I wanted to thank everyone who came out to the USAPL South Carolina State Championship last weekend to vote and compete. I was truly impressed with the turnout for the event and I appreciate all of the support. For those lifters who were not able to make it, I have been voted in as the new South Carolina State Chair for the next two years.
I want to also thank Regina Hackney for all that she has done as the USAPL SC Chair for the last several years. Her passion for maintaining the integrity of the sport should be commended. With this said, there is still much work to be done to improve the state of powerlifting for South Carolinians. I will do all that I can with this time to bring the best powerlifting events to SC and make every lifter enjoy competition and want to continue to compete and recruit others to our sport. I would like to outline some of the changes that are already in the works.
As soon as the election was over and the dust had settled, I decided to name John Demchak as my co-chair. John is a long-time powerlifter and USAPL judge who competes at a National level and has been crucial to the success of the Battle on the Border. I am very happy to have John assisting me during my term to help with the decision making process.
John will also be helping me maintain the SC records. There has been much discussion about the USAPL RAW records and the ability to set them outside of our State Championship. Prior to the election, I stated that "I plan to retroactively recognize all of the RAW records that have been broken by South Carolina lifters from January, 2008 until the present time." After doing some research and talking to some of my resources, I have decided to start tabulating the records for those lifts made after the USAPL Battle on the Border II that took place in March, 2008. This date was considered because it coincided with the earliest RAW records found at the National level. I have gone through all of the USAPL Battle on the Border results and am currently going through the NC events held during this time frame. All of these events had 2 hour weigh ins and should be eligible for setting records. The records will be updated ASAP. We will also publish a list of all meets that were surveyed for the records. If there is a meet that you competed in and feel as though you broke a record, please contact me. If this meet was published and a 2 hour weigh in was performed, the record is yours. Congratulations.
As promised, the next Battle on the Border will be held in South Carolina! The Battle will be moving South to Fort Mill on March 26, 2011. The Upper Palmetto YMCA in Fort Mill is a beautiful facility and will be in line with the venue we have enjoyed for the previous events held at the Dowd YMCA. Check out www.carolinastrength.org for more information.
We will also be providing USAPL South Carolina record certificated for those lifters who have set State Records. I will be sending the certificates to lifters who broke records set after July 1, 2010 free of charge. For the preexisting records (set prior to July 1, 2010), certificates are available for a nominal $2 charge to help pay for the expense of postage and material. The record certificates will be printed on the nicest parchment paper and should be nice enough to frame. Let me know if you are interested.
"I also plan to enhance powerlifting in South Carolina by training and utilizing our wealth of lifters to become judges." I have talked to Jennifer Thompson, the NC State Chair and we have three available positions for taking the State Judging certification exam at this October's North Carolina State Championship in Shelby. These spots will he held for South Carolinians. "Powerlifting is about competition and fellowship. We can give back to the sport by volunteering to judge and help run local and State meets. I plan to make this a simple and gratifying opportunity to network and to improve the number, level and quality of meets held in South Carolina." Please let me know if you are interested and available to take the test.
Thank you. I hope to see you all at the next Battle on the Border in March, 2011.
Jon Mouzon
USAPL SC State Chair
