What do armwrestlers want/demand in Major events?

[ddevoto]

Many of us promoters talk to each other regarding the perfect tournament. Now it's time for the real people in the sport to tell us what they want. We all have our preconceived ideas and memories of what we think work and what you want but WHAT DO YOU WANT? Give me some specific ideas and in later days I will ask specific questions. I hope you will share with us your thoughts so we can make changes as a group.

[Travis Bagent]

Schedule divisions..............
Novice Left 10am
Novice Right 11am
Pro Right 1pm
Ect..........

Never should an athlete be forced to pull at 1pm and then the finals at 10pm..... NEVER

AND RUN THE BRACKET BY WEIGHT ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE FINAL FOUR FOR GOD SAKE.......

JUST A THOUGHT!!!!!!!

[Christopher Myers]

My opinion only offcourse, but I would do everything exactly as Igor Mazurenko does...no more...no less !
before I went to Zloty the most prestigeous event I went to was the GNC and SOS but Igor has it hands down he really knows how to make the competitors feel like true athlete's
Christopher Myers

[Joe Bacca]

Travis has a great point, it will reduce injury as well... which is a major problem in this sport...

Chris, enlighten us (those of us who do not have a clue), with everything & exactly what Igor Mazurenko does?

I would make suggestions, but the last time I did, I was condemned for it...

[Olin Lucas]

I have not been to Zloty, but I have seen Mazurenko's work on the internet and he makes his contenders look like superstars. The armwrestlers look extremely professional and they are the center of attention at all times. I know what he is doing for the sport is what it needed, and that is pure adrenaline and excitement.

[enginterzi]

Dave,i want our sport to look as a sport.not something that ppl thinks its a bar fun while drinking beer.i want armwrestling to have more respect by public.but they only see what we show them.i dont care about all those unnecessary extremings in our sport as some appreciates.its a sport,i want to see more promoters who cares about the future of the sport more than their and top armwrestlers' pocket.i will be more happy to see that more ppl are involved in armwrestling than having a few thousand in my pocket.i dont want to be misunderstood by some,i really appreciate tournaments like Vegas,because it also has all those categories that lets everyone to compete,even if they are not professional.these kind of events are helping the future of armwrestling.its much better than having a.. kissing events, both promoters and pullers use eachother.what about new comers?amateurs?masters?

everything we do needs to be in a sportive discipline.and we must be careful what we show to ppl,because we are represanting armwrestling.no body has right to steal from the future of the sport for the sake of their personal benefits.im asking to certain ppl to be less materialistic and feel responsible for the future of the sport,and quit kissing a.. because of their personal benefits.

[Chris Gangi]

i agree with engin and travis we need to keep this sport out of bars and start putting them in ballrooms and meeting halls also we need to have them run on a tight schedule because like travis said and i'm sure we all have done this myself included your first match is at 1pm and your next match is at 4 or 5pm that just takes the wind out of your sails....just my opinon ;D

[enginterzi]

i must add something that i should have done long time ago but unfortunately i forgot.there is a great promoter that her name should have been mentioned while we talk about promoting armwrestling.

Mary McConnaughey,this lady has been serving armwrestling with all her heart for many years.i have competed her tournaments many times.she is a great person.she has been running a great tournament on the beginning of the year,for many years.its a very meaningful tournament,i had been part of it for 3 times.she is a great example of a great promoter,person and armwrestler( a true WAF world champion).by the way,i havent been in touch with her for over 2 years and i have no personal benefits of mentioning her name here,as certain ppl does for certain ppl.


right now im in Turkey and i cant effort to come to USA and compete "PULL FOR THE HUNGRY"this year.but i really suggest this great event to the all armwrestlers!!!


February 19, 2005: "Pull for the Hungry Regional Arm Wrestling Championships XX", Ramada Inn - Frederick Blvd & I-29, Saint Joseph, Missouri 816/233-6192. Call for your room reservation, asking for Arm Wrestling Block. Men's Novice Right: 70, 86, 105, 105+ kg. Women's Novice Right: Open. Men's Open Right: 70, 86, 105, 105+ kg. Women's Open Right: 67, 67+ kg. Men's Left: 70, 86, 105, 105+ kg. Women's Left: Open. Youth: 4 yrs and under, 5 - 6 yrs, Girls: 7 - 9 yrs, 10 - 12 yrs, 13 - 15 yrs, 16 - 18 yrs. Boys: 7 - 9 yrs, 10 - 12 yrs, 13 - 15 yrs, 16 - 18 yrs. Awards earned in 1st - 3rd positions. Entry Fee: Men's $20 for 1st, ladies and additional $10, kids and teens $5. Door fee: $3 Under 12 free. Start & Stop Time of Registration: Friday 8:00-10:00 PM and Saturday: 1:00 - 2:30 PM. Event Start Time: 3:00 PM. The Erin Zinna and Christopher Molsbee "Last Warrior Standing" Memorial will be given to the overall right handed winner in both female and male classes plus the contributions made to American's Second Harvest Food Bank will be done in their memories. Heartland Armwrestling Inc: 402-592-9315.

[Rick Firsich]

I agree with Travis.

I also agree with Chris, I have an 8 and a 5 year old boy, they love to come to the tournaments and when they are in bars its a pain.

When we learned what "sports" are most of us were very young. The youth of today is most definitely where the future lies. Its every armwrestlers job to teach the youth and the new comers as much as possible about the sport, If it weren't for someone in your life sharing it with you where would you be now!

I'm planning to attend the pull for the hungry and my boys are so excited that they will have the chance to compete that they are going nuts!

If you don't think that when they go back to school that they wont be telling all their friends what they got to do then you must not have children! At that age there's not a lot of sports options yet, so get them started early with caution of course!

Rick

[guy]

1) I dont agree about driving the class to the final 4. This totally favors quick hitters
One long match and your done with that system and mo time to recover.
I also dont think resting causes injury between matches or a 10 hour span. your well conditioned tendons and ligaments will be fine.Though pulling 3 minutes apart nothing can be done for fatigue or lactic acid build up. Quite often a person capable of finishing 2nd 3rd or 4th will not because of getting back up too soon.

Chris the only reason 1 match would be at 1pm and the next is 4-5pm is because there are only 4 in that class so they wait for the finals. If there were 10-15 people in a class it wouldnt be so much waiting

(2) ALSO Nothing to do with a tournament but more the big picture, I think ranking to the top 10 or 15 in more then 3 classes and not to the top 5 is very motivating to armwrestlers or athletes to climb the rankings. I wanted to put one in place with voting but it would have cost a little not a lot for about 3 years worth. Still might do it with or without the voting system

(3) Chris share some Zlotty

(4) If moneys available spread it deeper and hopefully draw more people to each class.
Example $150 for 7th place now that would off set someones expenses some

[Malin Kleinsmith]

Hi there!

I agree with all of these people up here. Just a suggestion. If you are gonna have a schedule when the left hand classes is and the right...ladies, men and so on it´s good to make the people that are gonna compete has to register themselfs at least 1-2 weeks before the competition. That makes it easier for the people that holds the competition to plann how long a weight class is going to be.

But you can also do it like you have to register yourself 2 weeks before, IF you don´t do that but want to compete anyway...then you have to pay MORE then the people who have registred 1-2 weeks before.

I think it´s also fun, when you are gonna compete the semi-finals are gonna do something speciall with it...that you maybe present WHO the persons are that are gonna compete against each other, exact weight, merits, country/city, fore arm messure. And so on. To make it more like a SHOW. It´s there you can invite media and people that doesn´t armwrestle to watch.

To sit and watch for 5-10 hours in a row isn´t fun if your not a armwrestler. Then you can invite them to come at 6.pm (for an example) when the semi finals start.

Well...just some thoughts...sorry for my bad english...I couldn´t explain EXACTLY what I meant..but I tried anyway

Malin

[brzenk]

Money received needs to be invested wisely in promoting athletes while providing the best possible value to a sponsor this alignment should be priority one to allow for future sponsors.
On the armwrestling side more energy should be focused on the names and faces of this sport to create recognizable competitors that fans can identify and side with.
Two guys stepping up to a table with little background and then walking away with a quick victory is not entertaining….please think about changing this type of coverage.

It couldn’t hurt to have a different approach on how to present this sport so it’s entertaining and more professional looking.
Lighting, stage, sound effects, spectator control in the background, interviews before and after…flexing footage after the tournament or other shots that could tie in … ect.
Things that don’t cost, but will visually make a big difference in making a good show.
Get the sponsors involved in this process.
Zloty did a great job ….except I didn’t like the smoke.

Dave the big poster you had made up sitting behind the glass for all to see on Freemont Street last year in Las Vegas this promoted the competition with a picture of a statue.
This could have been used to promote some names with faces… how about a sweaty Travis Bagent and Matt Girdner eye to eye veins a popping.
This takes some future planning, but which one is going to get people through the front door?
What is going to motivate an armwrestler to be that guy or to beat him.
With emphasis on sponsored by ….there should be hundreds of these made up and posted in areas that wouldn’t normally provide advertisement space …bring in a charity and who can resist allowing them to be posted all over the city.

What’s more important the fight or the prefight hype.
I enjoyed spending an hour, and paid to watch the backgrounds of Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. This was a key ingredient in getting me to pay to watch them fight. I enjoyed this show more than I enjoyed watching them actually square off.
All the time spent getting to know them is what made the anticipation of the engagement most exciting to watch.
Without knowing who and what they were about the watching of an actual fight of two guys would have had no appeal.
This point goes along with Igor’s name being mentioned again.
Yes one of the things I can see with him on his web site is that he attempts to create excitement long before the tournament begins with key match ups, names and faces with some background.
He does this currently on a very small inexpensive basis on his web site. Good start, right direction.
But if we have any money coming in more needs to be spent away from the small world that is the an armwrestling web site.
Main stream posters, ads, names faces…on more mainstream sites.
Do more than just promoting the sport in general.
Maybe we should try working a little harder on developing exciting athletes that kids would want to emulate.

I won’t mention again how important it seems to me to be able to get gambling involved.
All the sports have it, and what a great new angle to have more live events in Vegas.

An open tournament with prize money is nice, but I think money would be better spent paying all expenses for the top 8 in each class and creating a show for future armwrestlers to strive to be apart of.

I also agree with you Guy that an automated registered ranking system should be developed providing information on good close desired match ups.
Anyone then could have a tournament based on what the public perceives as good match ups….example rankings 9 through 16 in a class would make a great B class tournament.
This motivates people to climb through the rankings competing against there level of competitors without having to get beat by the same top ranked guys every time.

Ok I’m cramping up …..

[Steve Black]

I feel a ranking system is very important. What pro sport dosen't have a ranking system. I also agree with giving the sport a face. You are allways more interested if you know somthing about the partys involved.

[Aaron Lengyel]

Wow!

Great topic.

I agree about the points about the build up of the arm wrestlers as athletes. It would make an event exciting if I knew "for sure" that certain match-ups would take place. I would have loved to be in the crowd at the Zolty cup for sure.

The money should be fairly distributed throughout the brackets. I would like to see left and right arm the same weight class. Perhaps to have a "Class Champion" as was done in the Stampede Pull. This gives equal credit to left and right arm. Also it could make the build up a little more interesting especially if one individual is dominant is one arm.

One very important factor I personally would like see events that do not involve smoking at all. An event that I would/could bring my wife and children to attend and and even participate. Currently this is not the norm and is the main reason I will not bring them with me to events.

Just some thoughts

Cheers

Aaron

[enginterzi]

John,did you have a problem about hearing the "GO" when you lost to Taras at the first meet?