear, that I am still lifting heavy and am currently looking for opportunities to compete in weightlifting up here.

I have not yet forgot about the USAWA and I hope to return for the deadlift dozen so I may defend my title.

Again, I apologize for my absence these last few months, I have had a lot of life to live following graduation. I hope you and your wife are doing well, and I look forward to coming back to visit soon. Be sure to catch me up on the happenings of the USAWA. How has participation been these last couple postals? Is membership continuing to climb? I look forward to hearing about it.

Best wishes to you,

Nick

Memorial Record Day

By Eric Todd

Denny Habecker and his York Adjustable Krusher.

Denny Habecker and his York Adjustable Krusher.

Meet Announcement

Our honorable president, Denny Habecker has sanctioned the Memorial Record Day.  This meet honors our former USAWA members who have passed over the years.  Some that immediately come to mind are our friends Art Montini, Mike Murdock, Dean Ross, and John McKean.  I know there are many others, and too many to list for our purposes here.  At any rate, it is a great way for us to honor those who have come before us in the organization.  Here are the meet details:

Date: December 16, 2023

Location:   Habecker’s Gym, Lebanon, PA

Please contact Denny if you plan on attending to remember these great people and set or break some USAWA records. You can email him at liftingliar@comcast.net

Lift for Leroy Record Day

By Eric Todd

 

So, it has come time for another  “Lift for Leroy” record day.  It has come to my attention that my brother Leroy’s holiday “episodes” were a mere ruse to garner attention from friends and family.  He would throw himself down the stairs, lie there moaning and wailing for hours, and then call us on it when no one came to check on him.  He would lay down in a snow drift to quietly fade into oblivion, only to loudly verbally accost us for not being concerned.  He would wander down a lonely path of loneliness after a strongman meet, feigning heat stroke merely in hopes that someone would come along, pat him on the little tushy, and call him special. We fell for this tomfoolery for years. We were concerned about his diminutive ego and self worth, thus raising funds for him year after year to bolster his confidence, spirit, and holiday cheer.  Well, no more.  This year’s installment of Lift for Leroy will serve as an intervention.  We invite all USAWA members to join with us at the House of Iron and Stone to call Leroy out for his subterfuge, break up to five records, and air all the grievances we have with Leroy for how he has made our lives miserable with his countless webs of lies.

Date: November 18, 2023

Weigh Ins: 10:00

Lifting Starts: 10:30

Please just let me know you plan on coming.  Email is SalGuimino@yahoo.com

No Awards.  We will do the 4th quarter postal this day as well.  Choose up to 5 lifts to set or break the existing record in. And please, choose as many items of contention that you have to bring to Leroy, or feel free to just insult him.  We all know he deserves it.

 

Member of the Month-June

By Eric Todd

Sanjive completing a curl-strict, reverse grip

Sanjiv completing a curl-strict, reverse grip

The member of the month of July is Sanjiv Gupta.  Though Sanjiv is a relatively new member, he is an enthusiastic one.  Having just competed in Nationals in June, Sanjiv participated in the Colorado record day in July, and set or broke five USAWA records.  This is certainly not where his contribution ends, though.  He was an active participant in the discussion at the national meeting where a few changes were made.  He is serving on the advisory committee, which was newly formed after the national meeting.  Perhaps his most daunting challenge, though, is assisting Scottish Johnny in the capacity of Records Director.  Scottish Johnny has told me that having Sanjiv on board has been a game changer.  His contributions in just his first member as a member of the USAWA have been impressive to say the least.  Congrats Sanjiv!  Well deserved!

2023 World championships

By John Mahon

The 2023 World Championships has been run and was a great day for all involved. We had a small group of local lifters who performed extremely well, breaking multiple world records. This year’s Worlds was run differently to previous Worlds. Due to the low number of competitors who were available to lift the decision was made to reduce the event to a single day meet with 5 lifts being contested. There were many outstanding performances to mention. This was Charlie Carabott’s 2nd time on the platform and he performed very well, breaking the 2” vertical lift record in his division twice. Edmund Patterson (son of John Patterson) was the only Open lifter on the day and wow he is strong. He finished in 2nd place overall which is a very tough thing to achieve for an Opens division lifter at the worlds. Tom Davies has still got it. He finished the day with 3 world records. Big Sam Trew is still as strong as ever. Sam finished with the 2nd heaviest total of the day. Peter Phillips just keeps on amazing everyone with his ability to grind through a deadlift no matter how much pain he is in. The stand out performance of the meet came from David Reeve. David broke the work record in every single lift and took out the overall champion title by a substantial margin. With all said and done this was another fantastic world championship. Everyone involved ensured the day ran smoothly and all the lifters put in a top quality performance.

 

Official results

 

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