Quick question

[scotbybirth]

Sorry about the stupid question... What is the difference between amateur A, B, and C, other than experience level? I know that I have seen it before, but now I can't seem to locate it. Thanks.

[Rich McClain]

It was on the NASGA site, but I could not find the threads. They must have been pulled off the site.

[Rich McClain]

Sorry, I found them. They were past the last month post on NASGA.

C athlete to B
http://www.nasgaweb.com/forums/forum/fo ... =6062&PN=1

B athlete to A
http://www.nasgaweb.com/forums/forum/fo ... =5856&PN=1

A athlete to Pro part 1
http://www.nasgaweb.com/forums/forum/fo ... =6234&PN=1

A athlete to Pro part 2
http://www.nasgaweb.com/forums/forum/fo ... =6236&PN=1

This pretty much sums up the distances for the Amateurs
http://www.saaa-net.org/old%20site/saaa_moveup.htm

Based on what I briefly read marks (distances), plus winning competitions are what moves or should be considered when going to the next level. My personal experience is have low expectations for yourself and you will almost always throw better. I hit 3 prs competing as an Am because they had no Masters class. I knew I was not going to win so the pressure was off.

I hope this sorts it out for you.

[Mike Wills]

The Super A/A/B thing provides good guidelines and objective goals to shoot for, but, what we normally do is look at the field, budget, and AD willingness to provide multiple medal sets. Sometimes the games have a budget that will only allow for a couple of judges and one set of medals, then we have an Open class where you might see a national champion level guy throwing with a complete beginner. When we have competitions that allow for us to split into an A group and an Open group (I never use B group in the results because NASGA didn't used to include those scores in the rankings...don't know if that has changed?) we generally go by whether or not a guy is willing to go to the A group, will be fairly competitive...and can handle the heavy caber without getting hurt. The guidelines that Rich linked to are good guidelines, but they aren't followed absolutely.

We even sometimes just ask guys who maybe one a B competition or two whether they want to move up...if they do...then have at it. It's really arbitrary, we're all amateurs, sometimes we just get to split it up if money, field, and staff allows.

[scotbybirth]

Thank you Gents. The info was very helpful. Now, one more question. How do airlines like sheaf forks and hammer blades? Again, thanks!

[FrankH]

I've never had a problem; even brought a sword back one time. What a lot of guys use is a snowboard bag. Check 2 bags, luggage in one and fork, hammer boots, folding chair and maybe some other stuff in the snowboard bag. Sometimes they make you go stand in another line or something, but otherwise pretty smooth. If they ask you what's in the bag, it's probably best to just tell them. And make sure your fork and hammer blades have some kind of sturdy guards on them.

If you want a hassle, try flying with more than 3 ounces of liquid that isn't in a baggie.