Here is the first of what is planned to be quarterly updates.
Highlights:
BSG Sign up coming to a close soon, hurry and get signed up.
Wisconsin Open will be hosted by Madtown WLC October 20/21
2019 State Meets, call for clubs interested in hosting.
And more...
This update was shared with active members through USAW Email, here is a copy if you missed it.
Sent via e-mail to everyone on March 24th:
For those who are not already aware, registration is open for the LWC Championships. You can register here: http://www.wisconsinweightlifting.org/register
As a reminder, the meet will be held April 23rd and 24th in the Madison area. Open registration will close at midnight on April 6th. A session schedule will be published immediately afterwards. Session-specific spots might be made available after this date, depending how full each session is.
Register by April 6th to guarantee your slot.
This message serves as your notification that annual general meeting for Wisconsin Weightlifting will be held on April 23rd at 5:00 PM during the state championship meet. The location is: Crossfit Madtown, 2500 Pleasant View Rd. #101, Middleton, WI 53562
At the prior annual meeting, the membership voted unanimously to dissolve our existing bylaws. A bylaw committee was formed and has reviewed new bylaws for our organization. These draft bylaws are available here: http://www.wisconsinweightlifting.org/s/DraftWisconsinBylaws.pdf
We will be voting to ratify these new bylaws at the annual meeting.
If you wish to make a comment on any section of these bylaws, please respond to this email with your comments by April 1st. Please note that all comments, including the author, will be reviewed by the committee and made available as minutes on our website.
Should the committee decide to make changes to the draft, the new draft bylaws will be sent for inspection, by email, to all members no later than ten days prior to the meeting. If no further drafts are sent you can assume that the draft linked above will be what is voted on during the meeting.
The meeting agenda, 2015 Treasurer's Statement, and 2015 Annual General Meeting Minutes are all available on our website at: http://www.wisconsinweightlifting.org/governance/
As mentioned in a previous message, the USAW national office is coordinating elections for each LWC this year. All of the director positions, included the proposed positions in our bylaws, are open for election.
These positions include: President (current: Daniel Swank) Vice-President (Jeremy Jacobs, not seeking re-election) Secretary / Treasurer (Patty Gremore, not seeking re-election) Competition Chair (new position) Athlete Representative (new position)
Descriptions of these positions are available in our draft bylaws. Note that the athlete representative is restricted to current athletes, who do not hold a coaching certification, and have competed in LWC meets in the prior two calendar years (2014 and 2015).
Two board members, Patty Gremore and Jeremy Jacobs, have indicated they are not seeking re-election to their positions. Jeremy's professional career will be taking him beyond the borders of Wisconsin this year, while Patty has decided to pass the torch on after years (decades) of service. We thank them for their service and wish them the best.
You will be receiving an e-mail from USAW on Monday, March 28th calling for nominations. All positions will be self-nominated. If you seek office, you should only nominate yourself, and only for one position. The nomination period will run from March 28th to April 4th. All nominees will be asked to provide a short bio to include in the final ballot.
Balloting will occur from April 11th through April 18th. A second e-mail from USAW will contain instructions for this process. All current members will have one vote. Results will be compiled by the national office and the new officers will be notified in advance of the annual meeting. The new board will take office after introductions at the annual general meeting.
This was our annual message sent to all USAW members registered in the Wisconsin LWC.
State Meets Awarded
We are happy to announce that the state meets for the year have been awarded:
The LWC Championship will be held April 23-24 at Madtown Weightlifting Club in Madison, Wisconsin.
The Summer Games will be hosted by Milwaukee Barbell. There is no date yet for the meet, but we expect it to be scheduled for the end of July or sometime in August.
The Wisconsin Open is moving out west to UW La Crosse this fall. We are excited to have an event in the area: the last time a meet was held in that corner of the state was 9 years ago.
Great Lakes Open
Save the date!
262 Barbell Club is hosting their annual Great Lakes Open on June 11th, in Waukesha. This will be the third year they've put on the show. The atmosphere is always friendly and fun with a mix of first-timers - and some heavy weights being dropped of course.
2015 Year in Review
Like the prior year, 2015 was a great year for weightlifting in the state. Our overall membership grew from 394 people at the close of 2014, to 460 people in 2015. The exciting portion is that our athlete cohort grew from 150 to 240 athletes in 2015.
We stayed steady with 6 meets held during the year, but 2015 meets were much more popular. Meet participation grew from 219 to 403.
We lost 6 clubs in 2015, but gained even more for a total of 23 weightlifting clubs in the state.
Despite the membership and club growth, competition opportunities remain limited. Performing your best on the stage as an athlete takes practice. So does coaching an athlete through a meet. With 240 athletes and 403 participants, the average weightlifter only competed in 1.7 competitions. At least six competitions is ideal -- you might only peak for 2-3 of them -- but the extra practice is invaluable.
The barrier to entry for hosting a meet is small: find at least six lifters, three judges, and a barbell - then fill out an online form. Let's see if we can get a dozen meets on the calendar this year.
Annual Meeting
This is a reminder that, as usual, the annual LWC meeting will be held at the championship meet.
This year the USAW national office is coordinating voting for LWC director positions. All positions are available for nomination/election. This will occur via an online voting system prior to the annual meeting. You will not need to be attendance to vote. Details will be distributed through the e-mail address you have registered with USAW.
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See you in April
Last Fall we sent out a request for entries/concepts for the official Wisconsin Weightlifting logo. We are now putting the entries to a vote:
5 points will be awarded for a #1 vote, 3 for a #2 vote, and 1 for a #3 vote. Any response not containing a valid USAW membership number registered in the WI LWC will not be counted.
The response earning the most points by February 1st will be used as the base/concept for creating our official logo. We will retain the original spirit of the entry, but might change colors and styling based on the remainder of the survey feedback. The final version will be used for promotion of this year's LWC Championship, and will presented for a vote of approval during our Annual Meeting on April 19th, 2015.
We are happy announce that Milwaukee Barbell will host the 2015 State Championship meet on April 18th-19th, held at BrewCity Crossfit. The past year has seen unbelievable growth in our LWC. We started 2014 with 8 active clubs - as of right now we are at 22 clubs, and still growing like weeds. Much of this growth is spurred by CrossFit affiliates (and CrossFit athletes!) and their love of barbells - much of this growth has been centered around the greater Milwaukee area. Our community has energy like never before.
Because of the expected volume of registrations, this will be what we believe is the first ever 2-day meet in the state of Wisconsin. Following the last session on Sunday April 19th there will be a banquet and awards ceremony to celebrate the prior season's successes. This will also serve as the LWC's Annual Meeting.
Registration forms, schedules, and banquet information will be published as it becomes available. Additionally, an official announcement regarding the annual meeting and its agenda will be sent to the e-mail address of all registered LWC members as the date approaches. In the meantime mark your calendars as you aren't going to want to miss this one.
In the interest of transparency, we want to explain how the state meet was awarded this year. One of the issues the LWC currently struggles with is vague and out-dated bylaws. The bylaw articles on the state championship provide the following: "The LWC shall hold annually such championships as deemed best by the Federation and LWC...". This is insufficient guidance on how the larger (and potentially profitable) state meets are awarded. It lends itself to favoritism and limits competitive pressure for clubs to host better and more enjoyable meets in weightlifting-appropriate venues.
Because of the limited time left prior to the state meet, an executive decision was made to limit focus to the Milwaukee area only. Over the last decade the state meet has bounced back and forth between Green Bay and Madison. As mentioned above, the Milwaukee area has seen not only the most growth, but its newer clubs have also begun hosting frequent meets. This initiative and progress should be rewarded. A few of the more active clubs bid on the meet, and the meet was ultimately awarded to Milwaukee Barbell due to their venue and recent success with the BrewCity Open.
There are two remaining state meets in the 2015 calendar: the Badger State Games and the Wisconsin Open. The Badger State Games are being hosted by MadTown WLC in late June - their coaching staff is doing the legwork necessary to reinstate weightlifting into the games. The Wisconsin Open remains unawarded.
It it our hope that we will be able to vote and agree upon appropriate procedures for these meets at the 2015 annual meeting to ensure all clubs that have proven capable of hosting local meets have a fair opportunity to bid on these. Limiting events to only certain geographical locations in the state limits us from truly being an inclusive state-wide organization.
See you in April,
Josh Ireland & Daniel Swank
These updates were sent via a bulk message to the e-mail addresses USAW had on file for all LWC members. The contents are copied here in case anyone missed the message.
You are receiving this e-mail because you are a registered USAW member in the Wisconsin LWC.
Dear LWC Member,
As the dust settles from this year's Nationals, we've got plenty of updates to share. The first is an explanation of our communication plan. Wisconsin Weightlifting has the following online resources:
Going forward, we intend on using the News / Mailing list to send regular updates such as event notifications, athlete recognition, and other news. We will only send correspondence to the entire LWC when it is required. This includes things like the LWC Annual Meeting notification. If you want to receive regular updates from the LWC you must register for the News / Mailing List. Follow this link to register now.
Looking forward to the future,
Josh Ireland & Daniel Swank
Without knowing who we represent and knowing what your interests are it is impossible to grow our organization in the right directions. To to better understand our membership, we've put together a short survey. It is only ten questions and will only take a minute or two to complete. This is an easy opportunity for you to give feedback, so take advantage of it.
It is frustrating not knowing when your next competition is going to be. As an athlete it can takes months of planning to peak for a meet. Starting in 2015, we propose to install the following annual calendar, featuring three state-wide competitions:
Late March (Spring break) - State Championships
This meet serves as the official LWC championship where the individual and team state champions are determined. This should be a two-day meet, with an awards banquet and ceremony at the end.
Mid June - Summer Games
This meet is intended to be a fun and less-than-formal meet. The focus is Youth and Junior athletes. An enjoyable family destination (like the Dells or a state park) coupled with picnics, chalk, and bumper plates is the ideal weekend.
Mid October - Wisconsin Open
This meet is the precurser to the American Open national meet held in early December. It is intended to be an open meet for any Wisconsin weightlifter to enter, as well as a last-chance qualifier for the American Open.
These state meets will be hosted by LWC clubs and awarded based on a yet-to-be-determined bidding process (likely beginning with the 2016 meets). Local meets will continue to be sanctioned and publicized (and encouraged!) when a club or other organization desires to host one, but we ask that no meets are held within 10 days before or after one of the state-wide meets.
There are currently only a handful of certified referees in the state of Wisconsin. If you've been to more than one meet in the past few years, you've probably seen the same faces officiating. Every one of us is grateful for the time and resources they have spent volunteering for our benefit and the benefit of the sport. As our membership grows and the number of meets being held increases, this becomes an undue burden on those individuals.
We must increase the number of referees in the state. Unlike a coaching certification, referee certifications are free as long as you are an active USAW member. To become a certified referee you must attend a clinic and pass a rules test. The bottleneck has been the availability of referee clinics. We are working to have some of these clinics held in Wisconsin and will provide updates as we progress. Please consider becoming a referee (you also get a great seat to view the lifting action!).
If you are interested in becoming a referee, please respond to this email and let us know. Also, if you happen to see one of our current referees, be sure to give them a big "Thank You".
Our current bylaws listed here have not been updated in over a decade. During the interim time, USA Weightlifting has undergone considerable restructuring which has changed the purpose and directive of the LWCs. Our bylaws have not been updated to reflect those changes, and in many cases reference policies no longer relevant to our current situation. Additionally, our current bylaws do not appear to contain a provision for amendment.
We are working on rewriting our bylaws to comply with the USAW LWC Guidelines that were issued earlier this year. As part of this process we are organizing Wisconsin Weightlifting into a proper corporate entity (none currently exists). This will ensure the LWC will continue to operate in everyone's best interest well into the future.
Before any changes are made, the new bylaws will be sent to the entire LWC for an extended comment period. After the comment period we will hold a formal vote on the new bylaws. This correspondence will be sent to the e-mail on file with USAW for every LWC member, or to the mailing address on file if required.
Every organization needs a logo, and we are no different. We've decided to crowdsource our logo from our membership. We'll take all serious submissions and hold a vote to find the favorite.
The requirements:
If you are interested in entering, reply to this e-mail and attach your submission by September 15th. We will accept any file format (even a scanned hand-drawn image).
The winner will be credited on our website and will receive a one-of-a-kind Wisconsin Weightlifting hoodie featuring their design.
The PSAC Open meet was held on August 2nd, 2014. At that meet Power Sports Athletic Center lifter Mason Groehler went 115/146 261 at a bodyweight of 69.59k. This gave him a Sinclair ranking of 349.21. That is the highest Sinclair ranking ever done in the state of Wisconsin. He also broke the Total record in the 77k class, despite barely squeaking above 69.
Good stuff Mason, good stuff.
A big congratulations goes out to our six Wisconsin lifters who competed at Youth Nationals earlier this month.
From Power Sports Athletic Center:
From Madtown WLC:
Three upcoming USAW Coach courses have been added to the calender:
This is a great opportunity to get your coaching certification or to advance to a national level coach. We can personally vouch for the skill and expertise of all three instructors, so if you've been considering attending one sign up now!
