USAWA

by Al Myers

The 2012 IAWA World Championships is ONE WEEK AWAY!   Chad and I are in the final stages of having everything ready – just the “small stuff” now to take care of.  The list of registered competitors is set.  This is the 25 lifters who are entered:

Art Montini USA	Dawn Piper USA	Susan Sees USA
George Dick SCOTLAND	Dennis Mitchell USA	Dave Glasgow USA
Frank Allen ENGLAND	Ruth Jackson USA	Doug Kressly USA
Sam Trews AUSTRALIA	Al Springs USA	Jera Kressly USA
John Mahon AUSTRALIA	Denny Habecker USA	Randy Smith USA
Chad Ullom USA	LaVerne Myers USA
Lance Foster USA	Rudy Bletscher USA
Paula De La Mata ENGLAND	Frank Ciavattone USA
Graham Saxton ENGLAND	Dan Wagman USA
Tim Piper USA	Bob Geib USA

Yesterday I went to pick up the awards and t-shirts from the “trophy shop”.   I think everyone will be very pleased with both!  The trophies are as nice as I’ve ever received in a competition, as they should be since this is a WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS.  I want to emphasize that every weight class within age groupings will be represented.  After all, this is the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!   I plan to award certificates for the Best Lifter awards.  I also made up something “special” for all competitors.  I don’t want to reveal what this is yet, so it will be a surprise.  But it is something that you will keep and cherish as it represents the 25th Anniversary of the International All-Round Weightlifting Association.

As stated on the entry forms, this Championship will be held at the Dino Strength Training Center in Salina, Kansas.  The address is 742 Duvall Avenue. It is easy to find.  There is plenty of parking at the gym.  The General IAWA World Meeting will be held Friday night at 7:30 in the gym for those wanting to attend.  I will be in the gym most of Friday afternoon doing the final meet setup so if you get in town early please stop by (but if you do I will probably get you to help with the setup!).  IAWA President Steve Gardner will organize and preside over the meeting.

Weighins will be from 8-9 AM on Saturday.   This first-day weighin determines your weight class for the entire weekend.  You must also weigh in Sunday morning if you want to be eligible to set records on Sunday.  If you are not interested in this, you do not need to weigh in on Sunday.  At 9 Am we will have the opening ceremony and lifter introductions.  Immediately following this the meet will start.  The meet will be ran in a 2-session 1-platform format.  The two sessions will be divided this way – women and older men in first session, and younger men in the second session.  Sunday’s lifting will follow the exact way.   Also, since this is an IAWA event IAWA Rules and Scoring will be used.  The IAWA official scorekeeper Chris Bass from England will be in attendance to do the scoring.  IAWA President Steve Gardner will do the announcing. 

Immediately following Sundays lifting, we will have the award ceremony.   After that for anyone interested, we will have a post-meet celebration at my place.  I am calling it that instead of a banquet because this will be an informal affair.  Dress casually and show up ready to have an enjoyable evening.  This will be a good ole fashioned Kansas backyard BBQ, complete with “all-you-can-eat” barbecued meats, potato salad, baked beans and homemade ice cream!!  Refreshments will be there as well, but if you have something special you like to drink I would recommend that you bring it along.  I will have plenty of chairs and tables to sit back and relax, and hopefully will have a nice cool October night as well!  This BBQ is included as part of the “package entry fee” for all lifters, and for anyone else that is attending there will be a donation jar.  I highly recommend that anyone who can attend this evening event to make it, as it will give a time to meet new friends (or catch up with old friends) from overseas.  I will have directions available to my place at the meet for anyone who wants them.