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IAWA Meeting Minutes

World Council Meeting Minutes

1st October 2022 – Lebanon PA

 

Meeting Commenced: 14.45 (Chaired by Al Myers)

  • The role call took place, those present – Denny Habecker (USA), Judy Habecker (USA), Al Myers (USA), Danny Kingsland (UK), Paul Barette (UK), Steve Sherwood (UK), Randy Smith (USA), Frank Ciavattone (USA), Beth Skwarecki (USA).
  • Al pointed out that Paul Barette was taking notes on behalf of Steve Gardner
  • Al conducted the IAWA International Vice Presidents Role Call as currently being Steve Gardner of the UK, Denny Habecker and Chad Ullom of the USA, Peter Philips and Robin Lukosas of AUS, also Cliff Harvey of NZ, Jose Jara (SPAIN).
  • Previous meeting minutes, there having been no meetings due to covid in the last two years previous meeting minutes were not available.
  • Report from the IAWA Vice Presidents:
    • Denny Habecker (USA) – nothing to report
    • Steve Gardner (UK) – “I have continued to enjoy holding the post and have represented the UK as much as I have been able to in international events. The recent years have been difficult for IAWA to thrive, and it may continue to be so for a little while, but IAWA is a constant for our members in these troubled times, and I am aware there is a continued interest in our organisation and I feel very excited for the future. If we just keep our cool and continue to provide a platform for our members to lift, I am sure all will be well.”
  • Al Myers then gave his report on the IAWA World Postal Championship. Al was a little concerned that there wouldn’t be a great attendance for this, but it turned out to be a great and he thanked everyone that competed in the competition. There were 44 lifters, up 2 from last year. Countries represented – US, AUS, ENG, CANADA. Al went on to point out that this event is one of three main international events which of course the World Postal is done in the memory of Andy Goddard. The full results are available on the Websites and Facebook Pages. The Overall winner was Abe Smith (USA) Overall best female lifter Beata Banas (ENG). Al apologised for a mistake made in the results and acknowledged this has now been corrected.

The best team of 3 went to Clarks Gym. Overall best club went to MetamorFIT. The USAWA as an organisation came out ahead although it was very close.

  • The forthcoming Gold Cup was promoted to those present and the forthcoming deadline was pointed out. Al went on to say how good last year’s event was and that due to the Covid situation promoters were given the opportunity of re-running events. This Gold Cup is being promoted by Steve Gardner and Stevie Shanks.
  • Report from the IAWA Technical Committee Chairman – Dennis Mitchell, has retired from the position. So, there will be no report. Discussion around a replacement for Dennis will be discussed later in the proceedings.
  • The current technical committee (which oversees rule changes and new lift proposals) is Denny Habecker, Al Myers, Steve Gardner, Steve Sherwood and the 2 representatives from Australia Peter Philips and John Mahon.
  • Report from John Mahon on the World Championships for 2023 (Sept 30 & Oct 1st)
  • Al pointed out that the lifts for the event have not yet been officially approved, they were only received about a week before this current meeting. It was pointed out that the lifts are usually pre-approved by the technical committee. With the difficulties caused by Covid this had not happened. There is further discussion taking place on the selection of lifts. A motion was put forward by Frank to have the Technical Committee Review the proposed lifts, seconded by Denny Habecker and voted for unanimously. When the Lifts are finally approved they will be advertised immediately.
  • Paul Barette was invited to give a report of the Gold Cup for 2023.
    • “We look forward to welcoming you to Eastbourne for the 2023 Gold Cup. Which will be on the first Saturday in November 4th. We will be hosting at the gym. MetamorFIT and I’ll be finding a nice by the seafront somewhere for a banquet, award presentations in the evening and we are very much excited about this. We are expecting a good number of lifters from our club locally but let’s also hope we can welcome a good number of international lifters.
  • New Business:
    • Two new lift proposals:
      • 2 Man 1 Hand Deadlift (from Steve Gardner), rules of the one arm deadlift apply except 2 people on the bar. Which would be added to the set of 2 person lifts. A clarification was made that both lifters must use the same hand. So, it would be a Left Hand 2-man One Hand Deadlift or a Right Hand 2-man One Hand Deadlift.

The lift was passed unanimously.

  • 2 x 1” Vertical Bar Lift (from Gary Ell), rules of the 2 x 2” Vertical Lift apply except is it done with a 1” bar. There was no discussion required on this lift and it was approved unanimously.
  • Election of Officers – Al pointed out that generally, election of officers in IAWA takes place every 4 years. Officers rolled over in 2020. The next election is due in 2024. However there have been changes. Firstly, Frank Allen has stepped down from being our General Secretary a position he has held for many years. Steve Gardner was prepared to take the position. Al highly recommended Steve for this position. Al also wanted to recommend combining the roles of the General Secretary with that of the IAWA Technical Committee Chairman. Al proposed that we change the title to the General Technical Secretary. A motion was raised by Frank Ciavattone, seconded by Steve Sherwood. (Paul Barette pointed out Franks health has deteriorated in the last couple of years and there has been a careful transition of roles and responsibilities within IAWA(UK) because of this). The motion was passed unanimously.

With Steve Gardner taking the new role, his IAWA Vice President Role now needed to be filled along with the other spare position, and Steve Gardner had proposed nominations for the 2 new IAWA(UK) Vice Presidents: Steve Andrews and Paul Barette. Steve Sherwood made the motion; Beth Skwarecki seconded the motion, and the motion was approved unanimously. This will be for a 2-year term as the next election will take place in 2024.

  • Submission of bids for the 2024 World Championships – One bid received from Paul Barette to be held in Eastbourne. Paul added that it would be great to host again after their successful championships in 2018 when we had 29 lifters. The membership has grown a little bit more since then so hoping for a really good turnout.

There was no discussion, and the membership present accepted the bid.

Submission of bids for the 2024 Gold Cup – One bid received from Frank Ciavattone, to held in Boston. Frank promised that all would have great time and Al reiterated this. There was no discussion, and the membership present accepted the bid.

  • There were a few words from Denny on the current World Championships and he pointed out that everyone did great and that there was good teamwork with everyone helping with loading and officiating. Weigh in for day 2 was confirmed as being 9am. Denny was also going to try to bring forward the banquet time and would confirm first thing tomorrow.
  • Motion for adjournment made by Judy Habecker, seconded by Beth. Agreed unanimously.

 

Meeting concluded: 15:16

Minutes from 2017 IAWA AGM

Minutes from the 2017 IAWA General Meeting

By Al Myers, IAWA President

The 2017 Annual IAWA General Meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM, on September 29th at the Belmont Sports Club in Perth, Australia by IAWA President Al Myers. Roll call was taken and these members were in attendance: Al Myers, Peter Phillips, John Mahon, Denny Habecker, Anne Whitehead, Sam Trew, Justine Martin, and Sharni Clifford.  After the roll was taken, a few moments of silence were observed for the late George Dick.  Minutes were read by Al Myers from the 2016 meeting, since General Secretary Frank Allen was not in attendance.  John moved to accept the minutes, a second was made by Sharni, and it passed unanimously.  Reports from the IAWA Vice Presidents were next.  USAWA VP Denny Habecker said there was nothing new to report from the USAWA.  A report from the IAWA-UK VP Steve Gardner was given on his behalf by Al Myers.  In his report Steve stated he wanted to stay on as a IAWA-UK VP and that events in the UK are going strong. The ARWLWA Vice Presidents Robin Lukosius and Peter Phillips gave their reports next. They talked about the expansion of All Round Weightlifting in Australia, which included a new club from Melbourne and hosting of the Australian Championships in Bunbury. They also mentioned successfully getting sponsorship from the City of Belmont for the World Championships. Peter moved to accept the Vice Presidents reports, with a second by John, and it passed unanimously. A report on the 2017 IAWA World Postal Championships by promoter Al Myers was presented next. It was reported that 45 lifters participated in the World Postal, with lifters from the USAWA, IAWA-UK, and the ARWLWA participating. As been the tradition, the first day lifts of the World Championships were contested. Recognition was given to the overall club champion – the Western Australia Club. Peter moved to accept the report, with a second by Robin, and it passed unanimously.  A report on the upcoming 2017 Gold Cup was given by Al Myers since the promoters Matt Finkle and Andy Tomlin were not in attendance.  Andy had forwarded a report which stated that the plans for the 2017 Gold Cup were on track for November 4th  in Glasgow Scotland, and entries were coming in.  John moved to accept the report, with a second by Sam, and it passed unanimously. The IAWA Technical Committee report was next on the agenda, but Chairman Dennis Mitchell was not in attendance so no report was given. A discussion ensued with the technical committee members in attendance (Al Myers, Denny Habecker, and Peter Phillips) commenting that they had not heard of any new news from Dennis regarding any new technical issues to discuss.  Al stated the current members of the technical committee – Dennis Mitchell, Denny Habecker, Al Myers, Steve Gardner, Steve Sherwood, and Peter Phillips.  Peter suggested that we formulate a current email address list for all committee members so better communication may be done in the future. This was agreed upon by consensus. A report on the 2018 IAWA World Championships and 2018 Gold Cup was given next by Al Myers.  This report was sent by IAWA-UK Vice President Paul Barette.  The 2018 Worlds will be promoted by Mark Haydock on October 6-7th, 2018 in England, with a venue to be named at a later date.  The proposed lifts for day one include: Front Squat, Clean and Press behind Neck, One Hand Barbell Snatch, and the One Hand 2” Dumbbell Deadlift.  The proposed lifts for day 2 include: Power Row, Continental Clean and Jerk, and the Deadlift.  The 2018 Gold Cup will be promoted by Frank Allen in Leicester England on October 13th.  It was planned to be the following weekend after the World Championships to encourage overseas competitors to make both events. Discussion following the report centered on the lifts selected for Worlds.   Al Myers stated that these proposed lifts should be evaluated by the Technical Committee before they became official, as this should be a responsibility of the Tech Committee.  Denny moved to accept the report, with a second by John, and it passed unanimously.  There was no Old Business.  New Business was the next agenda item.  John Mahon brought up the interest in the Old Time Strongman in Australia, and how he would like to see a IAWA World Championships for it. Discussion ensued how this would be possible with the current IAWA competitions (Worlds and the Gold Cup), and how it could be done without taking anything away from those competitions. John moved that IAWA host a World Championships for the Old Time Strongman for 2018 in a postal format that would include all lifters from their organization performing the lifts on the same day at a set venue place for all countries involved.  Denny gave a second, and it passed with unanimous vote.  The ad hoc committee of John Mahon and Al Myers will make the plans for the 2018 IAWA Old Time Strongman World Championships.  More new business discussion included more discussion about the technical committee. Al Myers commented that he would like to see equal group representation on the Technical Committee and would like to see another person from Australia added to the Technical Committee.  Al explained that having a technical committee of 7 would be better than 6 for voting purposes, as matters are decided by majority vote. John Mahon agreed he would take the position, and a vote was taken and it passed unanimously.   There was no further New Business.   Next up on the agenda was accepting bids for the 2019 IAWA World Championships and the 2019 IAWA Gold Cup.  Al Myers submitted a bid for the World Championships to be held in Abilene, USA for the first weekend of October.   John Mahon submitted a bid for the 2019 Gold Cup to be held in Perth, Australia the first weekend of November.  There were no other bids.  Peter moved to accept the bids, with a second by Denny, and it passed with unanimous vote.  At this point a few words from the World Championships meet promoter John Mahon was given which included details of the weekend’s competition.  John then moved we adjourn the meeting. A second was given by Sam, and a unanimous vote was taken.   The meeting ended at 8:30 PM.