by Al Myers
I'm not perfect either when it comes to violating USAWA dress code. Last summer at the Ledaig Record Day I wore a cap when lifting, which is a violation of proper dress. But then again, I was lifting outside in the blinding sun and 110 degree scorching temperatures!! It was a matter of survival!!
Before I left for Australia, I ran a blog on the proper dress code in the USAWA. I also issued a “quiz” to everyone on how many violations of dress code that are in the pictures in the USAWA Rulebook. Well, I almost forgot all about that quiz! But before I get to who the big winners are, let me say a few more things on this issue. I appreciate the comments on this subject in the discussion forum. Most of those that posted felt that our policy of allowing lifters to wear shorts and t-shirts is acceptable, and requiring singlets for competition would be too much to ask. I do feel that this is the way the majority of USAWA lifters feel on this, even though personally I think the requirement of a more formal attire of wearing singlets is the way to go. But I will always try to represent the feelings of the MAJORITY and thus why the feedback on the discussion forum is so important.
Next, I would have to say I was slightly disappointed in the number of responses to this quiz. I only got THREE RESPONSES!! No one was “dead on” with correctly identifying the number of violations in the pictures, but our USAWA Official’s Director Joe Garcia was the closest with identifying 24 violations of dress code. The actual number of violations is 28! That is out of 102 pictures total in the USAWA Rulebook, which comes out to over 25% of the pictures containing some type of dress code violation! As I said earlier, most of these pictures are from competitions, so you can tell this is something that has not been addressed in the past. How can we expect to impose tighter dress code standards when our Rulebook pictures portray the complete opposite?!?! The next closest answer came from Eric Todd, who gave an answer of 23. Eric also pointed out that he himself was in violation in BOTH PICTURES of himself in the Rulebook, and he felt that alone should gather him a prize. Let me tell ya ET – prizes like that are called a BOOBY PRIZE in my book, but since you showed the modesty of pointing that out to me (and now everyone else in the World!) I’m going to send you a water bottle as a prize for being a repeat violator! Third in line was the latest of USAWA Officials Lance Foster – who correctly identified 20 dress code violations. I’m going to send you a water bottle as well Lance because I appreciate you taking the time to participate in this little quiz. Now see what the rest of you missed out on – everyone who entered was a winner! I didn’t even count the few pictures of lifters wearing shorts that appeared below the base of the quadriceps, which is a violation, because I felt this would be a judgement call on my part. I ONLY counted pictures that contained OBVIOUS INFRACTIONS.
I don’t want to appear to be going “overboard” on this issue, but I do think it is something that should be mentioned at meets to lifters when they are in violation of proper USAWA dress code during this upcoming year, because I truly believe the reason lifters are in violation is because they just don’t know better. I know there are much bigger (and important!) issues regarding our Rulebook, rules, and policies than this!
One last note on this – I want to point out the lifters in the Rulebook who have 100% compliance with dress code. This list only contains lifers who have the three maximum pictures of them in the Rulebook. These lifters are: Joe Garcia, Scott Campbell, Denny Habecker, Frank Ciavattone, Chad Ullom, John McKean, Al Myers, and Kevin Fulton. However, I WON’T point out the lifters who have the most violations!!!
