Category Archives: USAWA Daily News

Newcomer of the Year Award: Runner-Up

By Eric Todd

Tony Lupo accepts his Newcomer runner-up award.

Tony Lupo accepts his Newcomer runner-up award.

The Newcomer of the year award is described as such:

This award goes to an individual who in new to the USAWA or has become involved again. It doesn’t have to go to someone in their first year of being involved in the USAWA.

This year’s runner-up in this category is Tony Lupo.  Tony is a member of Clark’s Gym.  Since last year’s nationals, Tony has been very active.  He started out by participating in the second quarter postal.  He competed in the Clark’s Gym vs Frank’s Barbell Club Postal Challenge for the victorious Clark’s Gym.  He was on hand for Clark’s birthday weekend, and he claimed runner-up honors in the Schmidt Backbreaker.  Tony broke five records as part of the Memorial Record Day, and he competed in the 2022 Postal Championship.  He took on the most daunting of challenges by completing all of the lifts in the Zercher Strength Classic, and was a competitor in the first quarter postal.  Tony placed 6th in the Bench Press Decathlon, and traveled to Kentucky to compete in the inaugural Hackendinnie Classic.  Tony has quickly gone from not being certified at all to becomming a level one certified official. As you can see, tony has had a busy, and successful, first year with the organization.  this award is well deserved, Tony!  congrats!

Courage award

By Eric Todd

Courage Award Winner: Randy Smith

Courage Award Winner: Randy Smith

Description of the Courage Award is as follows:

This goes to an individual who shows the courage to overcome an obstacle in order to return to competition. This may be a comeback from an injury, or just having to deal with difficult personal issues but still shows the courage to compete in the USAWA.

Randy Smith is the deserving recipient of our courage award for this year past.  He was close to making it to nationals last year, after just having been afflicted with the covid virus.  He just missed it, but made it to Clark’s Birthday Weekend just a couple months later.  His wife also was having some health issues, but Randy managed to take care of her while attending Worlds in October, and then made the long journey back to Columbia, MO from Michigan for another Nationals this year.  Navigating his health and taking care of his wife, while fingding the time and will to still compete goes right along with our definition of courage.  Congrats, Randy!  Well deserved!

 

Courage Award: Runner-up

By Eric Todd

Runner-up in the Courage category: Joe Garcia

Runner-up in the Courage category: Joe Garcia

This award is described as such:

This goes to an individual who shows the courage to overcome an obstacle in order to return to competition. This may be a comeback from an injury, or just having to deal with difficult personal issues but still shows the courage to compete in the USAWA.

For the second year in a row, the runner-up is Joe Garcia.  He won last year for having survived a near death experience with covid, and wins this year by way of his long recovery and return to the platform.  We has gone from being on a ventilator in a hospital bed, to doing pushups on his knees and walking around the house on oxygen, back to lifting, and ultimately making it to the national championship meet.  The road was a long one, and it took a great amount of courage to complete that journey.  Congrats Joe!  Well deserved!

How to Join USAWA

By Beth Skwarecki

This is the first in a series of articles about the basics of USAWA. First up: how to join.

Membership in USAWA is necessary to participate in competitions and to set records. (Officials also need to keep up their membership to keep their certification current.) Fortunately, it’s cheap! For just $35, you become a member and you get to do the postals at no additional charge. Many of the in-person competitions are also free to members.

USAWA is the IAWA-affiliated organization for the USA. If you live in or near the UK, you should join IAWA-UK. In Australia, you should join AWFA. If you live in another country, you should join your closest organization as an associate member. For example, if you live in Canada, you can join USAWA as an associate member. You can’t set US national records but you can participate in meets and you can set IAWA world records.

You only need to do two things to join:

  1. Fill out the membership application form, which asks for your contact information and what club you are a member of (if any–it’s okay to be unaffiliated), and includes a waiver stating you understand that you may be subject to drug testing. If you are under 21, your parent or guardian must also sign. You can either print out this form, fill it out, and mail it; or use the new online membership application.
  2. Send us $35, either by enclosing a check if you are mailing your application, or by PayPal if you are all “fancy” and “modern.”

If you’d like to learn more about the organization you are joining, the USAWA Rulebook contains the bylaws, the procedures by which competitions are run, and the rules of all the lifts.

More information on membership, including membership and meet sanctions, is on the Forms and Applications page.

That’s it–now you are all set. Membership expires at the end of the calendar year, and is not prorated. So renew every January to get your money’s worth.

TRUE NORTH TRUE STRENGTH 2024 OPEN

by Chris Frappier



TRUE NORTH TRUE STRENGTH 2024 OPEN

Passports are required for all international travellers to enter Canada.

When: Sunday, August 25, 2024

Where: Anytime Fitness
735 Tower Street South, Fergus, Ontario

Weigh-ins: 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time
Lifting starts at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time

The Lifts: Hackenschmidt  Floor Press and Trapbar Deadlift

Record Sessions: Depending on time and the number of competitors, a Record Day session may follow the TRUE NORTH, TRUE STRENGTH 2024 OPEN competition. Each lifter will be permitted up to three record attempts – includes world records.
Note: Let me know which record lifts you will be attempting so we can try to ensure we have the necessary equipment. USAWA national records can be set at this meet. If we have three referees present, IAWA World Records can also be set.

Event Entry Fee: None, but you must complete both event registration steps to compete, then have fun lifting and breaking records!

Deadline to register: August 18, 2024—NO EXCEPTIONS

Event registration: Read carefully. Both steps must be completed in order to compete.

Step 1: Email Chris Frappier at stonedreams53@gmail.com with the following information.

Your first and last name

Women or Men division

Your age on August 25, 2024

Your bodyweight now or what you think you will weigh on August 25, 2024

Your T-shirt size

Your contact information (email and/or phone number) This will only be used to provide competitors with event details as the event approaches.

Step 2: USAWA membership required to compete.

Visit  http://usawa.com/forms-and-applications 

Follow the instructions to complete the USAWA membership application and pay the $25 USD membership fee. Paypal accepted

Questions: Contact Chris Frappier at stonedreams53@gmail.com or call or text 226-821-1740. 

T-shirts: All competitors will receive a free t-shirt. I must know your t-shirt size two weeks prior to the event.

Awards: The True North True Strength 2024 Open trophy goes to the overall champion. More awards will be added based on the number of competitors.

The USAWA will recognize four main age groups. Competitions are organized for both men and women in separate divisions.

Junior: This includes lifters who have not reached their 20th birthday. Junior age groups may be further split into smaller age groups. These include 13 and under, 14–15, 16–17, and 18–19.

Senior: This includes lifters who have reached their 20th birthday but have not reached their 40th birthday.

Open: This includes lifters who are 20 years of age or older.

Master: This includes lifters who are 40 years of age or older. Master age groups may be further split into smaller age groups. These include 40–44, 45–49, and 50–54, and will continue every 5 years to infinity.

Hotels: We recommend booking early; most hotels will let you cancel within 48–72 hours if your plans change. There are also a number of Air B&Bs in Fergus and neighbouring Elora, Ontario; do a Google search for recommendations.

Best Western Plus, Fergus

830 St. David St. N., Fergus, ON N1M 2L2

(519) 843-2100

Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Guelph

725 Imperial Rd. N, Guelph, ON N1K 1X4

(519) 821-2144

Comfort Inn Guelph

480 Silvercreek Pkwy N, Guelph, ON N1H 7R5

(519) 763-1900

Super 8 by Wyndham Guelph

281 Woodlawn Rd W, Guelph, ON N1H 7K7

(519) 836-5850

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