Does USAWA have too many Championships?

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  • December 13, 2024 at 4:42 pm #41754
    Sanjiv Gupta
    Participant

      A Championship event should inspire attendance, forge camaraderie and celebrate an aspect of our organization.

      The National Championship is a worthy event that most USAWA athletes aspire to attend. It is combined with our National meeting and promoters make sure it is fun for participants and spectators who are traveling a long distance. Buffville setting up a distillery tour is an excellent example of this.

      The Postal Championship is an exciting event in which every athlete can participate. The events change and every member could participate. On a side note, only one athlete has participated in every postal event for the past 10 years. Guess who? Only five athletes have participated in at least one postal event every year for the past 10 years. Guess who?

      The remaining six events warrant some discussion. Those are the (1) Heavy Lift, (2) Team, (3) Club, (4) Grip, (5) OTSM and (6) Presidential Cup.

      I travel quite often, and it would still be time and cost prohibitive for me to attend every USAWA Championship. I can conceivably travel 2-3 times per year and plan on Nationals, Worlds and one other Championship event. It seems that most of the Championship events draw athletes from a small radius. The pool of stalwart travelers that once included Dean Ross and Art Montini has shrunk to only include Denny Habecker.

      Heavy Lift Championship travels, but with the winner typically coming from the hosting gym. I would suggest hosting an Eastern, Central and Mountain Championship with the Grand Champion having the highest overall Gender-Age Adjusted Lynch Score. Ideally all three regional events would be on the same day.

      Team Championship has not been held recently but was primarily a Kansas event. Not sure what to do with this one. This might be a candidate to host every other year or every four years (like the Olympics or the World Cup).

      Club Championship has not been held recently but was primarily a Kansas event. I would like to see this come back as a hybrid event.

      Grip Championship has a little more draw bringing athletes from Missouri, Kansas, Michigan and Colorado. Only one athlete has competed every year for the past 10 years it has been held. Guess who? I would love to see Dino Gym continue to host this one. For those outside of the Central Region, it is a gym worth checking out.

      OTSM Championship has a little more draw bringing athletes from Missouri and Kansas. Only one athlete has competed every year for the past 10 years it has been held. Guess who? I would love to see KCSTRONGMAN continue to host this event. It is on my list for 2025.

      The Presidential Cup is mostly an East Coast Event. I think it is a great event and a worthy reason to travel out to Habecker’s Gym.

      Does USAWA have too many Championships? No.

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      • December 16, 2024 at 3:37 pm #41757
        ClintPoore
        Participant

          Sanjiv

          That’s an interesting premise. But the simple answer is YES!
          All the championships are well and good, but what point do they serve.
          – Nationals needs to become the premier event of the year and have the biggest turnout. It should also be held in a hotel or conference center in an area that families will want to attend. Also, it should have lifts that can be easily performed at local gyms and be a one day event. Two day events are a huge struggle for families to attend and participate. The timing of Nationals is the best one to attend, since children will be out of school. It is my hope that one day the National Office may be the host of Nationals and make it spectacular.
          – Postal Championship is a great event, it allows more all around lifts to be performed that really aren’t suitable for an in person competition. I like this event and hope to participate more in the future.
          – Heavy Lift championships is a bit of a dinosaur. In the current world of strength sports it may have a place but it will always be a niche event. It would be well suited to be part of a weekend championship combined with another championship to increase attendance, possibly the Presidents Cup.
          – Team and Club could easily be merged into one combined championship. Both are interesting, but it would need to be a postal meet from each club, on the same weekend, to make it viable. Buffville, Clark’s Gym and Canada have all discussed this possibility for a future Team/Club Championship. It would be great to have other clubs or teams share their interest.
          – Grip Championship has a lot of potential. Its a solid championship that could easily grow into a larger event. Seeing this event in a more populated part of the country may see some potential growth. Also this event would be excellent to have at a regional expo.
          – Old Time Strongman Championship is probably the most compelling of all the championships. It has a World Championship meet to feed into and has the most potential of all the events. This event should be changed to the Old Time Strongman National Championship since the IAWA has officially recognized the OTSM Worlds. All World events should have National Championships in their respective countries. As Sanjiv mentioned in an earlier post, this is the biggest area of growth in the USAWA. OTSM events are unique and compelling, while reaching a much broader base than traditional All Around lifts.

          – Regional diversity in locations of events is necessary to maintain the viability of all these championships. That did happen in 2024 to some degree. Also, the USAWA should consider having a Mega Nationals where more than one championship is contested at once. USA Powerlifting did this for several years and had massive turnouts. Having more than one championship event on a weekend would bring the potential to expose lifters to more types of all around lifting.
          FYI – We are still working on getting in the Arnold Sports Festival and if this happens, fingers crossed, we would be having multiple events across one weekend.

          Currently the answer is YES! The USAWA has too many championships that are not bringing new lifters to the organization. Merging & combining these events would be great way to possibly spark interest.

          • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by ClintPoore.
          • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by ClintPoore.
          • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by ClintPoore.
        • December 20, 2024 at 11:40 am #41772
          Denny Habecker
          Participant

            The USAWA was founded to keep the Old time lifts, that are rarely done, alive and done the way they were in he past, with no wraps, super suits, bench shirts, and drug free. I think the OTSM lifts are great, but the should be contested at the OTSM Championships or Record days. I agree the National Championships should be the premier event, and if you can only make one event a year, that should be the one. The other championships we have help with their variety, to keep the interst in the sport going. I do not think we have too many championships.

          • December 24, 2024 at 4:55 pm #41774
            KCSTRONGMAN
            Keymaster

              What Denny said

              I'm the lyrical Jesse James

            • December 25, 2024 at 12:29 am #41775
              LEDAIG HEAVY ATHLETICS
              Participant

                DENNY AND ET HAVE THE IDEA. KEEP IT THAT WAY. HAS WORKED WELL FOR A LONG TIME

              • January 28, 2025 at 10:29 am #41918
                Denny Habecker
                Participant

                  Clint, in yuor post about the National Championships you state that the Nationals should have lifts that can be done at local gyms, yet you put the Dinnie lift and the Saxon Deadlift in this year’s Nationals. I don’t have the equipment to train on those lifts, nor has any gym I have trained at in my area, have it either.

                • January 28, 2025 at 12:07 pm #41919
                  Sanjiv Gupta
                  Participant

                    Love all of the comments regarding Championship Events. Also great to see that Nationals, Postal, Grip, OTSM and Presidential Cup have already been scheduled. Hopefully, we can have a Heavy Lift, Club and Team Championship in some form or maybe even a different championship event proposed.

                    Lift choice is an interesting rabbit hole. As I was researching the National Championships, it has been a 1-2 day event with 5-10 lifts including cleans, presses, snatches, deadlifts, squats, misc lifts, dumbbell lifts, Fulton bar lifts, Heavy Lifts and Special Equipment Lifts. Surprisingly OTSM lifts have never been in the National Championship. Part of the reason is that they were only introduced in 2011 and meet directors often choose to do repeat lifts.

                    Meet Directors propose lifts and those are approved by the Executive Board. I think that is a nice check and balance so our National Champions are not decided by the Back Lift, French Press and Lano Lift. There is also a fairness to the National Championship moving around the country and being promoted by different Meet Directors. Future events could be all squats, all misc lifts or anything else, but they will have be approved by the Executive Board which has traditional been pretty open to whatever meet directors propose. To date 61 different lifts have been part of the National Championship.

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