Greetings everybody.  My name is Scott Taylor.  I am President of the APA (American Powerlifting Association) and Executive Director of the WPA which is our International arm.  Our affiliate in Canada is the CPA.

The WPA was the first powerlifting organization to experiment with the internet competition concept between 1996 and 1998.  We had participants from Singapore, Malaysia, Yugoslavia, Canada and the United States.

Recently, we have revived the concept and have established events in the US in February and March.  Our Canadian affiliate (CPA) will be getting involved in March.  I am also in the process of talks with interested parties in Mexico.

Our events would require 3 certified referee's at each location rather than remote lift viewing and lifters could make record setting attempts.

Presently, we are looking for individuals outside of the US and Canada who would like to become involved in this endeavor and people willing to take the referee exam for certification.  Those interested may contact me at scott@apa-wpa.com and I will explain in more detail.

I will also be becoming involved with helping out on events run at this website.  I like the concept and what it does as a stepping stone to getting lifters involved in our great sport.  I look forward to assisting as much as time permits down the road and look forward to hearing from some of you.

We had some interesting discussions around these meets over e-mail yesterday. While the concept is very similar to the internet meet 100% RAW arranged in November, it was a real eye opener for me that these kind of meets where experimented with as early as over ten years ago, going as far as having an Internet Division in the 1998 WPA World Powerlifting Championships. With two powerlifting federations now pushing towards geographically distributed meets (a term I think best describes these meets as they are meets distributed over several venues with real judges, equipment etc. at each location), we are definitively seeing some major and exciting changes in the powerlifting landscape.

From the perspective of Virtualmeet.net, the open support so generously offered by the president of the APA himself is a big step towards our goal of being able to exist as an alternative unofficial meet provider alongside the established official organizations with opportunities for lifters of all backgrounds to come together. Scott plans to introduce our project to the APA community as an opportunity to compete for goal setting and self improvement in between official events.

Vice versa, this gesture leaves little doubt that the growing number of lifters who start their competitive lifting career with us can find a new level of support should they wish to get their lifts legitimized with the APA. The APA offers RAW and drug tested divisions in addition to equipped and untested ones so there are opportunities for everyone to compete. If the APA and 100% RAW can get this concept off the ground it will mean that our lifters from North America, and possibly also elsewhere in the world, will find more opportunities to compete without as extensive traveling as in the past.

Thanks a lot for your gracious support Scott! On behalf of the whole community, I wish you and the APA success with your new meets.