In the Armwrestling world there are several concepts that are well known to each competitors. We are not talking about the armwrestling principles, but about concepts defining the competition. One such name is the name "Debuts", that is how the  tournament for competitors who have never competed in major armwrestling competitions has been called for several years. This year, for the 7th time in a row we have played this interesting tournament and once again the event was held in Stare Miasto (near Konin).

Knowing that year after year a  larger group of competitors comes to this type of tournaments, organizers expected crowds. However, because of the date of the competition, which bordered on the date of the 1st November, the list of competitors locked up just over 100. This time we did not manage to beat the record of attendance from previous years.

From the Sunday morning crowds of competitors, mentors and fans of our sport gathered in front of the Sports Hall at the High School in Stare Miasto. From 9.00 a queue of contestants ready for weigh in and verification occupied the whole corridor and it seemed that the competition will begin with a slight delay. However, the operators (OSP Bolo Stare Miasto) were prepared for such a situation and professionally carried out the procedure of registration. The competition began virtually on schedule.

A novelty of this type of competitions were junior classes. For the first time in history of "Debuts" there were three classes for competitors under the age of 18 prepared. In the first of them - 63kg class, there were seven contestants present. After really  aligned duels Mariusz Niedbał turned to be the best junior of featherweight class. Second place was won by a young competitor from Gdynia – Mateusz Wojtania. Przemyslaw Gasiorowski from Krosniewice ranked third. Here we had a surprise  - Stalowe Ramiona Club which we have not appar at the armwrestling arena for a long time was reactivated.

In the next junior weight class - this time up to 78kg junior medal place were won by Adrian Klapec (Rydłutowy), Dawid Fusiara (Nisk) and Łukasz Szymkiewicz (Stare Miasto). We did not manage to  find out if Adrian is related to a well-known armwrestler - Denis Klapec, however the sports level he performs suggests that Armwrestling existed in his life for a long time.

The heaviest Junior class - over 78kg was dominated by Szymon Walczak from Skierniewice. Second Place was won by Paweł Pacut from Jaworzno. Kamil Bubel from Lublin ranked third. Here we must admit that our juniors are so good "grown-up" that the organizers checked the dates of birth of competitors for a few times, because their appearance and strength suggested that we are dealing with older wrestlers.

However, each of the junior was born in the last 18 years.

In the junior women class - where one  Open class was held – was won by a very nice Olga Michałowska from Lublin. Joanna Kułaga took second place, medal place number three accounted for Izabela Piaskowska from Stare Miasto. The girls, despite oung age and relatively short training before the competition represented a high sports level.

In seniors classes in Sunday's tournament, we have seen really beautiful fights at a high level sport. You can see here once again that Debuts have become a tournament where a competitor without a good sports preparation, has nothing to look for here. The days when awards and medals were won by casual competitors (this was in 2004-2006 when a men who went shopping  ranked first) are gone. There were, of course, some surprises. Unquestionably, Michał Matuszewski from Warsaw (Marcin Lachowicz’s ward) and Adam Schmidt from Chojnów deserved the distinction in senior classes. Both men won the Open  of seniors (respectively for left and right hand). Additionally, about Adam it can be said that it's not the size and structure of the body that affects the final results of the tournament. After the competitions it could be heard that Adam Schmidt is a modest man, on whom hardy anyone bet. Third place in the left hand Open class was unexpectedly won by Jan Żółciński - a competitor who trains at the Olymp club. Why do we mention him? First of all, it is a graduate of the Official Photographer of PAL, EAF and FAP - Miroslaw Krawczak. Second, Jan was a really tough opponent for all the competitors he met on his way. In seniors classes also a nice competitor from Międzychód - Lukasz Swiatek deserves distinction. Łukasz won the 78kg class and finished on the second place of the Open class of right hand (where he fought with the competitors, weighting much more that he does). Unfortunately, there were some rather unpleasant situation. In the 95kg category, a contestant who a few years ago, competed in the Polish Championships,  appeared.  As you know the rules of Debuts do not allow  wrestlers who took part in such competitions to start. With the vigilance of those present in the hall he has been verified and the automatically disqualified (finished last place in the class).

To sum up the whole event, we can confidently draw a high mark to the organizers and competitors. Efficient organization, interesting and attractive fights and the rate of the entire event leavesgood impression. Despite the two injuries, which happened to competitors during  fights (hand injury and what's interesting - the nose injury) we can regard the tournaments as the successful ones and I hope that  we will meet in this picturesque Stare Miasto next year and we will be able to be hosted by OSP Bolo as well as we were this year.