PRESIDENT'S BULLETIN UPDATED 7TH MAY 2024

Road trips & the yearly cycle.

I talk often of progression & it is the reason that I continue doing what I do. There is a definite plan & programme that I have in mind & I realise it isn't obvious. Some people are dim, others disinterested, most unaware. Of the 320 (by the weekly figures) who read this bulletin, I hope that some are both interested & coherent. It fall upon those to spread the word. First though some explanations: I don't draw a salary, claim travel or accommodation expenses or take money out of the PAA. I claim some of the capital expenses back for things bought - but not always. I work elsewhere. & don't have an ambition to run an independent promotion - once a year I do the Udezumou tournament & after this gig I will just do the once a year Udezumou tournament.  Lack of personal ambition & not trying to make money out of armwrestling gives me a perspective to focus on the business of progression & the practicalities of making it work. Is it perfect? Of course not. Could it be done better - definitely. You're stuck with me for now, so as I've been around for a few years I will tell you what the plan is. 

 In my mind the year starts just after the IFA Worlds in October. There is a warm up tournament a week after (this year it's Leeds again for the YORKSHIRE CUP) & at the end of Oct/start of November we run the novice nationals. Novice nationals is very important. We're schooling the new people into how to behave in a (hopefully) big double elimination tournament. Double elimination is the convention of most tournaments in the world of armwrestling - it finds the medalists reasonably efficiently whilst quickly eliminating the also rans along the way. It is not the best model for progression, but a promoter with lots of entries, enthusiastic referees & a slick scoring team can process a lot of armwrestlers & there are people who make money from doing it. Sponsors are sometimes found to fund prizes, lights, camera, action & it can be extravagant. Everything costs. Even without the glitz, it's stressful if you're the one running it - I have heard Travis Bagent say as much on his podcast & he runs a profitable enterprise & is very experienced. 

In the sausage factory that is the Novice Nationals we churn out champions &  promote them into the pro class, the silvers & bronze winners are often near the top of their game in that league & with other tournaments considered many get moved up too. It leaves some headroom for the up & comers to fill over the next year. Refs instructions & ready go's give some the first taste of what is like away from the pub or canteen table & a month later we do it all again for the pros. 

In my mind this is the most important & most difficult tournament of the year. The novices have a lot of hope going into their nationals - the Pros have expectations. They know ( or at least fervently believe) that on a given day they can be the winner & the national title increases their stock value to independent promotions. A clean win over an established name can gain attention in surprising quarters. 

Being in the middle of it all is like driving a truck down a hill with no brakes. Once it is rolling it's a case of steering & shouting. There are obstacles to getting it right & most of them hang around the score table to ask questions about dinner arrangements, their individual placing or a dozen other things that are very important to them, but not at all relevant to the bigger picture of getting the juggernaut safely to the conclusion without a crash. 

Once the Nationals are done with Christmas interrupts most training regimes. Between Christmas & the Euros I run six warzone regional competitions. Some are in easy to get to locations. Some are in the back end of nowhere. It's a travelling circus & I'm trying to get round all the regions eventually. Region warzones have evolved to account for uncertain turnouts, small or large numbers of any weight category & ability. Lots of ready go's, opportunities to try out strategies, new moves & size up to potential opponents. Before the summer a thoughtful armwrestler will have worked out what he needs to improve at, what his optimum weight is & the more adventurous will throw themselves at the Euros & see how it is over on the continent. Are you the bug or the windscreen? After that I depart for the coast (to fund my travels)  & the independent promotions find beaches, parks & picturesque venues to hold mostly supermatches, sometime tournaments. 

The smart puller who learned from the nationals & applied themselves on the warzones will now have a plan on what weight will be their best chance for the return & if they take  supermatches it should be against tougher opponents - maybe ones they didn't beat last year in the nationals. Learn from these matches & apply the deficiencies into training.  Again, the adventurous will take that summer of action & progression & mix it up at the Worlds, maybe catch a medal to frighten their rivals with & as we return from Worlds the year starts up again. 

In between, I answer endless & sometime pointless questions ( as does the PAA secretary Hollie Stewart) most of which are a referral back to the website which I try to keep updated with the events calendar & general information. I support non PAA events too, sometimes as a last minute, referee, scorer, security or floor sweeper & also visit possible venues, sometimes local clubs & deal a bit with the IFA. The kit we have has to be maintained, cleaned, stored, loaded, unloaded & that takes some time too. Is it worth it? Yes. 

This weekend two of our champions - Tom Holland & Mindaugas Dulskas are stars on the knuckles up pay per view in America. Wojtek Jablecki (Hightower) is over in Poland soon taking on the World Champion that was (before Adrian O'Dwyer) & Kyle Hutchison is flying out presently to battle Derek Smith. I remember three of these competing in Novice categories - they took some losses, had injuries, made adjustments, persevered & whilst awesome competitors there were others above them that they had to overcome. They all won our national championships. There is a pathway that can be taken to follow them - the PAA has a part to play in it if it suits you to put yourself about & take on random opponents. You don't have to do it that way - there are plenty of independent promotions that will give you opportunities & the choice at the moment is the best it has ever been.

What is required is a plan. Once you have that, train diligently, persevere & don't be discouraged by losses. Success is not a guarantee - there are only so many opportunities & the opposition want them as well. 

Anyway, if you were wondering why I do what I do & if there is any sense to the schedule - now you know. 

London Armwrestling has their Colosseum 4 event this Sunday (12th). The following Saturday (18th)  British Sit Down Armwrestling is on in Worthing. On the same day Manchester FitXPO is on - (if you don't know what a FitXPO is, think all shapes & sizes squeezed into lycra doing unlikely things). Armgods are there doing some promotion. The day after - 19th - Armgods have superseries pulls. Questions? Ask the individual promoters - not me - all the information I have is on the events calendar along with contact details. 

I noticed that Hightower has another SteelArm event on & it is scheduled for 8th June. I will put up the poster in the next few days, but if you are desperate for details contact Spalding Steel Arms or Hightower himself via facebook & he will enlighten you. 

So far there are only four of us declared for the Euros, but others have made some quiet noises about coming & more seem to be interested in the Worlds at Greece in September. (Details of both can be found on our EUROSTEAM or WORLDSTEAM pages). 

That's all for now. See you down the road.