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Re: IPF rules tarnishing USAPL popularity?
Posted By: Jason Burnell In Response To: IPF rules tarnishing USAPL popularity? (Bud Randall)
Date: Monday, 20 February 2006, at 7:59 p.m.
:Has the sport dropped in numbers or has it :increased?
I do not think the sport overall has dropped. I think we (USAPL) now face competition in areas where there wasn't much before. In California we have several active feds and many lifters, myself included may choose a meet that is close to home if a meet director has a reputation for putting on a good meet. Also, because of the increased number of meets, they are closer together and lifters who normally would go to meet A may choose to skip that meet and go to meet B, which is closer to home.
:I get conflicting info from the :dueling doctors
r. Larry M. and Dr. Larry M.
How ironic the :names)
Trust Dr. M but never Trust Dr. M. LOL
:I’ve lifted or coached at 11 meets in two years :mostly non USAPL. The numbers of lifters are up :from 5 years ago, plus there’s a ton more meets. :If USAPL numbers are down you can’t blame it on :imagined loss of the powerlifting population. We :have more competition. What do we do to improve :the USAPL’s popularity? Non sanctioned meets and :APF style lifting have obviously grown.
There are a few things that we can't compete with. I've noticed that people like certain things:
1) To be treated well. That we can compete on and really need to improve if we can.
2) To leave with an award. While my personal position has been that I'd rather have more competition and would rather take 3rd in a full class than 1st by myself, I've come to realize that a lot of people just want to lift and take a trophy home to show their friends, kids, girlfriend, grandkids or whatever. It's not exactly my thing but when I thought about it, if that's what people want at a local or state meet, might as well make em happy. If they want competition, they'll go to Nationals at some level.
:Has the IPF been killing our program? The USAPL :is the drug free standard.
That is and continues to be a problem. There are some ADFPA members who were brought up in the sport (myself included) and the rhetoric was of and us vs. them nature with regards to the IPF. The IPF was where the drug users went while the drug free lifters went to the WDFPF. The switch turned a lot of lifters off. I still get calls every once in a while from lifters that think that the USAPL isn't the AFDPA because back when they lifted the ADFPA was against the IPF.
Further complicating things in that vein is that it's still pretty clear that drug testing in the IPF isn't the same eveywhere.
We are also in the unenviable position of "damned if we do, damned if we don't" with regard to drug test failures. When a lifter fails a test in USAPL, it shows that testing works and someone got caught -which is the reason for testing. However, some anti-USAPL people always put a negative spin on the success of the testing program by saying "see, anbther USAPL drug user." Of course, these same people often then call the testing unfair and Draconian because we "(gasp) actually expect people to be honest and accountable when they join.
"I’d dare say we are far ahead of the IPF in drug "free lifting.
In the case of some countries that is true, in the case of others we are not as advanced. The IPF also doesn't have an effective mechanism to force countries to test to a certain level.
:Should we allow the IPF to dictate rules that :soil the USAPL’s reputation?
When you join an international body, you agree to abide by the rules that govern everyone. Having said that, the IPF has made rules that it should not have.
:As an example everyone thinks the USAPL will ban :you if you compete elsewhere because of the IPF’s :new rule that bans you if you lift in another :federation’s worlds. Potential USAPL members :who’ve never been to one of our meets think the :USAPL is as pompous as the IPF.
Three things fuel that:
1) A poor decision by the IPF. That rule will never fly in free countries where the lifters have choices - it will only hurt the IPF affiliates.
2) Poor communication by the IPF as to what the rules mean. Almost everytime a new rule is written, we have to wait for two "interpretations" to get an idea of what it really means and then it takes a long time to actually get the rule into the Rule Book.
3) Lots of negative propoganda by the anti USAPL people. They like to type "USAPL rule" when it's clear that an IPF rule is the problem. Then long after it's clear that USAPL doesn't have a rule of the type they complain about, they write about it. It's about making the USAPL look bad so they look better. Very similar to the negative comments made about USAPL judging by people that have never lifted in a USAPL meet.
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