USAWA

By Eric Todd

Records and the record book are important aspects of the USAWA.  Some lifters are set on winning national and world championships, some are set on placing as highly as they can in meets, and some really like to go after records.  Some are interested in doing all of these.  As is evidence by record days and the “Century Club” records are an important part of our organization.    It has come to light to me recently what a challenging chore it can be to serve in the capacity of records director in our organization.  I am going to make some changes in order to make this role one that can be done by a volunteer servant without burning them out and quitting the role.

1-Effective January 1, 2022. any member who has a record that is recorded incorrectly, has up to 90 days from the date of the record update (which is recorded when it is updated) to notify me of the mistake so that I can relay that mistake to Scottish Johnny for review and possible correction.  Any mistake brought up past the 90 days will not be considered for correction.  So, if you are a person invested in your record count and such, please review each update in a timely fashion to be sure your records have been correctly recorded.

2-Though we are not currently requiring it, we are urging meet directors to place an asterisk next to any lifts done in competition that are new records.  Some promoters are already doing this.  You can employ the help of your lifters in this endeavor.  That way SJ will know what lifts to cross reference with the record list.

3-This is not a change, but a reminder.  Please list the results of your meets with the names of the lifts as they appear in the rule book/record list.  Failure to do so places additional work on myself and Scottish Johnny.

4- Though there is nothing currently in the rules against it, if every meet sanctioned has a huge number of lifts, it taxes our record director unnecessarily and makes it where our org seem like a records factory instead of a place for legit competition.  Please keep this in mind when attempting to sanction a meet with an inordinate number of lifts.  Keep in mind, powerlifting has 3, weightlifting has 2 (at this point in time), strongman tends to have around 5.  Nothing wrong with having a few more from time to time, but not every meet needs to be a marathon.

Remember, our records director (among the other positions) is a volunteer position.  In order for an org like ours to continue on, we have to keep these volunteers willing to keep working.  Please consider that when sanctioning meets, reporting meets, and navigating our records.