Hi, Heidi! How's it going?

– Fine – I work with my armwrestling company, giving instructions in armwrestling world wide, holding lectures/presentations, working as projectleader for the first Swedish championship in School Armwrestling that will take part 14 december for students 13-19 years old. I also work as an agent for my husband the biathlon Athlete Björn Ferry, who will compete at the Olympic Games I Sotji 2014. And of course I train. Some of the training I do together with students in the armwrestling school here in Storuman in Lapland where I live.

World Championship took place quite a while already, anyway – what are your impressions? 

– A great competition! I have been in this sport over 20 years and this was first time in life I had a time for when my category should star- that were some steps for the armwrestling development! 
The level on the competitors in my category were one of the highest ever, exactly as I want it.

What did you like or didn’t?

– I like that we try to develop the sport in different ways, like the monitor for elbow fouls, but I think we have to think about how to check the elbows in the future. Maybe something like the Hawk-Eye in tennis (to see if the ball was out or not) would be the solution for armwrestling – a computer program/system that works as an official tool to objectively determine otherwise questionable refereeing decisions, according to the same principles as traditional finish line photos.

At the weigh in you quickly organized all girls – it was impressive work. Do you work a lot with young people?

– Thank you. Yes, I do. 

Tell us about your practice at school. Do you introduce armwrestling to children?

– Yes, from age of 7 years. Most I introduce armwrestling for students in age 10-19 years old.

Is an armsport popular in Sweden?

– Yes, it is a popular sport all over the world, it is easy to learn the ground technique and you don’t need any expensive equipment, you only need one arm and an armwrestling table (but you can be hundreds training on the same table like they do in India)  I have been involved to introduce armwrestling tables in almost 250 schools in Sweden. 

What does armwrestling need to become more popular in the world?

– Armwrestling needs to become more audience-friendly; with better control of the start. Noone wants to see a final in 100 meter if some competitors do a quick start. My experience is that there is fairer starts if the referee says “Don’t move” and then just “GO!” If somebody are starting before “GO!”, they get a foul directly.

Do you go to Nemiroff World Cup?

– No, I will not go because there is no doping controls there.

Whom will you cheer for?

– For the Swedish superladies, who will compete at Nemiroff of course :)

Who would you like to see in your opponents in future?

– I would like to see Gabriela Vasconcelos.

Tell us what you're doing at your free from armwrestling time?

- I work with my company and develop new projects and I’m playing with my 2 years old son Dante Andersson Ferry.

Wish something to readers of armpower.net.

- Arm wrestling has every chance in the world to be how big any time. If we want to make it an Olympic sport then it will be there.

One more thing to ALL ARMWRESTLING LADIES in the world who are interested to take part in the greatest armwrestling competition ever (the plan is that the world challenge I have been organizing will move to Asia) That will be an armwrestling competition with cash prizes, many weight classes and major expenses will be taken care of the organizer.
If you are as excited about the opportunity as I am e-mail my friend Mark Zalepa, markzalepa@gmail.com that you are interested to go Asia to compete. The more women who answer will make this event easier to happen.

Heidi has many electronic resources that describe her work and the work of her company. This work  deserve an admiration and respect - perhaps nowhere in the world pay much attention to children's familiarity with the sport. If even majority of us use this method, then armwrestling will actually be in a very high level.

Here you can read about a Challenge, about Armwrestling School, read the blog and watch some interesting video.

Anastazja Kisilieva