Kris: Thanks m8, you know I almost do anything to push powerlifting out of the basements and up to the skies:). I hope u will find bugs and faults, I mean it would be terrible if I´d made the perfect site...

Matt: Kris loves swedish so he can take the swedish lessons with u:). Thanks for the comments, the gym is really an old school hardcore gym, it´s lovely . I have this crazy idea, that some years from now when Virtualmeet is a big and great factor in the powerlifting community. I would love to arrange an international Virtualmeet.net gathering in Sweden... . I mean we got to dream, hehe...

That would be awesome, Olle.    I would love to come over and visit Sweden and lift with strong folks, this dream of your's would give me a great reason.  Maybe I could learn a thing or too in the process.

I do agree, it would be nice if we could have a virtualmeet federation that's in the same scope of things as all the other powerlifting federations.  That would probably be a very difficult task in itself to accomplish.  Being able to be officially ranked would probably lead a lot more lifters our way.  I like competing just for the fun of lifting with all you folks from all over the globe, but the fact remains most people compete to get in the record books, so.....

Again Olle, great job with everything that you're doing and keep that dream a work in progress in becoming a reality.

I have this crazy idea, that some years from now when Virtualmeet is a big and great factor in the powerlifting community. I would love to arrange an international Virtualmeet.net gathering in Sweden... . I mean we got to dream, hehe...

You said it first and since I live just around the corner... Would the weekend of July 11-12th 2009 work for you? Perhaps we could even add in a seminar of some kind and naturally a virtualmeet event. That's a GREAT idea!! I could even give you (and Matt?) a few lessons in Moomin Swedish then.

You said it first and since I live just around the corner... Would the weekend of July 11-12th 2009 work for you?

...or would you prefer to leave it on the dream stage for now? The way I see it, something like this would have to be scheduled at least a year in advance to give those interested enough time to work it into their schedules and to scrape together the air fare. It may seem radical to set a date at this early a stage, but if it's there it will happen.

I see it working equally well as a ten people train-talk-hang out get-together as a hundred people seminar-meet event. Either way it would be great, hence my proposal to set a date in the comfortable future and to boldly do it. We only live once as far as I'm concerned.

I propose setting a date, but leaving the location open for now. I could take it upon me to see to it that the get-together will happen, which could mean either hosting it here in Finland or having someone else (perhaps you) take it to their home ground. The hosting details could be looked into in summer-autumn 2008 with the number of actual participants determined in early 2009. I'd be excited to travel to any part of the globe for this as long as I know about it early enough.

I do agree, it would be nice if we could have a virtualmeet federation that's in the same scope of things as all the other powerlifting federations.  That would probably be a very difficult task in itself to accomplish.  Being able to be officially ranked would probably lead a lot more lifters our way.  I like competing just for the fun of lifting with all you folks from all over the globe, but the fact remains most people compete to get in the record books, so.....

Now, THAT far I'm not willing to go with any date setting.

Right now I see it as our niche to be a complement to the traditional federation meets and being unofficial comes logically with that package. Having official meets with remote judging is probably not feasible with the current technology (it may be in the 3D future though) if we want to achieve the respect of the powerlifting community at large. But if this project would build a strong enough base to launch a global RAW powerlifting federation from then why not indeed? As it is now, the IPF is pretty much it for global (as opposed to "just" international) powerlifting and they recently opted against going down the RAW road. This could mean having official meets supplemented by unofficial virtual meets, perhaps having both noted on the charts but only the official lifts noted as records. What part in this weightlifting would or would not play is another big question, there may be little point in fragmenting it between us and the IWF as there is no equipment divide.

This is quite wild speculation with only three meets behind us and 50 members, but like Olle said, we got to dream. I take the fact that we are as a very positive sign of a growing community spirit. Discussion is also picking up on the boards on other topics than the practicalities of upcoming meets which is also nice to see. Small steps in the right direction, but I'm getting very excited all over again.

Cool stuff. I like the idea of doing a virtualmeet in person and meet the community. And going to Seden or Finland for that purpose.

I do plan to start in the IPF so I am not so much in favor of turning this into an official federation at this time.

Cool stuff. I like the idea of doing a virtualmeet in person and meet the community. And going to Seden or Finland for that purpose.

Happy to hear that. By mid-2009, I think there will be enough of us who feel this way to make it into something quite memorable. Whether that is a handful or a bigger crowd remains to be seen.

I do plan to start in the IPF so I am not so much in favor of turning this into an official federation at this time.

That brings up another important point. One of our goals is to create a big community that spans over the federation divides where everyone can feel welcome no matter where they lift. Being unofficial supports this goal well.

I want to make it extremely clear that I do not have any aspiration whatsoever to actively work towards creating a federation. My point is that if the community grew to the point where this may be an option I could well consider it, but that's really outside our current scope by far. Also, I don't see much value in yet another federation unless it brings something new to the market (i.e. global RAW where there is none). Powerlifting is fragmented well enough already. Case closed, but as a thought experiment it is certainly interesting. For now, let's walk down the virtual path and see where it leads us. 

Ohhh yess it´s a dream, but a dream that I want to make reality. But the first offical gathering(meet) I think should reside in Finland, so kris can teach as all some Moomin Swedish... . But a firts meet in mid -2009 is a reasonable goal. Maybe we have a few olympiclifters with us by that time.

Yes, I said it firts and I will check the possibility to have a future meet in our gym. I think it could be a very very cool thing to do...

Regarding the federation aspects, I mean the pure spirit in virtualmeet is what´s makes it so great. It´s a inoffical crossplattform lifting community. And I think that it will be the largest and most popular in a few years. But still it has to stay inoffical as it is the purpose and fun of it that makes it´s so great.

Yesterday I found this on Powerlifting Watch that sums it up in a very very good point of view:

Willie Williams ponders why, given some of the negatives associated with the sport, powerlifting holds such a strong attraction to those who compete?

Powerlifting is not even a mainstream sport, and more than likely never will be. It cost a hell of a lot of money to train, compete, the money that is spent on supplements, gear, is in the thousands, and to most that is just a yearly exspense. Even if you win every cash meet in the world, and have the best sponsers, you are still not going to come close to breaking even, for your time effort and money spent. Powerlifting makes full grown men act like a bunch of kids, all the arguing, and fighting over different feds, rules, who is drug free and who is not. I mean we cant even agree on how to break parralel in the squat, something a 10 year old child should understand. The average powerlifter if he competes long enough is going to get more injured more than he would in just about any sport know to man. Torn pec's, bad rotater cuffs, back injurys, blown out elbos and knees, you name it it is going to happen sooner or later to the average lifter. Most lifters that compete for 10 years are hooked for life and can never seem to give up on that next big lift, that next big personal record. They still think that they have that next big lift in them up till the day they die. I mean for a sport like powerlifting to have so much controversie, slander, pain, and agony it is pretty damn addictive, and a hell of a lot of fun. For all the bs. it is worth every bit of it. So who realy cares if it ever gets into the olyimpics, or becomes a mainstream sport, where else can a full grown man have so much fun. All the arguing over different feds, drug testing, rules, and gossip, make it all worth while. Because anybody that takes all this arguing serious, or personal is a idiot. The bottom line is pick a fed, set as many personal records, because they are the most important records, lift some weights and give it hell.

Well said!

Unless someone wants to discuss the date further, let's stick to July 2009 and agree that I will organize it here in Finland provided no other more suitable venues/organizers pop up by autumn 2008. I look forward to organizing this and will put in the effort to make it more than worth it for anyone who participates. Stay tuned, this will be fun!

Let's continue this discussion elsewhere, could a moderator please extract the relevant posts and set them up as a new topic? EDIT: Thanks Olle!

I submit, on my own and completely unsportsmanslike without asking Kris that we hold this 2009 gath-meet at Kris' Forest Gym in Vasa. 

How cool would that be? I mean, I know how nice it is to lift in the great outdoors, but I bet not a lot of people do...

Um, I also submit that this be only in the case of not being a huge event. If we're under or up to 10 people, and in case Kris agrees, it could perhaps be done..?

I submit, on my own and completely unsportsmanslike without asking Kris that we hold this 2009 gath-meet at Kris' Forest Gym in Vasa. 

Indeed, if no more than a handful are coming we could consider this, especially if there are good connection flights from Helsinki on that weekend. Otherwise we'll stay in Helsinki and cook something exciting up here... got some ideas, but I ain't saying no nuthin' bout' that yet... how this whole thing will unfold will to a large degree be dependent on the number of people showing up.

Yeah, I say we have a big lifting event and then after have a big eating event, you know we all have to have a good post-meet meal 

Yeah, I say we have a big lifting event and then after have a big eating event, you know we all have to have a good post-meet meal 

Most definitively! Being in Finland, there will naturally also be a post-meet sauna.

This will take some careful planning, especially as I'd really like to also host a weightlifting meet provided there is interest. One option would be to reserve a suitable space for most of Saturday and hold both meets back to back with a buffet served up on the side and the sauna kept warm. We could have live on-the-spot judging like in a traditional meet (still videotaped of course!) with results collated with a virtualmeet held concurrently online.

If we are just a few participants an agreement with a suitable gym could be made, otherwise we will need a hall (or a sports field if we head outdoors) with the equipment hauled in. My outdoor gym could probably take about 30 participants under these conditions with a real wooden sauna and a lake as additional benefits provided I build a platform and get a hold of a weightlifting set. The evening could be free for socializing, sightseeing or whatever.

Then Sunday would have some kind of not too strenuous event, perhaps a seminar of some sort that could do double duty as relieving the post-meet soreness followed by more good food etc. etc.

That would mean that most people would need to fly in on Friday, and those who can't stay longer have the option of just skipping Sunday and leaving in the morning. The rest would then fly out on Monday (or continue with a nice vacation in Finland).

Just brainstorming here, but a skeleton like this springs to mind. All ideas welcome, there is plenty of time to think this over once we have a better idea of whether this will be a small gathering or something a bit larger. But unless something very drastic happens, this gathering will come to pass!

Lifting, Food, and Sauna.... Couldn't ask for a better vacation !!!!  Oh and I can't forget about the socializing and sightseeing, to really fullfill the package.  Now all I have to do is talk the wife in to it    That may take awhile, luckily this isn't till 2009.

Time to revive this question and chart what kind of interest there may be in actually turning this into reality.

Simple question: is there anyone here who would like to seriously entertain the idea of coming to Finland for the weekend of July 11-12th 2009 to meet up in person and perhaps also to do a virtualmeet on location as suggested above? Note that we are only charting preliminary interest so far to see whether we should push further with this idea or whether to postpone it.

Yep. Still interested.