2009 All South Championships In Review
by Musclepapa John Hawley
On November 13th athletes converged from around the country for the last national qualifier, the All South Championships in St. Augustine, Florida. The show drew eighty strong, physically fit competitors with only a few of the folks usually seen entering a show with the battle scars of having recently lost a lot of weight or much older masters competitors. There was no fitness or crossovers to boost numbers, but only eighty dried out sinewy bodies gathered in the oldest city to compete in one of the fastest running shows in Florida under Promoters Pete Fancher and Gene Schlossberg.
The competitors had from five till eight pm to check-in. No late entries allowed. Six additional entry forms were sent in, but no-show and no-compete. Saturday morning the competitors meeting started promptly at eight AM and after the athletes were informed of procedures, order of events, dos and don’t’s from Head Judge Deke Warner there was a forum with open questions and answers led by Pete Fancher. Athletes were asked about what got them involved in the sport as was Fancher. Laughter and gestures of shared experiences and love of bodybuilding permeated that classroom at Pedro Menendez High School. The judging panel included Deke Warner, Chris Eaddy, Tony Curtis, Jenny Tremblay, and Charlonna Stewart. Fancher expedited himself with help from Casey Daugherty.
Prejudging began at 10 am sharp as was scheduled and with eighty competitors was over by 11:30 am. Each class had fierce competition from figure, to the mens and women’s bodybuilding lineups. The quick run of the show seemed to favor the athletes who were then able to eat, rest, do photoshoots and enjoy some sightseeing.
There usually are no guest posers at the All South Championships for as Fancher has stated before the competitors are often in better shape than the off season pros they might pay to perform. There were however numerous IFBB celebrity athletes including Marcus Haley and Don Long who were there supporting their wives in the competition. Also numerous nationally qualified athletes were in attendance including Robert Habeeb who qualified recently at the Southeastern USA after a ten-year layoff. Habeeb sat in the front row cheering on athletes equally, which he justified with the explanation that all these athletes bust their asses and deserve our support. No wonder this guy is so popular!
It will be a few days before I’ve got the full run down from the score sheets, but a few of the winners included Joel Thomas of Macclenny, Florida a suburb of Jacksonville. Joel is a former Lake City resident and a young man in his twenties with huge potential with classic lines and incredible strength as an accomplished powerlifter benching approximately six hundred and fifty pounds.
The Peruvian Spoiler as I’ve come to call Carol Medina took another figure overall title with the Southeastern USA being her last a month ago. Carol grew up since childhood in the US, but as her immigration papers have been filed and refiled, caught up in clerical bureaucracy for a number of years she is unable to compete at the NPC national level. It is doubtless to few seeing Medina compete this year that she has a pro caliber physique, but she has sought to expedite the process through competing on the international level representing Peru. Officials there have directed her to win as many shows as she can with the 2010 Arnold Classic being the finale for consideration and acceptance as their representative for possibly the Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding & Fitness Championships.
As for my own experience with the show this year I had fun with the camaraderie developed over the years with the judging panel that are mostly all show promoters as well whose websites I support. After weigh-ins Pete, Gene, Chris, Tony and family members in attendance had a terrific dinner together at Osteens’ a quaint restaurant in the heart of St. Augustine. Then on Saturday morning Allie Costantino, a bodybuilder currently living in Ft. Lauderdale, a former gym owner in Jacksonville assisted me shoot the show video, which enabled me to focus on photography. Ian Ware of IajePhoto.com had texted me Friday night that he would not be able to make the show as he had a torn gastrocnemius. I asked if that was near the butt in jest. He chuckled and clarified it was a calf muscle.
It was a joy seeing Gene Schlossberg get a Lifetime Achievement award presented by John Mier, owner of Premier Physiques who got his start with Gene while working at his World Gym franchise in St. Augustine.
Marcy Haeck made the trip up from the Space Coast Barbell team with trainer Amy DeGiovine who is herself one week out from NPC Nationals. Marcy competes in the tall class and surely fits the bill as one tall glass of water. Some will remember Marcy as the shotgun touting mama in our video series that we will likely begin taping again for in December with Tammy Piepenbrink and possibly a few IFBB celebrities such as Clarence DeVis and Candice Keene to drop the names of a few.
Michael Ives was in attendance representing the Masters Men and is such a fine ambassador for the sport. You can’t find a man more dedicated to the sport that Mike who has been bodybuilding since his teen years when his arms were crushed in an industrial accident and working out was a form of rehabilitation. His routine was performed to the song titled Smile that we plan to develop a backstage video production for at several of his shows in 2010, which Mike envisions as a tribute to bodybuilding camaraderie.
We hear people sometimes give what could be lip service to the camaraderie of bodybuilders backstage and there are athletes that merely want to get into their zone and focus on looking their best on stage. However, I was reminded of Michael Ives friendly approach during a photoshoot between prejudging and the night show with JC and Susie Torres a husband and wife pair of competitors in the 2009 All South Championships. JC commented to me how much he had enjoyed the prejudging as it was his first show and he appreciated the friendliness especially amongst the masters men he spoke with. There were words of encouragement and lots of hand shaking along with shared stories of shared paths that all led these men onto a stage under bright lights in skimpy posing trunks. I knew without asking that Michael Ives was one of these fellows as that is his signature as much as the postures he takes on stage.
Susie Torres was a joy to work with on our shoot with JC. She looks amazing and one would not suspect she had lost so much weight as her before pictures revealed, which surely makes her a Jenny Hendershott Phat Camp poster girl. It was fun watching people stop us in downtown St. Augustine wanting photographs with JC and Susie. I also enjoyed expounding on her sentiments that it is so important to be careful who ladies in the industry shoot with as one never knows where their pictures might wind up. Plus, as a photographer I couldn’t be happier to hear ladies like Susie stating competitors should do shoots when competition ready as there is only a narrow time in which most look so spot on and you should make the most of it. Yea, for ladies pimpin photoshoots, lol!
There are more stories to come from the All South Championships. So we encourage you to visit our associated sites including www.AllSouthChampionship.com and www.BodybuildingFitnessFigure.com a hub for your best source of information on Bodybuilding, Fitness and Figure in Florida.
Friendly Competition
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Having a good time at the All South
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