TOO MANY EVENTS!!! ??? Where does AW in Ont go ?

[Dave McEwen]

I attended the westerns , and without the support of USA there would of been no event, Thankyou Al and Jen for all your efforts for a great event and super venue,even with so little Ontario turn out. There is no doubt now there are too many events with the different formats that are being held. It my be time to end the circuit turny's . There was not even room to run the Murry Park this year, which is a discrace to his memory. I want to support something that uniform . There is not enough dates and tallent to support Circut, Armmelter and MLA , I feel sorry for the promoters , and fees should not be going to OFA on such small turn outs and lack of a push to get turnout . There should be a min . number of competitors before the fees are collected . Were going to run out of willing promoters. We should be having more in a central location to cut the travel distance for all who compete regularly.

[Eric Roussin]

The scheduling issue is a tough one. The fact that there are 20+ tournaments held in Ontario each year indicates that there are a lot of people who are interested in putting on events.

How many entries does it take for a tournament to be considered successful? In my opinion if a non-cash tournament gets 50+ entries, that’s pretty good. Though not everyone agrees, given the current base of competitors, I don’t think every event can get 100+ entries. However, some do (e.g. the Central Ontario Championships held in Peterborough, the Mike Gould Classic, and the Provincials). The reality is that only four OAA events in 2012 had fewer than 50 entries (Prescott, Bobcaygeon, Brockville, and Marmora). All four of these events were held during the summer, when most people’s weekends are busier. I haven’t seen the results from the Westerns yet, so I don’t know the number of entries.

The OAA holds five circuit sanctioned tournaments each year, in addition to the Provincial Championships. These six events count for points for Puller of the Year, Team of the Year, etc. All provinces are encouraged by the CAWF to adopt a similar circuit tournament schedule so that pullers from across the country can compete for the CAWF Puller of the Year. The tournaments are held in different parts of the province to try to make it as fair as possible to all competitors. In my opinion, it’s not surprising that the tournaments at the extremities of the province (Grand Bend in the West and Kingston in the East) get fewer entries than the ones that are more centrally located.

Al's always been willing to host a tournament when there was a need. This year the circuit needed a fifth event, and he gladly stepped up to put on the Westerns with just a few weeks notice. I'm sorry to hear about the lackluster turnout.

So what is the solution? I don’t think abolishing the circuit sanctioned events is the way to go. Should the OAA actively discourage promoters from putting on events? I don’t think that’s a good idea either.

There are few places in the world where armwrestlers have so many opportunities to compete within a reasonable driving distance. What's a better problem to have -- too many events to choose from, or too few?

Thoughts?

[Shea Dickie]

I think the problem is we just need more armwrestlers

[Brad Wade]

I agree with Dave on this one except I think there is awesome talent in Ontario. The challenge with the circuit events, is having all the high calibre pullers competing together at the same ones. That's why I focus most of my training towards the Arm Melter and Mike Gould Classic. Why show up at a sanctioned event, when I can compete against most of the top Ontario pullers at the Provincials? Bottom line, Mike, Joe and Rebecca Gould put on the best shows in Ontario and give back to the pullers. The Arm Melter also has lots of support from Quebec pullers and the Mike Gould Classic has entries from across North America. I believe that the more people who show up to these two events will help to provide more entries (cash), increase the competition level, give more exposure to the sport and showcase some of the best arm wrestling matches happening in Canada. Leave the circuit events for the amatures to encourage them to stick with the sport since they will have a better chance to place. The point system is great for some, but I don't lose sleep over it. I am more interested in the rankings. Opinions always differ - I'd like to hear some more thoughts.

[Dave McEwen]

Eric there is a difference between entries and competitors,quite a few pullers make multiple entries just to help fill classes and make the event a good show, i should of last weekend but am not up to it health wise, Shea did so did Al'. Take those away and it's an awfuly small tourny in a lot of cases.

[Eric Roussin]

If there are too many tournaments, what is a possible solution? Should promoters be limited in the number of events they put on each year? Not that the OAA could control this anyway, but do you think the Association should be actively encouraging promoters to not put on events? I can tell you that the current promoters all try to choose dates that have the least interference with other events in the province.

I understand that not all pullers are interested in competing in the same events because of different motivations. That's part of the beauty of having different event formats, prizes, etc. There's something for everyone.