5 Ways to Grow the USAWA in 2025 - A Rebuttal

I would typically avoid being a naysayer or cynical without offering another solution or constructive criticism, but a recent article on usawa.com struck a nerve with me.

It was entitled "5 Ways to Grow the USAWA in 2025" and suggested

1. Recruiting meet directors in geographic areas without a USAWA presence
2. Making Nationals a can't miss event
3. Modernize logo
4. Encourage sponsorship with uniform changes (knee sleeves and leggings)
5. Embrace change

I was originally set back by the premise that USAWA wants to grow.  It has always been a 100ish athlete all volunteer organization with modest budget.  Income consists of membership fees, meet sanctioning fees and donations.  Expenses include drug testing, web hosting and awards.  The organization has stayed in the fringes since 1987 specifically by not getting too big for its britches.

Recruiting meet directors is a great idea.  However, assuming athletes want odd lifting, they will need at least one official who would have to travel there.  I think we could get there by tapping other strength sports and having a travel budget for promoting events or even paying officials to fly out.

Making Nationals a premier event does not just happen.  Less than 20% of the members have attended the National Championship for the past 10 years.  Most members seem content to compete in their home clubs with occasional travel within driving distance.  Athletes might show if there were prize money involved, but that certainly undermines the integrity of our sport.

Modernizing the USAWA logo is all well and good.  A quick look at the earlier logos makes the current logo look downright awesome.  However a clean fresh USAWA logo inline with other strength sports would certainly have me wearing more USAWA apparel.  I do not feel like a logo change is anything but cosmetic.

Encouraging sponsors is a tough one.  While I would love to see the USAWA National Championship sponsored by Rogue Fitness or Cerberus Strength-USA or even Arm Assassins Strength Shop, the organization does not really have much to offer these companies.  Would allowing a host of supportive gear which flies in the face of our mission really encourage companies to donate prizes or cash.

Finally embracing change is a great battle cry.  Most longstanding organizations do not embrace change.  Weightlifting, Powerlifting, Highland Games and Strongman have been contested with minimal changes since their inception.  All-Round weightlifting has seen a tremendous amount of change since its inception by doubling the number of lifts contested, creating a slew of championship events, changing the logo 3 times, changing the official scoring policy a number of times.  This was all done while staying connected with an international governing body