Hosting our Nationals in Mexico?

[Andrew Grant]

Hosting a nationals outside of the country is a ridiculous idea. I understand that sometimes a ridiculous idea can help stimulate outside the box thinking. But you can not win a valid Canadian title outside of Canada, as not all Canadians can freely cross borders to compete. No athlete should be forced to leave their country to compete at their National Championships.

If people want to organize a Mexican tournament that's great, but it certainly shouldn't act as the Canadian National Championships.

[Andrew Grant]

Jul 31, 2013 0:57:03 GMT -5 Jeff Miller said:

Del has presented an intriguing idea on this forum at least a couple of different times:

- Eastern Canadian Championships
- Western Canadian Championships
- Top 2 each class compete in a Nationals four-person tournament style West 1 vs East 2, East 1 vs West 2 in first round.
Hopefully we can get some sponsorship through WestJet or whatever to offer "travel money" to the winners of each class. Currently due to the enormous amount of classes offered, it would be hard to pay out to all the classes, but this could be worked out with the details.

Nationals is only for the top pullers...if nobody wants to go in a specific class, say 85kg for example, the option to go to worlds would go to 1st place finisher of East (using a coin toss to determine East/West), then 1st place of the West (or East coin toss went other way), then 2nd place East, and 2nd place West.
(edit July 31, 2013, OR you just don't qualify for worlds if you fail to go to Nationals)

This Nationals would have only pre-registered athletes, so you know exactly what to prepare for.

What do you guys think? Personally, I like to say thanks to Del for this great idea.

If we change Nationals to invite only, wouldn't we lose what we have now, the opportunity for all arm wrestlers from across the country to meet and compete at single event?

Preregistration / prearranged opponents; a guarantee to face the top guy(s), could have a big influence on event attendance. Although inviting less people won't make a better attended event unless those invitations are well funded.

I love the basic philosophy of determining the best few guys in the west and sending them out to take on the best few guys in the east. It's exciting and economic to only have the best guys facing off.

This needs to happen, although it doesn't have to be for a national title and it doesn't have to occur for all weight classes at single event.

Changing the format so each of the western guys gets to pull each of the eastern guys best 2/3 would be ideal, with running fouls of course. That kind of format guarantees match ups and makes the travel worthwhile.

I really think we can make this happen. I would love to film, host or attend such an event.

As for Team Canada, it should be built throughout the year and we should allow disputed positions to be settled outside of the nationals when possible. International travel and competition requires significant preparation. Too many positions are going unfilled as is.

[Jeff Miller]

If we change Nationals to invite only, wouldn't we lose what we have now, the opportunity for all arm wrestlers from across the country to meet and compete at single event?

Agreed, that is a drawback to this system. You'd have to travel to another event to experience competition from another area other than Nationals.

This needs to happen, although it doesn't have to be for a national title and it doesn't have to occur for all weight classes at single event.

Right, if it's too difficult to change an entrenched Nationals system, there are other ways to facilitate this competition... "Pro-style" events is the other avenue.

Preregistration / prearranged opponents; a guarantee to face the top guy(s), could have a big influence on event attendance. Although inviting less people won't make a better attended event unless those invitations are well funded.

Yes, the attendance will be lower, but the costs to run the event should be much lower as well. I think this style would attract spectators too; every match will be worthwhile to watch, and the whole event would be relatively short due to only the best participating.

Due to the large number of classes required for a Nationals competition, (the grand total is huge when accounting all the women's, men's, junior, disabled, master's, grand master's) it would make hosting the Eastern and Western Championships pretty much as challenging as hosting a nationals, which is a deterrent.
I can see the more appealing, easier route might be to focus on the pro events to get cross Canada competition... which would mean a limited number of classes; (Approx 5-6 Open Men's, Approx 2-3 Open Women's classes and no others)