Peter Potter Pumps Up the 2008 NPC Southern States

Peter Potter, NPC Florida Chair recently took time out of his busy schedule to discuss with us issues relative to bodybuilding, fitness, and figure within the NPC in Florida and promote the 2008 NPC Southern States.

First off he was asked about the seeming explosion in the numbers of sanctioned shows in Florida as compared to other states like California that are known for Muscle Beach, etc. “Actually we have more shows than California,” Potter said. “Ironically, California does not have that many contests.” Potter went on to explain how the Florida NPC is well represented with a variety of shows from Levels I- V.

“The key to the NPC and to that is that we have really good promoters who are motivated in the right way to help the athletes and to provide them the venues for them to compete, enjoy, and benefit from them,” Potter said. He also noted most of the promoters have a history of holding the contests over several years many including himself for many decades. Plus, they are typically experienced as athletes and even as judges, which further benefits the NPC athletes, fans, and vendors.

As for decisions out of the NPC district chair’s meeting at last year’s nationals Potter described them as “modifications versus radical changes.” One principle focus has been the growing appreciation and understanding of fitness and figure and how best to judge them. “Promoters are thrilled with the numbers of figure athletes that are competing and we are starting to see fitness come back and increasing numbers of teenage competitors,” Potter said. “I think we are seeing the sport back in a growing stage, which is very healthy.” The diversity of walks-of-life that make up the competitors is always amazing as Potter noted they come from a “broad spectrum” including doctors, lawyers, even a rabbi at one of his shows master’s divisions. As noted in the New York Times one year every masters division athlete at his promoted competition was a retired millionaire.

There is much to look forward to at his promotion of this year’s NPC Southern States. There will be a tribute to Dexter Jackson who won that event before capitalizing on a successful IFBB pro career. Jackson will be guest posing as will Dennis Wolfe, Sienna Silva, Dennis James, & Paul Baker, along with guest appearances by numerous winners from last year’s big event.

“This is one of the first year’s that we are not on the same date as the Team Universe,” Potter said. “In the past because of scheduling they had to be on that date and we had to be on that date. This year we are not in conflict and I think that is going to help us. One of the things that people like is that the week after our show we help pay the airfare for the winners of the Masters and the Teen winners to go to the Nationals Teen Masters Collegiate in Pittsburgh. Then two weeks afterwards is the USA at Vegas. And overall winners get their airfare paid to go to that. So it gives them the opportunity to go to the very next level without having to completely re-diet and go through all of the stress. So if they do very well on July 11 and 12 and then refine it then one week or two weeks later they are among the big boys competing for a pro-card.”

Potter does much with the promotion of the NPC Southern States and all the shows within the NPC that he assists with to perpetuate the standard that keeps Florida shows in the limelight. Find out more about this year’s NPC Southern States at www.npcsouthernstates.com and contact Peter Potter with any questions you may have about how you can get more out of involvement in the NPC.

Tim Gardner Shares Details of the New IFBB Tampa Pro Show & Much More!

“I’m proud to say that we have been blessed as Mr. Manion has given us the nod to bring IFBB pro bodybuilding to the city of Tampa for the very first time," Tim Gardner, promoter of the new pro show in Tampa said. "It has been five years since pro bodybuilding has been in the state of Florida. So excitingly enough we are going to be the only show in the Southeast region for the IFBB pro bodybuilding men and women. It is the IFBB Tampa Pro Bodybuilding Weekly Championships in conjunction with the NPC Fitness and Figure extravaganza. So we will have divisions of amateurs with fitness open and masters figure along with IFBB pro women bodybuilding. We will have one open class there. And were are also going to introduce the 202 lb division, which was implemented last year by Mr. Manion, the IFBB, and Mr. Weider where 202 pounders actually have their own division, a competition within 202 or less. So we will be able to showcase that as well as the Open men, which of course is any weight class.”

Gardner is well known in bodybuilding circles as is evident from literally hundreds of autographed athlete photos covering a long wall of his Body Tech Fitness Emporium in Tampa Florida. It is no surprise he was the one to get the nod for a new pro show considering his having been a stalwart positive force in the sport as an athlete, national level judge, and promoter of high caliber shows including his NPC Hurricane & Typhoon Bay annual event.

“We are real excited,” Gardner said. “We are going to have it at a beautiful venue the state of the art Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. I guarantee the athletes are going to feel like royalty on stage and backstage as well. I’ve tied it in with the host hotel being the Hyatt Regency downtown, which again is very plush. We are going to spoil the athletes for sure. I’ve got accommodations from the airport to the hotel to the venue. I’m going to have the restaurant in the host hotel actually cook bodybuilding friendly meals that will be very clean that they can actually use for contest prep if they want to. And we are going to do some extra things that I want to kind of surprise the athletes with at the press conference Friday night some things that I’ve envisioned that will come to fruition now where we’re going to really spoil the athletes. Hopefully, for years to come it will be the buzzword that, “hey we’ve got to go down to Tim Gardners’ show.””

And surely the competition will be tight considering the numbers and caliber of pros already planning to attend is a sizeable list as noted at the official website at www.IFBBTampaPro.com.

“We will have the radio stations and television channels there,” Gardner said. “Of course, all the publications will be there including Muscular Development, Flex, Ironman, MuscleMag, and I’m sure I’m leaving out some of you. There will be some websites involved including www.bodybuilding.com, which I believe is going to be there and I’m waiting on all the confirmations, but we should have a wide array of media. And of course all the photographers, the icons of photographers.”

As this is the only pro bodybuilding show in the Southeast and since Gardner has a strong history of high quality promotions surely this one will be a masterfully crafted world class event. “That is one of my goals is to build one of the more recognized pro bodybuilding shows in the world,” Gardner said. “The Olympia is the premier pinnacle of the bodybuilding platform and the Arnold is right there as well with a very strong expo. And to even be recognized in the same statement or paragraph as that would be something to me.”

This sport is in Gardners’ bones, mind, and spirit. He never turns it off like someone might do with a 9 to 5 job. “I have such a passion for the sport of bodybuilding,” Gardner said. “It has given me so many opportunities on a personal and on a business level and also bringing my family into it with my wife as a competitor, my daughter as a competitor and then my extended family Team Body Tech. We are almost five hundred athletes strong internationally. I never would have thunk that I’d be able to realize it. I look back and it has already been 20 years. I started with the NPC in 1988 and I look back and go WOW I know I’ve got 20 more years to give with even more vigor and energy. So it has been an exciting journey.”

Set aside the time to attend and enjoy a spectacular IFBB pro bodybuilding and NPC Extravaganza on August 9, 2008 in Tampa, Florida. For more information visit www.IFBBTampaPro.com or call Tim Gardner at 813.908.7763.

Deke Warner Readies the NPC Mid-Florida!

“I’m working very hard now for the upcoming June 21 show, which is the NPC Mid Florida,” Deke Warner said. While prepping for his first promotion of the year Warner also is charged with judging shows and setting judging panels as he is the Vice Chair of the Central Florida NPC District. “I put a lot of thought into the show preparation,” Warner said. “I start thinking about what I’m going to do as soon as we have our state meeting in December. So six months out I’m prepping for the event, brainstorming and trying to come up with what new ideas I can that will be really good for the competitors and audience.” As in past years everyone can expect to have a terrific time at this competition held at a terrific venue with lots of extras including a jazz band and a plethora of vendors and the Rosen five-star host accommodations at a ridiculously low rate!

He along with his shows are much loved by those who attend whether they be athletes, volunteers, vendors, or fans. One of his signature show promotions involves jazz music. “When I open the doors at five o’clock I’ll have the live band performing onstage for people to enjoy while looking at all the vendors, new supplements, new clothing lines, that type of thing,” Warner said. “The whole idea is to have people come and enjoy themselves. And it is a way to also have them say, “hey, this guy put on an excellent show” and keep them coming back. You know I’ve got to come up with something and be creative to keep the audience coming back year after year. And I always want to improve each and every event that I promote."

Warner’s venue for the competition is in an upscale area of Orlando, a high school that numerous big named sports figures and entertainers attended including Wayne Brady, Justin Timberlake, and Brittany Spears. “Dr. Phillips High School is located right behind Universal Studios in Orlando,” Warner said. “It has awesome performing arts theater seating. The facility is very clean, a venue where you can sit and relax very comfortably.” Athletes and vendors will also find the venue accommodates their needs backstage and in the lobby alike as Warner seeks to make sure everyone is satisfied with their experience at the 2008 NPC Mid Florida.

Warner made a terrific deal on room rates for those wishing to stay at a high quality host hotel. “The Rosen Centre hotel is located on International Drive right in the heart of everything where all your major tourist people stay to enjoy all the festivities whether it be Disney World or Universal Studios. Sea World is only a couple of blocks away,” Warner said. “We get a lot of celebrities that stay there.” Rooms that would otherwise only be available for hundreds of dollars per night Warner negotiated down to $90 for those asking for the NPC Mid Florida group rate, which includes access to the secured parking area at no additional charge.

So make your reservations early at the Rosen Centre (800-204-7234) and look forward to another year of terrific competition at Deke Warners’ NPC Mid-Florida. For more information visit www.DekeWarner.com.

No Let Down For Promoters At NPC Panhandle Showdown!

“We had the most competitors we have ever had and we had a really good crowd that night,” Promoter Russ Mesey said of the second annual NPC Panhandle Showdown held on April 5 in Pensacola, Florida. “Over a thousand people showed up. Last year they had twenty four competitors and 325 tickets sold. "This year we tripled our attendance with 75-80 competitors," Mesey said. "Some of them decided not to get on stage once they saw their competition.” Mesey summed up his feelings regarding the attendance with, “It was excellent and we couldn’t have asked for better.”

Last year the event was held at Pensacola Community College, but this year the show went off at the Pensacola High School auditorium an awesome venue that was recently rebuilt after suffering hurricane storm damage. “It is a good thing we moved venues or we would have been turning people away,” Mesey said.

Mesey along with fellow promoter Mike Langford are something of a blessing for the Pensacola area bodybuilding, fitness, and figure community considering the area was lacking in scheduled NPC competitions in recent years. They manage the event as a non-profit where proceeds go back into the show for facilitating the making of an even bigger and better event into perpetuity. “I’m always looking for the biggest and best trophies to give out,” Mesey said. “We give out a ring to all the division winners and diamond pendants to all the figure winners and bodybuilding winners. So we try to give as much as we can. And anything that we get, we collect and roll over to the next year. And this year we were able to give gym bags that were filled with supplements and not just samples.”

They have big plans for the show and athletes that participate. “We are going to try and start working with the division winners to pay their entry into their next show,” Mesey said. “I think we will be able to do that because this show was such a success.”

Can the show continue to grow or are they planning a new direction? “My goal is this,” Mesey said. “I’d like Peter Potter to move us to a national qualifier and give us an opportunity to get some higher level folks into the show. We would be able to move them on with the resources that we have and the opportunity that we feel we are giving with the nicer trophies and awards. We could give something back to them that could help move them further in the sport especially if we are able to pay there fees or do something for them on a national level.”

The argument could be made that the Panhandle area needs lower level shows for locals to rise through the ranks and feed other existing national qualifying NPC events. Plus, promoters tend to draw better attendance from locally oriented shows versus national qualifiers. ‘When I get the argument, I would just tell them to give me two shows,” Mesey said. “My idea is that if I put on two shows, both of them are non profit, both of them are giving back to the athletes then I am going to get the people that we need to move things forward.”

Mesey is understandably very excited about the success the NPC Panhandle Showdown has had now in its second year. It will be interesting to see how this industry professional continues to improve on what he has developed within the premier amateur bodybuilding organization in the world. For more information on the Panhandle Showdown visit www.PanhandleShowdown.com.

Featured NPC Figure Athlete & Volunteer: Amy DeGiovine

Beauty, class, elegance, fitness and strength personified. Amy DeGiovine is a 5'0"- 105lb mixture of energy, fun and complete positivism. Hailing from the central Florida area, married to a competitive body-builder/power-lifter and mother to a dancing teenage daughter, her roots are deeply planted in the fitness, figure, body-building and power-lifting scene throughout the state.

Natural progression leads most athletic youngsters to seek competitive fulfillment as adults. With forays into competitive track, dance and cheerleading, the transition into the gym and training and then into figure and fitness industry was an easy, yet new and exciting challenge. Amy was able to meet these challenges head on and transformed her petite athletic frame into a small powerhouse.

Although not a major player as of yet in the competitive arena of figure and fitness, Amy has found a measure of success in the modeling industry in between volunteering for promoters including most notably Deke Warner at shows like the Mid-Florida with her husband Joe who worked security.

She was proud to have recently shot for her first magazine cover! And the future is looking bright for this up and comer. She is scheduled for competing in two shows and plans on delving deeper into the modeling industry by years end.

In 2006 Amy founded ReDefining Images and began to not only start up a fledgling business but change peoples lives in the process. She was certified as a personal trainer earlier in the year with a confidence in that “this is what I was meant to do. Even if financial success never comes” she says, “I will continue to help people change their bodies inside and out, achieve their goals and become healthier for as long as I can”. This endeavor has allowed Amy to stay close to and work in the industry she loves. Between training herself and her clients she averages 8 to 10 hours in the gym each day. “Burnout cannot get you when you are doing what you love”, she states.

Amy is walking with eyes wide open towards the future. Her goals include expanding ReDefining Images, opening a new gym in the central Florida area with her husband and a few close friends, incorporating her new fitness apparel line, building on her competitive experience and making a name for herself in fitness and swimsuit modeling. Lofty goals for someone so new to the ever-expanding fitness industry! With the work ethic and drive to achieve the goals she has set for herself to this point, the sky is the limit! Amy can be reached at www.myspace.com/redefiningimages  and several other websites she and husband Joe have in the development stages.

note: This bio prepared with the assistance of Joe DeGiovine, powerlifter, bodybuilder, and proud husband, and father :o)