On 19th January 2020, the first-ever Tertiary Powerlifting Championship (TPC) was held in the SP Arena of Singapore Polytechnic with a total number of 52 participants. The idea of the meet was conceived by one of the co-founders of ENSŌ, Wei Cong, after two consecutive stints of international experience at the inaugural IPF World University Cup. During the event, he was exposed to international university teams that qualified using their local tertiary competitions and took home the idea of a homegrown tertiary competition to not only increase the competitive scene at the local tertiary level, lower the barrier of entry to an IPF-sanctioned competition, but also to further increase the awareness of the sport in the local scene. He then recruited the rest of the TPC team to realise this goal.
We are proud to say that TPC’20 has been a success, with generally positive feedback thus far on the meet being well-ran, kept to the time, provided a conducive environment for tertiary students to mingle and yet, kept to a stringent and competitive standard. The success of the meet wouldn’t have been possible without:
1. Powerlifting Singapore (@powerliftingsingapore): For providing the manpower, competition-grade logistics and permission to sanction this meet according to IPF standards
2. SP Strength Athletics (@sp_strength_athletics): For providing the manpower, logistics and most importantly, the venue without which, holding this meet would be impossible
3. Elevate the Barbell Club (@elevate.bbc): For providing calibrated competition-grade plates, competition-grade racks and other miscellaneous logistics
4. Singapore Powerlifting Alliance (@singaporepowerliftingalliance): For providing the additional platforms needed for our warm-up area
5. SBD Singapore (@sbd.sg), Strength Avenue (@strengthavenue.com.sg), ENSŌ: For providing the necessary sponsorships to fund the competition
6. All athletes from every participating school: For providing us with the demand to proceed with the meet
7. Volunteers: For providing the most essential support for without which, we will lack the manpower for the meet to run
I hope that those of you who have participated in TPC’20, especially those first-timers in an IPF-sanctioned competition, had a pleasant meet experience and will continue to compete and support our local IPF-sanctioned competitions organised by Powerlifting Singapore. For those of you volunteers that are interested to kick start your powerlifting journey and used TPC’20 as a way to get involved in the community, I hope the competition gave you the motivation and courage to sign up for your first meet in the near future.
At the end of the day, TPC’20 was a project ran by a student community for students. We do our part to give back to the sport and community that we enjoy by contributing to the traction needed for its growth in Singapore. We hope that you feel the same way, and will gradually take a step within your own means to contribute and support such projects in the local scene in the future.
Thank You.
Gerald
Meet Director for TPC’20
(@rolledoatmeal, @rolledoakmeal)
*Photos have only been taken for the second session due to the lack of manpower. Thank you, Yi Hong (@yiiiihongggg) for taking your time off your busy schedule to help capture moments in our first ever tertiary competition!