2018 NYC OPEN

Conducted by Weightlifting.org, Inc. & the Metropolitan Local Weightlifting Committee (Met LWC) of USA Weightlifting (USAW) – Sanctioned by USAW Sanction # 06-18-121654

DATE:		Sunday, April 22, 2018
PLACE:		Professional Athletic Performance Center 645 Stewart Ave. Garden City, N.Y. 11530
TIMES: Men’s 56, 62, 69, 77 All Women’s Categs. Men’s 85, 94, 105 & 105+		Weigh-In 9:00 AM 10:30 AM 11:30 AM	Competition 11:00 AM 12:30 PM 1:30 PM

ELIGIBILITY & RULES:	All athletes who are current USAW members. Athletes must present current USAW membership cards at the weigh-in, or, if not currently members of the USAW, must register that day (minors under 18 may only register with parent’s or guardian’s signature on USAW application). Entries will be capped at approximately 60, on a first entries received, first entries accepted, basis. Entries received will be posted on www.metropolitanweightlifting.org. The meet director reserves the right to break any of the three sessions listed above into “flights”, as needed. Late entries may be accepted, at the competition, if space is available. This meet will have special experimental lifting order rules outlined below – please review them carefully before submitting your entry.
AWARDS:	Trophies will be presented to the first three place winners in each weight class of the Men’s and Women’s championships, and to the Outstanding: Overall Male, Overall Female, Junior Male, Junior Female, Master’s Male and Master’s Female lifters, on the basis of the Sinclair Formula (in the case of Master lifters on the basis of the US Masters Committee Age Formula as well). Finally, Outstanding Team awards will be given to the best team in the Men’s and Women’s Championships combined.
ENTRY FEE:	$60, which is non-refundable after April 8 (when we order our awards). Please complete and sign the last page of the entry form (which can be found here) and pay for your entry via PayPal or credit card online by clicking on the “Pay Now” button below (those who enter online must also scan & e-mail a signed entry to the Meet Director at lifttech@earthlink.net). You may also send an entry via regular mail with a check/money order payable to: “Weightlifting.org, Inc.” (entries must be received no later than 4/14). E-mail confirmations of accepted entries will be sent to all whose entries have been received & accepted, online or in the mail. Send paper entries to: Artie Drechsler: PO Box 680, Whitestone, NY 11357

Special Rules For A More Exciting Competition – By modifying the order of lifting

Introduction

In an effort to make competitions more exciting for spectators, the sport of weightlifting is considering changes to its competition format. One way to do this is to reduce “dead times” during competitions – e.g., two minute waits between the attempts of lifters following themselves and the times needed to change weights (especially when such changes are merely “buying time” for resting athletes). At the same time, athletes need scheduling that helps assure they will always have adequate time to prepare for their lifts and to rest between lifts. By synchronizing lifting through alternating “flights” of lifters, using two or more bars and two platforms, we can satisfy all of these requirements, providing a better competition experience for all concerned.

How the Order of Lifting Will Be Modified

All that is needed are a three modification of the rules of lifting order, as is explained below.

The athletes competing in a given session will be divided into two or more “flights” on the basis of such considerations as bodyweight category, gender and entry total. The order of lifting within any flight will follow the normal rules of weightlifting (e.g., lowest weight first, then lowest attempt number, etc).
Flights will alternate lifting attempts on one or more platforms. For instance, the athlete with the lowest starting attempt in flight 1, lifting on platform A, will lift first in that session. That athlete will be followed by the first lifter in flight 2, who will lift on platform B. The attempts will continue alternating between flights in this fashion. If there are three flights lifting together the order would be flight A, then B, then C, then back to A, and so on.
Once the one minute clock is started for your attempt it will not stop, so any request for a weight change will be made while the clock runs. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you call for the actual weight you intend to take if at all possible, before your one minute clock begins. If your change in weight after your clock has started causes you to be placed later in the lifting order in your flight, any time used before you called for a weight change will be deducted from your next attempt (e.g., if you called for a change after 10 seconds has elapsed, started, you will only have a 50 second clock when we next call you to the platform) – so again, avoid changes in weight after the clock starts. However, you will no longer need such changes to rest, because when you follow yourself in your flight, a lifter in another flight(s) will go before you, giving you time to rest even without a two minute clock.

That’s it! Everything else is the same as for any other competition. To assure that lifters have appropriate rest between attempts (neither too long or short) we will limit the number of lifters in a flight (e.g., if we have 30 lifters in a session, we may break that session into four flights, with flights 1 and 2 doing all their lifts first, followed by the lifters in flights 3 and 4.

Counting Attempts – For Coaches and Athletes

At first glance it might seem like counting attempts under this system is complicated, but we believe you will find it even easier than the existing system in some respects. To count the number of attempts you have before you are called to the platform, determine the number of attempts that will come before you in your flight only, then double that number if there are two flights, or triple it if there are three flights. For example, if there are two flights and you are the fifth lifter in your flight, you are the tenth lifter overall (actually, if you are in flight one you double it and if you are in flight 2 you double it and add one more, because you will go after the lifter in flight 1).

If you are having any trouble visualizing this, we plan to have a pre-session meeting a half hour before the beginning of each session, to review the rules and answer any questions. We’ll also have an expeditor at the meet, to help all the coaches and athletes with any questions and help them count attempts if needed. However, we think that once you try it you’ll have no trouble keeping track on your own. We are excited about trying this new method of competition progression and hope that the audience and athletes will appreciate the new format. If for some reason the new format does not work well in the first session, we can always revert to the normal competition ordering for the balance of the meet. We’ll look forward to seeing you at the competition and welcome any feedback on this experiment.