Vice President's Message

This has been an exciting past couple of months, starting with Bench Worlds in early December, and finishing with Women's Nationals last weekend. I was fortunate enough to attend both of these events, and although they will be covered in other articles, I wanted to mention some highlights. At both of these contests, and having the chance to interact with the athletes and coaches, I remember why I am honored to be involved with powerlifting. The athletes, and their performances are inspiring, and the dedication of each of the coaches is something to behold. Most pay their own expenses to be members of the team, and to represent USA Powerlifting and the United States. They wear our colors proudly. The performances themselves were excellent. We have two Bench Press World Champions, and several who attempted and exceeded world records. How great is that.

Our Women's Nationals had record attendance this year: 131 lifters from 14 to 79 years of age. If you have never been to an all women's contest, you are missing something. The supportive atmosphere, comraderie, and Unbelievable Performances are well worth the trip. We had a number of spectators who travelled to this meet just to watch. It is becoming a spectator destination. There were a number of World Records attempted and gotten, and American Records fell in ever weight class. Johnny Graham and the Phantom Warriors put on their usual fine production.

This year, we also held the American Open in December outside Philadelphia. It was organized to give athletes who haven't qualified for Open Nationals the chance to appear on the National stage. 77 lifters participated. Open class winners are automatically qualified for Open Nationals. It is a great opportunity for up and coming lifters to move to the next level.

Some of you who have been following the internet forums have seem some of my sermons on attitude and relationships among our lifters, and between USAPL and other federations. I am continually struck by the acrimonious attitudes that we hold for our own members, and for other athletes. The real downside of powerlifting is that it is peopled by individuals, and characterized by big egos. Fortunately, these are a minority. But they do detract from the positive view that the public has of our sport. Casting insults at other federations does not help powerlifting, or USAPL either. While they don't follow our rules, they don't (usually) deserve full on attacks. Let's focus on raising our own athletes stature rather than decreasing that of others.

Finally, I look forward to a great year in lifting. We have our first open World Championships here in, well, almost forever. We will capitalize on the start that we made with the Master Bench Worlds last year. We are resuming regional competition with the North American Cup Championships. And we will send our best to the IPF World meets to represent us.

To a great year.
Larry