News Letter 5/21/07

Why raw? There seems to be greater demand today for access to meets where lifters can choose to lift raw. Yet despite the demand and the practical reasoning which supports it, there seems to be a great resistance to accomodating those lifters. And each time the subject comes up on message boards or forums, instead of a productive discussion, those who seemingly prefer the status quo either blows it off as another whiny raw lifter or assumes that it is just another effort at "bashing of gear" being perpetuated by another instigator. While it is common to find attacks made by "annonymous" writers on both sides of this issue, it is evident that when productive discussion concerning legitimizing raw lifting is sought that the thread flows into a twisted philosophical menagerie. The ongoing "open for all to see" legitagtion waged between both sides leaves one to wonder why bother inquiring at all. The discussion becomes knotted or stalemated in a literal tug of war. It is hoped that the answer won't be found whether to legitimize raw lifting or not settled on forums and message boards. And perhaps that is where we'll find the ultimate demise of raw lifting, settled out of court with no real opportunity given to take it's rightfull place in the world of powerlifting. Because, unless this matter is presented in a more productive manner to those who can make a difference, an opportunity could be lost. Now is the time to be organized, prepare proposals and submit them to the federation leaders for consideration. Don't give up the cause due to faceless detractors. Discuss this topic

The UPA continues to add administrators to it growing list. The United Powerlifting Association now has 8 state chairmen. Maryland is not represented. To date, 4 meets have been scheduled with the most recent added being a benefit bench press exhibition. Rick Hussey was diagnosed with cancer and recently underwent surgery. He does not have insurance and efforts have been made by friends and the APF/UPA community to raise funds to help pay expenses. If your interested in helping, contact Maryland Powerlifting.

APANews:
Meet- 2007 Eastern United States Open Push-Pull, Bench Press, Deadlift & Curl Meets, October 13, 2007 at Maximum Health & Fitness. The organizers of this event would like to have a full meet. If you can assist with a squat rack (they'd prefer a mono lift), contact Maryland Powerlifting.

IPF News:
Press release- IPF World Bench Press Championships from Thisted, Denmarl May 29 through June 1, 2007.

IPF streaming -From Detlev Albrings:

Please do not use for the registration a Hotmail.com E-Mail address. We have found out that hotmail.com does not support mails from our mail server. So please use another E-Mail account for the registration. Or you make this setting in your Hotmail-Account: Go to Options/Settings to the list of secure sender and type in “support@powerlifting-ipf.com”. Then you will receive E-Mails of our mail server.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

Best wishes
Detlev Albrings
IPF General Secretary

Update-overall IPF world ranking.

Reminders:

1. Referee registration for 2008-2011 is due by January 1, 2008
2. World Bench Press Championships to be streamed for free. A donation is requested.

USAPL News:
News release made by Larry Maile on May 18 concerning the 2008 Arnold Sports Festival:

The ASF Committee is continuing to make progress on details of the events that will occur during the weekend of the Arnold Sports Festival.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The following updates have been made to the Selection Criteria:

• The qualification date has been extended to August 11th to include Deadlift/Push-Pull Nationals.
• The date for qualifying for the other events also been extended to coincide with the Deadlift/Push-Pull National date. We hope this opens additional opportunities for our members to qualify.
• The "Gateway Women's Open" held during 2007 Men's Nationals is considered as a National meet for qualification purposes
• Event format details have been developed further to include the breakdown of weight classes and team format.

NOTE: Athlete selection for all events will occur after the qualification deadline of August 11, 2007. First notification will be made by the Committee no later than September 1.

UNEQUIPPED COMPETITION

We encourage members who are interested in competing in this event to submit your intent of interest to Priscilla Ribic.

Please include the following information:

• Name
• USAPL Membership number/Expiration date
• Qualifying meet
• Body weight as qualifying meet
• Weight Class/Division
• Individual Lifts & Total

All names collected will be submitted to the ASF Committee for final selection.

Please note: The request for names is ONLY for the Unequipped Competition. Members who have participated in National/International meets in the past two years will automatically be included in the selection pool for the Pro Competitions.

SPONSORSHIPAs with any event, sponsorship is a key factor. If you or anyone you know is interested in being a sponsor of these events, please contact me.

Additional information on the events will be forthcoming.

L.J. Maile, Ph.D., President

Reminder:

1. June 13th (30 days prior to NGB meeting) - Deadline for Agenda Items, honorary award nominations

USPF News:

Steve Denison reports:

Just received word that the WPF Worlds will be held November 22-25 in Torreon, Mexico. If you would like to qualify for the WPF Worlds as an Open, Junior, or Master lifter then get on over to the USPF Men's and Women's Nationals in Las Vegas on Saturday, Aug 11 and Sunday, Aug 12. Lifters will be competing for spots on the USA team for the WPF World Powerlifting Championship and the USA team for the WPF World Benchpress Championship.

Entry forms for the USPF Nationals can be found at http://www.powerliftingca.com/ or www.uspf.com

There are no qualifying totals for Nationals this year. The only qualifying is to have a total in any USPF meet going back to January 2006. If you don't have a USPF meet near you to qualify in then I will accept a total from any USAPL, AAU, or NASA meet going back to January 2006. Contact me for any other questions.

Steve Denison, Meet Director USPF Men's and Women's Nationals Email: PWRLFTRS@MSN.COM

News from the World Around Us:

Powerlifting Watch for news, comments and opinions.

note; opinions expressed in articles written by others and posted here on Maryland Powerlifting does not necessarily reflect those of Maryland Powerlifting.