USAWA

by Al Myers

The USAWA has 4 postal meets per year (March, June, September, and December), with the last one being designated as the Postal Championships. All these together make up the Postal Meet Series. Each postal meet a lifter competes in generates points for him/her, that total up for the final Postal Series Ranking.

The way the points are generated is pretty simple. I take the overall placings of the meet and then reverse “the count” for the points earned for each lifter. I.E – if three lifters compete lifter number 1 gets 3 points, lifter number 2 gets 2 points, and lifter number three gets 1 point. The Postal Championships is worth “double points”. Obviously then, as more lifters enter more points can be earned for winning the meet, and ALL lifters earn points regardless where they place overall. Just entering will earn points toward the Postal Series Ranking.

Overall there was good participation in the USAWA Postal Meets last year. A total of 21 lifters competed in the various postal meets, which is more lifters than competed last year. The first Postal Meet had 11 lifters, the second had 9 lifters, the third had 15 lifters, and the Postal Championship drew 17 lifters. Several lifters competed in ALL of the postal meets last year and they deserve to be recognized.  These lifters are the GRAND SLAM WINNERS:  RJ Jackson,  Dan Wagman, Al Myers, LaVerne Myers, Denny Habecker, and Dean Ross.

Now for the overall rankings for the 2016 USAWA Postal Series!

WOMENS DIVISION – TOP FIVE

MENS DIVISION – TOP TEN

Congrats to RJ Jackson and Dan Wagman for being the OVERALL WINNERS of the 2016 USAWA Postal Series.  RJ and Dan  won EVERY one of the quarterly postal meets!  This is an amazing accomplishment considering each postal meet offers different lift challenges. Being able to consistently win overalls in postal meets shows that these two lifters are truly all round weightlifters.

I want to thank everyone who participated in our Postal Meet Series.  This partipation is what keeps our Postals going every year.

By Al Myers

The entire 2017 Postal Series Meets have been announced.  The USAWA has had a long history of promoting postal meets, and for the last several years have hosted a Postal Series, consisting of 4 quarterly Postal Meets with the last one being the Postal Championships.

The promotion of these meets are done by the USAWA, under the direction of the Postal Meet Director Denny Habecker.  All scoresheets are to be sent to Denny as he does the formula calculations for the final meet standings. There is no entry fee to enter the USAWA Postal Meets. The Postal series is sponsored by the USAWA.  However, you must be a current member of the USAWA to participate.

Postal Meets are a great way to get introduced to All Round Weightlifting. Denny picks a variety of different lifts for each meet.  Rules for the lifts are found in the USAWA Rule Book, which is available for free download from the website.

Now for the lifts of this years Postal Series!

1st Quarter Postal Meet – January 1st to March 31st
Clean and Push Press – 2 Dumbbells
Cheat Curl – 2 Dumbbells
Swing – 2 Dumbbells

2nd Quarter Postal Meet – April 1st to June 30th
Snatch – From Hang
Hack Lift – One Arm
Pullover and Press

3rd Quarter Postal Meet – July 1st to September 30th
Half Gardner
Press – From Racks
Deadlift – Ciavattone Grip, One Arm

Postal Championships – October 1st to December 31st
Vertical Bar Deadlift – 1 Bar, 2″, One Hand
Swing – Dumbbell, One Arm
Deadlift – Trap Bar

All entry forms for the USAWA Postal Meets are found in upcoming events in the right column of the website homepage.

by Al Myers

I’ve just completed a summary of our past postal series meets.  The complete summary may be found under the history section located at the top of the website.  One of my goals (among many others!) is to collect a complete historical archive of all the USAWA Championship events, which includes our Postal Championships and Postal Series Champions.  I am getting closer to finished on this project with this done – which took a fair amount of research!

It’s amazing how far our Postal Meet Series has come.  Early on in 2007 when John Wilmot first started on this endeavor very few competed in his postal meets. The first year he promoted two meets only.  These postal meets had critics, with a few thinking that it would fail. But thankly John persisted and in 2008 promoted the first Postal Championships. By 2009 interest had really increased with many lifters entering every postal meet. The Postal Series was started that year with lifters accumulating points towards an overall yearly postal series champion.  In 2011 the USAWA officially recognized the postal meets and the title of a Postal Meet Director.  Part of this included the sanctions for the Postal Series Meets to be sponsored by the USAWA . Up to this point John paid out of his own pocket to sanction these postal meets.  In 2013 John passed the duty of Postal Meet Director on to Denny Habecker. Our postal meet program is in “good hands” with Denny in charge.  All of the 2016 Postal Meets are ALREADY announced! I see a bright future for our Postal Meets and I would encourage all to participate as this is an easy way to compete in an informal meet in your own gym against many others across the US.