Presidents Message

December 2006

October 2006

July 2006

March 2006

December 2005

October 2005

June 2005

March 2005

December 2006

The 2006 OPA Annual General Meeting took place on November 25 in Brantford. This was an election year. We welcome two new officers to the executive. They are Jerry Garnet, newsletter editor/website, and Sarah Frankel, Secretary.  I would like to sincerely thank Ulrike Kruger and Jackie Mattice for all their hard work.

The Ontario Masters and Junior Championships were held on November 26. There was some very good lifting with the Power Pit Club from Belle River winning the best team award.

A few weeks ago I attended the Mens and Womens World Championships and IPF Congress in Norway.  The Championships were very well organized.  The Congress was held the day before the competition started.  This was a technical rule change year with most changes being made to the Bench Press.  All new rules can be found on the IPF website. 

A much needed rules clinic was held on September 10.  Only 8 people attended.  Others expressed an interest in attending but could not on that date.

On the Friday evening before the Niagara Open, another rules clinic will be held.  This will be a good opportunity for all lifters and coaches to become familiar with all the new rules and their interpretations.

In 2006, as well as holding five annual provincial championships, the OPA sanctioned five open powerlifting contests, two bench press contests, a developmentally challenged contest and an Ontario Paralympics competition which included blind and physically challenged lifters. 

This year, our high school program has continued to grow.  There were three competitions held throughout the school year.  The first Ontario High School Championships were held in April, at Cayuga High School.

Throughout the year, lifters from Ontario not only competed in the Ontario Championships and at the Canadian Championships, but also competed at the World Sub-Juniors, Bench Press and Masters World Championships. Our top finisher in these competitions was Mark Giffen.  He placed first in the 125 kg class in the Masters I division.

The OPA information pamphlet has been updated. It was a pleasure to work with Mike Knott, Krista Schaus and Ulrike Kruger on this project.

Many thanks to Glyn Moore, Stan Goss and Dave Hoffman for updating the Meet Director’s Handbook.  It covers every aspect of what is necessary to hold a contest. It includes all the necessary paperwork which can be reproduced.

I wish to thank all the Executive members for their hard work throughout the year.  Without these dedicated people the OPA would not exist.  

October 2006

The 2006 Ontario Mens and Womens Open Powerlifting and Bench Press Championships were held in Belle River on September 23. Congratulations to Shawn O'Halloran on setting a new world record of 302.5kg in the Bench Press in the Masters 1 division. Two Canadian records were also broken. In the Bench Press Championships, one Canadian record and three Ontario records were broken. Thank you to the Power Pit Powerlifting Club for a job well done in hosting this contest.

I was upset to hear that Larry Byrne, from Belle River, lost his life in a car accident while traveling home from Guelph. I'm sure that all of our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this time of great loss.

A rules clinic was held on September 10 at the Steel City Powerlifting Club. Eight people attended this clinic. Four of those in attendance had never competed before, but plan to do so in the coming year. I have received feedback from individuals who expressed interest in attending a rules clinic in the future.

The IPF Technical Rules are reviewed and changed every four years. This is the rule change year. All proposed rule changes will be considered this November. There will be rule changes, especially in the Bench Press. As a result, I will try and hold a rules clinic sometime before the Ontario Masters and Juniors Championships. The date, place and time will be posted on the OPA web site.

We will continue to promote strength training and powerlifting in the high schools. Last year was very successful, with the first Ontario high school Powerlifting Championships being held at the end of a school year. We hope to have more students and schools involved this year.

The Masters World Championships are being held in Killeen, Texas USA. from October 3-7. Canada is sending a good sized team, and quite a few lifters from Ontario will be participating. I wish all the lifters the best of luck.

The Ontario Powerlifting Association Annual General Meeting will be held on November 25 at 4:30pm in Brantford, at the Best Western Brant Park Inn, 19 Holiday drive. This is an election year, and all positions are open. All proposals for the AGM and nominations must be sent to the OPA Secretary 1 month prior to the meeting.
 

July 2006

The 2006 Canadian Championships were held in Chilliwack, BC in April.  The organizers were Pat Ling and Jackie Sandu.  They did an excellent job along with their organizing committee. The full contest results can be found on the CPU website. 

The CPU AGM was held on April 5.  Jeff Becker was voted male lifter of the year.  The 2007 Canadian Championships will be held in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and the 2008 Championships will be held in St. Catharines, Ontario.  For the full minutes of the meeting, look on the CPU website. 

The 2006 Ontario Intermediate Championships were held in Kitchener.  This was the first championship contest of the year.  Congratulations to Chad Chapman and Brandon Ward for reaching their Senior (Class I) total at that contest, and congratulations to the Steel City Powerlifting Club for winning the team award. 

The London Powerlifting Club will be helping to organize the lifting events at the Ontario Paralympic Summer Championships on July 8 at the University of Western Ontario.

Our high school program has taken a giant step forward this year.  On March 25 the Kitchener regional championships were held at the Resurrection High School in Waterloo.  There were 3 schools represented and 16 lifters took part.  On April 13, the Hamilton and district regional championships were held at Cayuga High School where 39 lifters took part.  The top three lifters from these regional championships would move on the Ontario Championships.

On May 25, the first Ontario High School Powerlifting Championships were held at Cayuga High School. There were 24 lifters in the competition from 11 schools. It was great to see these Championships become a reality and I would like to thank all the lifters, teachers, coaches, referees, scorekeepers, announcers and spotter-loaders.  A special thanks to all the helpers who assisted with the equipment the night before.  Without the help of all of these people, it would have been impossible to run a successful contest. 

Due to a lack of knowledge of the technical rules that govern our sport and their interpretation, and what I believe to be a genuine wish on part of most lifters to understand these rules better, there will be a rules clinic held on Sunday, September 10.  Anyone that wishes to attend must fill in the application in this newsletter.  The place and time will be determined based on the area that most of the applicants are from.  The deadline for the applications is August 10.  If the final location is not suitable for this clinic, another can be held in a different area in the future.

March 2006

In a few weeks, I will be making my way to Chilliwack BC, along with many other lifters from Ontario, to participate in the 2006 Canadian Powerlifting Championships. It's been a few years since our national championships have been held in BC, and I am looking forward to it.

So far this year, 2 contests have taken place in Ontario. The Niagara Open, which was very well run, was held on January 21. The St. Thomas Open was held on March 5. There may be a few changes in the order in which our open contests are held this year. Any changes will be posted in our newsletter, and on the OPA website.

We will be running high school contests again this year. Regional contests will be held in the Kitchener, Hamilton, Grand River and Belle River regions. The provincial high school championships will be held at McKinnon Park high school in Caledonia on May 25.

December 2005

The OPA Annual General meeting was held at Waterloo Inn in Waterloo, on November 26, 2005.  The following is my report as it was given at the AGM.

Although our registration is over the 200 mark, it is down from last year. However I believe this will improve in the coming year. One way we can improve our registration is by becoming more active in the north, and hold at least one contest there.

The number of competitors in our Provincial championships remains steady, but I am concerned with a lack of female competitors.

In 2005, lifters from Ontario were part of Canada’s National teams. They competed at the North American, Pan American and Commonwealth Championships, as well as the Sub Juniors, Juniors, Masters and Men’s Open World Championships. Some of our lifters were new to the international scene and gained valuable experience.

We continue to carry out drug testing at our Open and Championship contests. In the coming year it is my hope that we will shift our emphasis to out of contest testing.

Our high school program continues to grow. In fact, it has grown to the point where we intend to hold an Ontario High School Championships in the spring. Before this Provincial Championships is held, there will be three, possibly four district Championships held as qualifying contests.

Before these championships can take place there is much work to be done. At past meetings we have talked about making high school powerlifting a reality. This will happen if you are willing to contribute your time to this project, and help run these competitions.

The first of the district Championships will be held in Erin High School near Richmond Hill in January.

We are a small organization compared to others. Our executive, referees and meet directors do a great job, and have shown their abilities. We all want to see the OPA grow and develop. We need more people to step forward to share the load.

October 2005

The first Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships were held September 9-11 in Cramington, Northumberland England.  Canada was one of the 11 countries taking part.  The Canadian team was made up of five men and two women.  The results of the Ontario lifters were:

Krista Schaus - 4^th

Dave Pigozzo - 5^th

Mark Giffen - 2^nd

The inaugural meeting of the Commonwealth Powerlifting Federation was held September 8.  Peter Fiore was elected President, Neville Primich - Vice President, and Richard Parker - General Secretary.  It was decided that these Championships would be held every two years.

As the Commonwealth Championships were being held in England, the world Sub-Junior and Junior Championships were taking place in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Lifters from Ontario placed as follows:

Sub-Junior:

Jason Marentette - 5^th

Marlon Obratoski - 4^th

Richard Singh - 7^th

Junior:

Daniel Young - 6^th  

Scott Hastings - 6^th

Jason Byrne - 7th

Gregory Young – 8^th  

The Ontario Open Mens and Womens Championships were held in London on September 24.  There were a small number of lifters this year because of the commitment of some lifters to compete for Canada at upcoming international championships.  Even though the numbers were few, there were Ontario records broken.  Thanks to the London Powerlifting Club for making this a successful Championship.

Our high school powerlifting program will be continuing for the fourth year.  There will be more schools involved and I have already received a request to hold a contest in January.  I really would like to hold a Provincial High School Championships in the spring.  This can only be accomplished if more people make a commitment to help with these contests.   If not, these contests cannot be held and the program’s growth will stop.  If you wish to help, let me know.

The Ontario Annual General Meeting will be held on November 26, the night before the Ontario Master, Junior and Bench Press Championships.  The AGM and the contest will be held at Waterloo Inn in Waterloo.

Krista Schaus will be stepping down as OPA Treasurer.  If anyone wishing to fill this position, please contact the OPA Secretary, Jackie Mattice by email.  All items to be included on the OPA agenda should also be sent to Jackie Mattice.

June 2005

This year’s Canadian Championships and Annual General Meeting were held in Calgary from April 6-10. The competition was very well run, thanks to Jimmy Hall and the Alberta Powerlifting Union. This year, Ontario had over 40 lifters competing with 23 firsts, 7 seconds and 8 thirds. All of our members should make it a point to read the minutes of the National meeting on the CPU website.

The Ontario Intermediate Championships were held in Kitchener on April 23. Although not well attended, the competition between the London Powerlifting Club and the Steel City Powerlifting club from Hamilton was very close, with London taking the award.

Our high school contests are continuing to grow.  In the Waterloo region, a second annual high school contest was held at Grand River Collegiate in Kitchener in March.  17 lifters participated from 3 different high schools.  On May 31 in Caledonia, a 3^rd annual contest was held in the region at McKinnon Park High School. 32 lifters took part from 7 schools. We want to expand this program. Any club wishing to be involved should contact me before approaching the schools as we wish to maintain a certain standard.

This year many Ontario lifters will be competing for Canada at a variety of International Championships.  We wish all our lifters the best in these competitions as they make new acquaintances from around the world. - Bill Jamison

March 2005