Club of the Year Award
By Al Myers
The nomination & voting period is over for the 2018 USAWA yearly awards, to be awarded at the National Championships in several categories for outstanding performances within the USAWA. I have just finished the tabulations and I am getting ready to contact the awards shop to get the awards made up. So – I KNOW who the winners are but that’s still a secret until the awards presentation time! But there is ONE AWARD that is announced ahead of time – the USAWA Club of the Year. The reason it’s announced early is that it is really not a mystery as to who the winner is as this is the one award that is based on generating points instead of votes. I have outlined this point system several times in the past so I won’t rehash all that now. What I’m trying to say is this – anyone can add up the points on their own as ALL of the information is available on the website to do so, thus this winner is “no mystery”.
No club can win an award like this based on one individuals performance or effort. It takes contributions of several. And this club EXCEEDED that for sure – with several lifters helping FRANK’S BARBELL CLUB win the 2018 CLUB OF THE YEAR. Frank’s club had 16 registered USAWA members, far exceeding any other club. Their club members included: Frank Ciavattone, Jeff Ciavattone, Joe Ciavattone Sr., Joe Ciavattone Jr., David Gago, Laura Inglis, Chis Lestan, Eric Lestan, Kim Lydon, Rocky Morrison, Tony Patterson, Mark Raymond, Colleen Richards, Dan Rowe, Michael Vuono, and Peter Vuono. The club also had 2 lifters compete at Nationals (Joe Sr. and Joe Jr.) and promoted 3 club events.
The final standings for the 2018 USAWA CLUB OF THE YEAR (only top 3 listed):
1. Franks Barbell Club – 29 points
2. Habecker’s Gym – 17 points
3. KC Strongman – 16 points
As per the original rules for the Club of the Year, the defending USAWA Club of the Year is not eligible the following year, and instead is responsible for “passing the title” at the next year’s awards presentation. The Dino Gym was the Club of the Year in 2017 and will get the honor of awarding this year’s awards for the Club of the Year.