Resources

WELCOME TO YOUR FIRST MEET - by Fred Lowe

Congratulations… you’ve decided to bring it out of the gym and onto the competition platform! This overview is intended to optimize your first experience with this and get you a bit more familiar with the rules of weightlifting.

Weigh-In

When you come to weigh-in, you need to bring a pictured I.D. and your USAW registration card to present to the weigh-in official. If you are too young to have a pictured I.D, bring your registration card and present that. Women athletes will be weighed in by a female official; male athletes will be weighed in by a male official. All athletes under the age of 18, based on date of birth on the day of the competition, must weigh in wearing a singlet at this (and any other USA Weightlifting-sanctioned) event.

Starting Attempts

After you have stepped off the scales and before you leave the weigh-in, you will be required to give the weigh-in official your starting attempts for the snatch and clean and jerk. These are called your initial declarations. It’s best to enter starting attempt weights that you know you can make smoothly. You will receive three official attempts in each lift on the competition platform. After your name is called and the weight is loaded, you have one minute to execute your attempt. If you are following yourself for your next attempt, you will have two minutes in which to execute your next attempt. For each weight that you declare as an attempt, you are allowed two changes to that weight before the final call (last 30 seconds on the time clock) if you decide you want a different amount. Strive to make lots of successful attempts in your first meet. Go by the way you are feeling on competition day to judge your attempts.

Kilos?

If you have been training in pounds, this may be a bit confusing. All sanctioned USAW competitions are conducted in kilos. 1 kilogram = 2.2046 lbs. If you don’t want to do all that math and still come close, just multiply the kilos by 2 and add 10% on top of the answer. Online conversion charts are also easily accessible.

Backstage

There are warm up sectors backstage for your session. Space is at a premium, so the only people backstage should be that session’s lifters and their coaches. After you have completed your final clean and jerk, gather up your things and leave the backstage area. This will make room for the final lifters in your session to finish their warm ups and some of the lifters in the following session to enter the warm up area.

Remain aware of your fellow competitors at all times during warm ups in consideration of others and for your own safety. Avoid walking in front of someone’s platform when they are setting up to do a warm up lift. Simple courtesies and cooperation go a long way toward making for a better warm up environment.

Basic Rules

• Only you and the barbell are allowed on the platform surface during your execution of the lift. When you complete a lift you must become motionless in all parts of the body with the bar overhead and your feet on a straight line. When you become motionless, you will receive a down signal from the head referee. WAIT FOR THE DOWN SIGNAL! If you lower the bar before the signal, your lift will be turned down.

• You must stay on the platform surface to complete the lift. After receiving the down signal, you must replace the entire loaded barbell on the platform surface. If you are very close to the edge of the platform when you receive the down signal, take a step back before lowering the bar to ensure you can replace the entire loaded barbell on the platform to comply with this rule.

• After the down signal, you may lower the barbell by letting it fall back to the platform with your hands remaining on the bar down to the level of your shoulders or lower. Do not add speed to the barbell as it falls to the platform (spiking the bar). This will earn you a “no lift” decision from the referees. Weightlifting competition serves to show who can lift the most weight overhead within the technical rules – not who can throw the bar down the hardest.

• There are three referees who will judge your lift as “good lift” or “no lift” by showing a white card for “ good lift” and red card for “no lift”. A majority decision (2 cards the same) determines “good lift” or “no lift”. You will be primarily concerned with the head referee, who will be sitting in front of you. The head referee is the official who will give you the down signal by waving their arm down and giving you a verbal command of “down.” If you have any trouble locking your elbows for any reason, display this to the officials each time you mount the platform. The very best way to do this is to point to your elbows and then hold your arms overhead as if fixing a snatch or jerk. This will help the referees greatly.

• After your name is called, you have one minute to begin your lift. If you are following yourself, you have two minutes to begin your next lift.

• When you leave the platform, tell your coach how the lift felt (be honest!). This will help them determine what to request for the next attempt.

• If lifters are attempting the same weight, first attempts precede second attempts and second attempts precede third attempts.

• After you complete an attempt successfully, you will automatically be given a 1-kilo increase for your next attempt. If you fail an attempt, you will automatically be given the same weight for your next attempt.

• If you are following yourself after a success, you will be given an automatic one kilogram increase for your next attempt. If you want to declare the automatic increase (or any other larger weight) you must declare it within the first 30 seconds after your name is called. If you want a different weight than the automatically assigned one kilogram increase, let the scoring table know within the first 30 seconds after your name is announced and the clock has been activated for your next attempt. If you have missed an attempt, are following yourself, have been issued an automatic repeat, and want a higher weight than the automatic repeat you must declare it within the first 30 seconds after your name is called for the automatic repeat. If you do not, you will have to take the automatic repeat even if you don’t want it. This is one of the more detailed rules of the sport so read it carefully.

Like all sports, weightlifting has its rules. These are not all of them, but should be enough to help you through your first meet. Good luck to you first-timers and all of your fellow competitors!

VOLUNTEERS IN A LOCAL WEIGHTLIFTING COMPETITION - by Marianne Huebner

It takes a huge effort to run a weightlifting competition. The success depends on volunteers. Usually the greatest need is for more help with set-up crew, loaders, and hospitality to make things run smoothly.

Who can help?

• Athletes and coaches

• First timers

• Friends and family

Help is greatly appreciated!

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Competition director and competition secretary:

The organization of a local weightlifting competition started months before. They have worked tirelessly to get USAW sanction, organizing the venue, renting tables and chairs, buying awards and supplies, setting-up registration, checking the entries for correctness, optimizing communication, coordinating volunteers, and leaning on their friends to help out.

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Crew:

Setting up the night before involves building the platform, putting up drapes, marking warm-up areas, carrying weight plates to platform and warm-up areas, setting up chairs, and tables, and the technology.

All of this has to be taken down after the last session on the day of the competition, of course.

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Hospitality:

Much needs to be done outside the action at the platform. Answering questions, preparing food/coffee, taking care of paper supply in bathrooms, removing garbage bags or cleaning.

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Loaders:

The loaders load or unload the bar with the weight plates required for the next attempt. And they are fast! All weights are metric. The weight plates are color coded (e.g. 1kg green small plates, 10kg green large discs). There are online apps that show how the barbell needs to be loaded for each attempt (http://www.iwf.net/weightlifting_/loading/), but the loaders will have a chart to refer to.

Between attempts the bar needs to be tightened. Loaders may need to brush the bar, use antiseptic wipes, or sweep/clean the platform as required or directed by the speaker or referees.

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Referee (needs to be USAW certified):

There are 3 referees, one center referee, and two side referees. If no electronic system is used the center referee will give the down signal (saying "down" while motioning with the arm) and then each referee will raise a white ("good lift") or red ("no lift") flag. The outcome is by majority decision. If an electronic system is used, the referees push a red button as soon as they see a problem, or a white button, if the lift was good and the athlete becomes motion less with feet aligned. If two referees agreed, an audible and visual down signal is emitted from a light box in front of the platform. Referees are also responsible for the weigh-in of the athletes.

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Marshal:

Athletes or coaches declare weights to be lifted to the marshal by signing the athlete card. This will be entered into a computer with a score keeper software. The weights and attempts determine the order of the athletes to be called to the platform. The marshal table can get busy when multiple changes are being made! So it is important that the coaches announce the athlete's name and the weight clearly and be sure to have the marshal's attention when they write the numbers on the athlete's card and sign. The marshal can accept or decline the declaration according to IWF rules.

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Speaker:

The speaker calls the athlete's name, club, the number of the attempt, the weight on the bar, and the lifter who is next ("on deck" "to follow"). The speaker keeps an eye on the correct order of athletes, and gives instructions to loaders. The speaker often doubles as the time keeper and will start the clock as soon as the athlete's name is announced, 1 minute or 2 minutes. It is a 2 minute clock, if the athlete just finished the previous attempt. The time keeper stops the clock when the bar is lifted off the platform, and resets the clock for a new attempt.

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