PROGRESSION
When the PAA UK & IRELAND formed in 2019 there were a lot of novices & not many opportunities for them to progress. There were some established Pros who seemed untouchable by their opposition. A new system of competition was gradually established & the number of participants has at least tripled. A lot has changed in seven years. Some of the systems put in place need updating.
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The purpose of this association is to provide opportunities to progress. The new person is directed to a club to learn how to pull safely. The club will train them & if they decide to compete there are many options. We have a programme of events to take those new people all the way to succeed in international competition if they have talent & dedication to persevere.
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We run a number of regional warzone tournaments with multiple chances for new pullers to learn from established armwrestlers & progress against each other. The experienced or more talented pullers win by beating everyone else. This integrated system gives many more opportunities than a standard double elimination tournament & more experience than the supermatch format. Losing a round is not catastrophic. The Warzone Page explains how it works.
Here it is necessary to define some terms. In the past we have considered a Novice to be someone who has armwrestled for less than 5 years, won or placed a few times or not at all. What happens when they have a layoff? Compete abroad? Win dozens of supermatches? We had Novice Tournaments with mutliple problems - how to keep the cheats out to keep it fair? 2024 revealed a stark fact. Of the 106 Novice National entrants only 2 went to the Pro Nationals to compete. Over the next year some faded away never to be seen again. Others started to chase progression against the better pullers. Conversely the Pro Nationals had 60 entrants whilst many who were good enough to be contenders watched from the audience.
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So from now on a novice is just someone new that year. A new name entering the tournament who we haven't seen before who's name has been forwarded to us as being safe to pull by their team captain or an established armwrestler who we know & trust to be competent. That's it. The only benefit of being identified as a novice will be to get an extra round in the regional tournament to pull against another new person so one of you gets a win under referees instructions. After that you're a puller with the chance to progress as far as your talent & dedication will take you.
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Now we need to define what pro status was. It's a historic term that is probably the wrong one in the circumstances we have had. Prize money is occasionally available so the term amateur would in some circumstances be unsuitable under those definitions, but we don't actually have any full time professional armwrestlers in the UK. It might be argued that globally there are only a handful that make their living as armwrestlers & they mostly rely on social media presence & the advertising revenue earned by the amount of their followers, rather than prize money or government grants. Some of the best pullers in the UK & IRELAND travel internationally, are reimbursed for their travel & accommodation expenses, whilst some are paid for attendance whether they win or lose. They are elite, but all have day jobs. So PRO STATUS is an acknowledgement of competence, experience & some success, a gift from the association which we make to those who have competed with us. In the past we have issued them to people we've identified as too good for the Novice Nationals. There will be no more novice nationals or specific novice competitions run by us.
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We are affiliated to IFA (International Federation of Armwrestling) & our team has won medals at European & World Championships. We want more medallists & as IFA grows there are likely to be qualification criteria of who we can send as well as harder opposition from more competing countries.
Pro status certificates will continue to be issued for:
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Winning two non national competitions
Gaining three non nationals places
Gaining two places in an overall warzone final
Gaining a place in the National championships.
Exceptional supermatch performance recommendation by Vice President or Ambasssador. ​​
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We're not rewarding people for procrastination. We recognise results, provide opportunities to progress & celebrate those who succeed.
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These are the people who gained recognition since the scheme started in 2022.
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2025 ADDITIONS:
Gabriel Morse Brown
Adam Partyka
Levon Mahseredjian
Curtis Zuccotti
Caglayan Ari
Tom Hickman
Sebastian Slupinski
James Bradbury
Mal Cini
Peteris Eigams
Jack Hickman
Essa Torkman
Rob Heaven
Dawid Glogowski
Keelan Clark Price
Einarr Ulfhedinn
Hamza Mezouari
Daniel Gilly
Wil Brown
Emilio Pagliocchini
Mike Wisniewski
Robert Scott
Darran Nicholson
Michael Younis
Callum Rice
Juan Gilly
Przem Charkiewicz
Janek Purcha
Edgars Stalts
Hannah Steedman
Satin Violet
Agnieszka Koralewska
Candi Bailey
Fabrizio Treccarichi
Dan Sheppard
Mason Kuhlmann
Shazad Ata
Waleed Maqsood
Roland Caulfield (5 years)
Marc Sidney
Dean Carden
Chaz Dunn
Eddie Dunn
Joe Finnerty
Eriks Tauters
Luke Banks
Alwyn Jones
Gordon James
Oli Williams
Dave Allport
Jim Ayrton
​Tom Lymath​​
Paul Scott
Michael Taylor
Viktor Culan
Jake Hatcher
Simon Furze
Nathan Davey
Stefan Tomlin (5 years)
Dave Curry
Manuel Mackarel
Ion Tudorean
Deimantas Vispulskis
Bianca Lincoln
Ben Surgeoner
Alexandru Bugan
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2024 ADDITIONS:
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​Andy Matchett
Achoi (Sai) Ngo
Bence Pordi
Chris Lewis
Dylan Daybell
Daniel Cots Fernandez
Ewa Zarazynski
Jake Starling
Jamie Hill
Laurence Shahlaei
Luke Edmonds
Michael Antonia
Morgan Hennessy
Philippa Martin
Zbigniew Gorczynski
Alexander Perchik (5 years)
Andrei Ploae (5 years)
Brett Jones (5 years)
David Nagy (5 years)
Ghita Maier (5 years)
Jake Grose (5 years)
James Henry (5 years)
Lewis Alexander (5 years)
Lewis Claxton (5 years)
Loko Dejavu (5 years)
Matt Palk (5years)
Sergiu Gherman (5 years)
Stuart Maughan (5 years)
Ste Hurst (5 years)
Scott Galley (5 years)
Rudy Mlkvy (5 years)
Ochir Erkhembayer (5 years)
Lee Hellyer (5 years)
Ben Taylor (5 years)
Steve Anderson
Wayne Ashley (5 years)
Mick Hughes (5 years)
Bryan Young
Ethan Fisher (5 years)
Charlie Owen
Alan Riseborough
Graeme Shaw
Richard Cudmore (5 years)
Chris Cooper (5 years)
George Badea (5 years)
Darren Waring
Joseph Lawrence
Ervins Trubacs
Luke Guadagni
Anthony Sandall
Steven Taylor
Tara Liggett
Mindaugas Mackeviciuss
Petrich Andrusi
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2023 ADDITIONS:
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Neil Cass
Dylan Gosling
Thomas Lilley
Mindaugas Dumbra
Dom Crane
Dane Colvin
Harley Potter
Alexandru Necseriu
Noah Burton
Denis Lisicins
Sylwester Straczynkski
Curtis Reynolds
Damian Muka
Stefan Putter
Charlie Owen
Robbie Byrne
Vladislav Prikodko
Matt Smith
Dan Stone
Hasan - Al Hakim
Stefan Pantelic
Finbarr English
Diarmuid English
Mihai Gherman
James Murdock
James White
Mike Emery
Ryan Barbour
Dafydd Lewis
Chris Thomas
Rob Brown
Viswa Mavuri
Ivan Minev
Dan Earthquake
Cillian English
Andrei Porca
Omar Al Nuri
Nik Dodd
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2022 additions.
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Alex Hill
Andrew Jones
Arturas Sakutis
Ashley Harmsworth
Ben McGibbon
Billy Davies
Boiko Artem
Connor Zuccotti
Cormac English
Darren Stark
David Prokupek
Dawid Kucinski
Drew Holloway
Dwaine Rees
Ernestas Linius
Gary McKelvey
Joe Sirichas
Jonel Melmicic
Jon Murphy
Josh Powell
Kelvin Coogan
Kristiyan Iliev
Luke Bowers
Mark McGinley
Mark Waldon
Mitch Tutt
Nicolae Barbu
Reece Aldridge
Reuben Hughes
Sam Schofield
Scott James
Simon Wrigley
Stuart Acton
Zsolt Papp
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