2013 Novice Championship Results

2013 Provincial Championships Results

2013 SABBA Annual General Meeting

Sunday April 21st
Ramada Inn - Saskatoon
11:00am Harvest Room

Must be a member to attend

President's Message

As the competition season nears again for those of you who are athletes and coaches it is a time of intense preparation and anticipation. Whether you are a first time competitor or an experienced athlete getting ready for SABBA competitions is an exhausting, and disciplined adventure. Of course the rewards are what you bring to the stage. Regardless of where you place I know that in the end, all of SABBA competitors are the ultimate winners. All one has to do is look at the before and after pictures and that tells the greatest story of each of us.

SABBA as an organization that is truly dedicated to the amateur body builder, bikini figure and fitness athlete. All of the people who make SABBA work are volunteers, giving of their time and expertise to make sure that in the end the competition is the thing. SABBA has the only qualified CBBF judges in Saskatchewan and it is only through SABBA competitions can one go through to CBBF for our national competitions. All of our judges are highly trained and unbiased, and judge our competitors according to strict regulations, so when you walk on stage at a SABBA show you know that whatever place you take you have been judged by the best this province has to offer and the results are a reflection of your growth from one year to the next or one show to the next.

We are looking forward to our up-coming two shows, the Novice in Moose jaw, and the Provincials in Saskatoon both in April. As in the past all of our competitors can expect the best the organization can give. Your dedication to dieting, cardio and pushing the weights will culminate in a memorable weekend for everyone. I recall my first shows and the people who worked to make them the best of times. It was never the facility or the glitz it was always about the competition and the friendships made there. Although I did not win my first competition and was naturally disappointed, I learned from my fellow competitors and judges and came back and did win. SABBA has given me much, but most of all SABBA has given me a lifetime of memories of intense competition, and lasting friendships, that continue today.

Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “Greatness is not where we stand, but in what direction we are moving.” So join us in the continuing story of this excellent organization, and make every minute in the gym a personal challenge, and remember that although winning is nice for most of us ,the journey is truly the destination.

Stay healthy and train hard.

Colin B. Keess

President

Dec 4, 2012

UFE in Saskatchewan

It seems that we at SABBA have had many inquiries over the past few days in regards to the announced UFE shows coming up in 2013. I would like to take the time to clarify everything for our members and competitors.

SABBA is a non-profit volunteer organization here in Saskatchewan to promote the sports of Bodybuilding, Physique, Figure, Fitness and Bikini. It is the only onganization in the province that is affiliated to the IFBB and the only organization that will qualify competitors to the CBBF National Championships and their shot at an IFBB pro card. All money that SABBA makes is used to improve the sport within the province.

UFE is a private for profit business based in Ontario for the purpose of running competitions. Becoming a UFE Pro athlete would allow competitors to compete in any UFE designated Pro divisions, however would eliminate them from being able to further compete within the IFBB stream because of the pro status.

CBBF Announcement:

Any CBBF member who is found to be working with or promoting organizations not recognized by the IFBB/NPC/CBBF has contravened its rules and/or by laws and may be subject to disciplinary measures.

Professional athletes, judges, and officials from organizations not recognized by the IFBB/NPC/CBBF shall not be permitted to participate in or to promote their organizations in any capacity at CBBF or CBBF sanctioned events or those events conducted by CBBF affiliates.

Thank you for your continued hard work and dedication to our sport. If I may I would like to thank you on behalf of the IFBB and NPC.

Mark Smishek

CBBF Chairperson

SABBA to run Physique classes in 2013

In 2013SABBA will be running Physique classes for both men and women at the Novice and Provincial Championships.  Rules will follow the NPC rules that have been implemented this year.

Men's Physique Rules

Women's Physique Rules

SABBA Judging Biased?

This is the question that has recently thrown out to the bodybuilding community.  As long as there have been bodybuilding competitions with judges there have been allegations of bias shown to one competitor over another.

I have been involved in the Association since 1988 and have heard my share of allegations of this nature and guarantee long after I leave they will continue.

So under these circumstances, what is it that SABBA is doing to insure a fair and equitable outcome to our events.  Anyone that has been to one of our shows will know that there is typically either 7 or 9 judges sitting just off the stage where they are best able to judge the competitors.  Why so many you may ask, simple, after all the scores are collected we automatically eliminate the high and low scores.  In effect any one judge that may unduly mark a competitor higher than all the other judges, that mark will be eliminated.  Also if there was one judge that unfairly marked a competitor down would also end up with the same result.  This by itself can most commonly eliminate bias within the judging panel.  Approximately 4 years ago we also introduced our judges oath and disclosure that each judge needs to sign before each competition.  On this form each judge lists any competitor that he or she may have helped prep prior to the event.  At this point the Head Judge may exclude a judge from judging that particular class by inserting their own scores to replace the judge with the apparent conflict of interest.  Or the other option is to let the judge score the round and then during the scoring tabulation determine if there is any bias and replace the scores at that time.  This is not an uncommon practice that is often followed at the National level and in many of the provinces.  With these practices in place, I guarantee that judging based upon bias has not affected the outcome of a class at any of the competitions that I have presided over.

Having said all this the face of bodybuilding has been changing rapidly over the last couple years, trainers are no longer a buddy or some guy from your gym that has competed before, but usually a well qualified individual with a competitive history behind their name.  These trainers are now able to charge for their services and there are many competitors willing to pay for these services.  So rather than one of our long standing and very experienced judges having 1 or 2 friends in a competition they have 4 or maybe more, clients.  And this has only sprung up on us in the last couple events, and this is why last spring we started communicating with Manitoba to create a judges swap to help eliminate some of the perception of conflict of interest.  We announced it at last year’s AGM that this is what we would be doing and came to an agreement with Manitoba in the fall.  Unfortunately in February the Manitoba president advised me that due to some issues with their executive, they rescinded the offer of a judge swap for this year.  Now I can hear you already saying, " So why don't we go to a different province" or "let’s just bring someone else in anyways".   My thought is this, my duty as the President of SABBA is to grow the sport of bodybuilding within the province of Saskatchewan and if another jurisdiction is not going to give our judges a chance to expand their knowledge, then I am not prepared to walk away from the many dedicated judges that have volunteered their time for so many years and say I have just outsourced your job because nobody trusts you.  The bodybuilding community is a small one here in Saskatchewan and therefore we do not have dozens of people offering to become judges, so that we can pick and choose.  On occasion, out of our pool of 15 we are able to only come up with the 7 that we need.  Some of our judges still compete, others have family and are not always available.  And we can’t expand our pool too large or the judges will not get to judge often enough to stay proficient.  So SABBA has up to this point done what it felt was best to insure a fair and unbiased result at every competition that we hold.  Some may argue that we partake in wide spread collusion and pre-select all the winners and if you really think about it you will realize how downright ludicrous this notion is.

Do changes need to be made?  The face of bodybuilding is changing and the association always need to be willing to move forward for the sake of the competitors. What those changes are is up for discussion.

Harvey Viteychuk

Chief Judging Official

SABBA

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