2021 Minutes
By Al Myers, Secretary
2021 MINUTES FROM ANNUAL MEETING OF THE USAWA
The annual meeting of the USAWA was called to order by President Denny Habecker at 6:00 PM on June 19th at the Dino Gym in Holland, Kansas. Roll call was taken with these USAWA members in attendance: Denny Habecker, Al Myers, Johnny Strangeway, Lance Foster, Phoebe Todd, Judy Habecker, Beth Skwarecki, Dave Glasgow, Eric Todd, Chris Todd, Chad Ullom, Thom Van Vleck, Randy Smith, Abe Smith, Dave DeForest, Dean Ross, Mike McBride, and LaVerne Myers. The minutes from the 2019 Annual Meeting were read by secretary Al Myers. Chad moved to accept the minutes, with a second by Dean, and it passed unanimously. The financial report were read by treasurer Al Myers, in which a profit was shown of $248.15 for the past two years leaving $9048.98 in the bank account as of December 31st, 2020. Al explained it’s been a solid 2 years considering the covid situation and the lack of income thru sanction fees and memberships. Al mentioned that close to $2000 have been added to the USAWA bank account since becoming Treasurer in 2009 and that the USAWA has had 12 years of financial stability. Chad moved to accept the report, with a second by Dean, and it passed unanimously. The website report was given next by Website Director Al Myers. A long list of items and information were mentioned that the website provides to the membership. Al also expressed thanks to those that have contributed to the website. Chad moved to accept the report, with a second by Dean, and it passed unanimously. The report from the Awards Director Al Myers was next on the agenda, in which Al explained that the awards program provides awards to recognize outstanding performances and contributions to the USAWA along with any special awards. Judy moved to accept the report, with a second by Dean, and it passed unanimously. The report from the acting Records Director Johnny Strangeway was given next. Johnny expressed concerns that due to it’s length the list may need to be separated into 2 lists – one for men and one for women. He also asked the membership if there would be interest to add a feature that would keep track of a lifters record count which from the discussion most seemed in favor of. Eric moved to accept the report, with a second by LaVerne, and it passed unanimously. Report from the Drug Enforcement Director Chad Ullom was given next in which he said, “no drug tests have been done in the last year”. There was a slight pause in the meeting as this was the shortest directors report in history and the membership thought he might continue. Eventually, Judy moved to accept the report, with a second by Dean, and it passed unanimously. The report from the Officials Director Joe Garcia was next on the agenda. Joe was not in attendance and had not given a report to anyone to give on his behalf, so no report was given for the second year in a row. The Postal Meet Director Denny Habecker gave his report next. Denny expressed thanks to everyone who has participated in the postal series and stated this has been the most participation ever in the USAWA postal meets. Chad moved to accept the report, with a second by Judy, and it passed unanimously. The report from IAWA Technical Committee Chairman Dennis Mitchell was next. Dennis was unable to be present at the meeting due to a recent hip replacement but had forwarded his report to Al. In giving Dennis’s report Al commented that Dennis wanted to send his apologies for missing the meeting, and that since COVID there has been no activity within the IAWA technical committee. Chad moved to accept the report, with a second by Eric, and it passed unanimously. The next meeting agenda item was a vote and discussion on the policy going forth on meet sanctions and meet restrictions due to COVID. In the discussion Chad stated that most all people have had the opportunity to receive the vaccine if they wanted it. All discussion was in favor of returning to normal activity within the USAWA without any restrictions. Chad made that motion, with a second by Dean, and it passed unanimously. Discussion and membership approval for the new proposed lift, The Rim Lift, was next. The Rim Lift had been prior proposed to the USAWA Executive Board by LaVerne Myers and Executive Board approval was given for membership vote for new lift status. LaVerne described the rules for the Rim Lift, which are identical to the rules for the Rim Lift in IAWA-UK Rulebook. He stated that the Rim Lift had been done in the 2020 Grip Championships as an exhibition lift and tried by several lifters, all of which liked the lift. During the discussion Randy commented if it was possible within the written rules to “game the lift”,which would create future problems. Al responded that he was confidant that the rules were well written with specific regulations in place to keep that from happening, and the same rules are in place for the Rim Lift in the IAWA-UK for quite some time and that has not happened. Al then moved to accept the Rim Lift as a new USAWA official lift along with the provision that all lifts done in the Rim Lift at the 2020 Grip Championships count as records retroactively. Chad gave a second and the motion passed unanimously. The President then asked if there was any New Business brought forth from the membership. There was none. Being it an odd numbered year, elections were next up. Elections were for President first. Denny stated that he intended to run again and there were no other nominations. All voted in favor. For Vice President, Chad stated that he would run again. There were no other nominations and all voted in favor. Secretary/Treasurer were next, in which Al stated that he would not run again and said that he has enjoyed his 12 years as Secretary but that was enough time in the position and it was time for someone to else to be Secretary/Treasurer. Al then nominated Eric Todd and told the membership that Eric is a very qualified nominee and would be an excellent secretary. There were no other nominations and all were in favor. The next position up for election was an at large Executive Board position held by Dennis Mitchell. Dennis was not in attendance but had relayed to the board that he would like to run again. Chad nominated Dave Glasgow. There were no other nominations and a vote was taken by written ballot, in which Dave was elected. The next At Large Executive Board position was up next, which has been held by Rocky Morrison who was not in attendance. Rocky had relayed to the Executive Board that he did not want to run again. Frank Ciavattone, who was not in attendance, previously had relayed to the Executive Board that he would like to run and his nomination was made by Al. Chad nominated Thom, who refused the nomination. Judy nominated Randy who accepted the nomination. Dave nominated Beth who accepted the nomination. There were no other nominations. The election was done by written ballot and Beth was elected. To summarize the newly elected officers: President – Denny Habecker, Vice President Chad Ullom, Secretary/Treasurer Eric Todd, At Large EB Member Dave Glasgow, At Large EB Member Beth Skwarecki. At this time Chad made an award presentation to outgoing Secretary Al Myers for his years of service. It was a touching moment for Al, who received a hand crafted award made by Thom Van Vleck. After Al’s tears had subsided the meeting resumed with 2 new director appointments. Johnny Strangeway had been acting as Records Director for the past 2 years under Records Director Al Myers. Al gave his resignation and recommended Johnny for the position officially. There were no other nominations and the vote was all in favor. Al then gave his resignation as Website Director and recommended Eric for the position, stating that the Secretary should be the one who runs the website to be able to easily communicate with the membership. There were no other nominations and all were in favor. The last agenda item was accepting bids for the 2022 USAWA National Championships. One prior bid had been made, by Frank Ciavattone, to host in Boston. When asking if there were any other bids from the floor, Judy made a bid for her and Denny to host in Lebanon, PA. There were no other bids. The vote was done by written ballot with Denny and Judy winning the bid. Dean then moved to adjourn the meeting, with a second by Judy, and it passed unanimously. The meeting ended at 7:00 PM.