1st Kettlebell Championship plus Kettlebell Seminar with Pavel Tsatsouline

By Nancy Meenen

View all photos for this blogpost at SmugMug here

Shortly after moving to our 3rd location at the hangar at Sand Point Magnuson Park, we started to advertise for our first big event. Little did I know that events would dominate my life for the next 15 years!

Dave Werner, Nick Nibler and Robb Wolf all met each other for the first time in 2001 at a strength seminar Pavel Tsatsouline put on at the Mountaineers Club in Seattle. Nick had previously met Pavel through work done with the Marine Corps. Nick decided when we secured our place at the hangar, it was time for a legit event. He invited Pavel to be a judge at our 1st Washington State Kettlebell Sport Championship on July 26, 2003 and then teach a “Kettlebell & Strength Training Seminar “ the next day on July 27, 2003.

See the FLYER

We didn’t have long to advertise and we needed about 10 people to sign up for the Training Seminar in order to break even. A few days before the event we only had 8 people. We started wondering if we had overreached on our first big event but 2 more people signed up at the last minute – we were saved!

We had 12 men and 2 women compete in the Kettlebell Championship.

Click here to see a PDF of the competitors and their scores.
Click here to see a PDF of the winners and their scores.

After the Championship we had a barbecue at our house inviting everyone. Pavel and his wife attended. The next day Pavel taught the seminar on a patch of lawn not far from our gym. Our first event was a success and a lot of fun. That must have been why I agreed to a gazillion more!