PRESIDENT's BULLETIN

Novice Nationals are in the rear view mirror. Attention turns to the Pro Nationals. 44 entries have already been made via the online entry form on the Nationals page. This is not compulsory - but it saves time on the day at registration. We will be joined by 3 IFA master referees. This allows our referees to attend a free seminar before the tournament & for them to pull the classes they wish to without having to be committed for the whole day which can be detrimental to their own performance. 

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Referees who aren't intending to referee the competition may attend the seminar if they have reffed for us before with no obligation to officiate. Our refereeing standards are improving & the intention over time is for us to improve further. This is an ongoing programme - we have online resources for those interested in becoming referees & during…

Preparation for the Novice Nationals started for real in late august. The venue was booked 11 months ago with various arrangements made over the year gradually which are now boring to talk about & even less interesting to hear. Novice Nationals are the most difficult & onerous of all the events I have ever organised in & out of armwrestling.

There is a lot of hope & I feel it in the weeks leading up. I don't find it fun. There are so many things to get wrong & even more outside of any sort of control. Despite best efforts many things went wrong. In the scheme of things they are minor, but for the people it affects it's significant. Some people got left out of the running order. Others ended up on the wrong side of the bracket & so did not achieve what they might have done. A…

Alan Milne, PAA UK & IRELAND TREASURER & Captain of Swindon Crusaders won the Senior Grandmasters under 78kg left Gold medal at the IFA WORLDS in BAKU, Azerbijan & was unbeaten in all his matches. Those who know Alan will remember him winning several silver medals over the years - at WAF & IFA - so it is great he has finally got the Gold. On the right he got another silver to go with the many others. Well done Alan.

Thanks to our Hall of Famer & World Champion Alan Greaves for sending me the picture above taken at Hightowers' Seminar with Alex Kurdecha I that I attended. It seems like a long while ago already, but a fond memory nevertheless.​