FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATIONAL PHYSIQUE COMMITTEE AND GASPARI NUTRITION ANNOUNCE MARCH NPC ATHLETES OF THE MONTH

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (April 25, 2013) – The National Physique Committee and Gaspari Nutrition have selected John Durante, Bradley Martyn, Nicole Kupser, Pamela Snyder, Kristine Duba, Bianca Martin and Rachael Pecoraro Athletes of the Month for the month of March.

Each month, NPC President Jim Manion selects the Athletes of the Month in each of the organization’s seven divisions – Men’s and Women’s Bodybuilding, Figure, Bikini, Fitness and Men’s and Women’s Physique – based on in-person analysis and on the information provided by contest promoters across the country.

For complete profiles and galleries of the March NPC Athletes of the month, go to www.npcnewsonline.com.

About the March Athletes of the Month:

- Men’s Bodybuilding: John Durante, 34, won the Middleweight and Overall at the NPC Sunshine Classic. Durante started competing in the NPC in 2009.

- Women’s Bodybuilding: Rachael Pecoraro, 30, won the Heavyweight division at the Baltimore Gladiator Championships in her first-ever contest. A former police officer, Pecoraro is now a Control Tactics Instructor at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

- Bikini: Former gymnast Pamela Snyder, 27, won her class and the Overall at the Battle on the Beach.

- Figure: Former elementary school teacher Nicole Kupser won Overall titles in the first two contests of her NPC figure career at the San Diego Championships and the Arizona State Championships.

- Women’s Physique: Brazilian-born Bianca Martin switched to the Women’s Physique division for the 2013 season and kicked things off by winning her class and the Overall titles at the San Diego Championships.

- Men’s Physique: Bradley Martyn, 23, won his class and the Overall at the Phil Heath Classic.

- Fitness: Kristine Duba, 26, became the first two-time NPC Athlete of the Month selection. Duba, who was also named Athlete of the Month last October, won Fitness and Figure Overall titles at the Tanji Johnson Classic.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATIONAL PHYSIQUE COMMITTEE AND GASPARI NUTRITION ANNOUNCE OCTOBER ATHLETES OF THE MONTH

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (January 30, 2013) – The National Physique Committee and Gaspari Nutrition have named Michael VanLeeuwen, Rene Marven, Corinna Booth, Maura Bouchard, Gerald Pressley, Ginger Martin and Kristine Duba Athletes of the Month for the month of October.

Each month, NPC President Jim Manion selects the Athletes of the Month in each of the organization’s seven divisions – Men’s and Women’s Bodybuilding, Figure, Bikini, Fitness and Men’s and Women’s Physique – based on in-person analysis and on the information provided by contest promoters across the country and featured in the NPC News Online Contest Roundups.

For complete profiles and galleries of the October NPC Athletes of the month, go to www.npcnewsonline.com.

About the October Athletes of the Month:

- Men’s Bodybuilding: Michael VanLeeuwen, 32, competed in his first NPC contest as a teenager in 1999. After a 10-year break, VanLeeuwen returned to the stage this year and won two Overall titles in October at the Dexter Jackson Memphis Classic and the Music City Championships.

- Women’s Bodybuilding: Rene Marven, 26, won the Middleweight division and Overall at the New York Grand Prix, giving her three straight class wins in her first three NPC contests dating back to 2011. In November, Marven kept that streak alive by winning her class and a pro card at the NPC Nationals.

- Figure: Former military police officer Corinna Booth won her class and the Overall at the Ft. Lauderdale Championships. Booth, a single mother and full-time nursing student, also won her pro card this past November at the NPC Nationals.

- Bikini: Brazilian-born Maura Bouchard won her class and the Overall at the Ft. Lauderdale Championships. Bouchard, 25, won Overall titles in four of her six NPC contests since she started competing in 2011.

- Men’s Physique: Gerald Pressley, 32, ran track and field at the University of South Carolina and was an All-American on the Gamecocks 4×400 meter relay team in 2001. Pressley won his class and the Overall at the Texas State Championships in his second Men’s Physique competition.

- Women’s Physique: Ginger Martin’s NPC career started in 2004, and the 43-year-old mother of three competed in both Figure and Women’s Bodybuilding before finally finding a home in the Women’s Physique division last year. In October, Martin won her class and the Overall at the Texas State Championships.

- Fitness: Kristine Duba, 26, took a four-year break from fitness competitions, but returned with a vengeance this year by winning three Overall tittles in two contests, including the Fitness and Figure Overall at the Washington State Championships in October.

NATIONAL PHYSIQUE COMMITTEE AND GASPARI NUTRITION ANNOUNCE SEPTEMBER ATHLETES OF THE MONTH

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (December 20, 2012) – The National Physique Committee and Gaspari Nutrition have announced seven competitors – Dallas McCarver, Tammy Jones, Sabrina Nicole, Dawn Fernandez, Danielle Delikat, Anton Antipov and Jill Rudison – as the NPC Athletes of the Month for the month of September.

All of the athletes won Overall titles in their respective divisions at the IFBB North Americans in September. Each of the winners will be profiled on the NPC News Online and will receive free product from Gaspari Nutrition.

Each month, NPC President Jim Manion selects the Athletes of the Month in each of the organization’s seven divisions – Men’s and Women’s Bodybuilding, Figure, Bikini, Fitness and Men’s and Women’s Physique – based on in-person analysis and on the information provided by contest promoters across the country and featured in the NPC News Online Contest Roundups.

For complete profiles and galleries of the August NPC Athletes of the month, go to www.npcnewsonline.com.

About the September Athletes of the Month:

- Men’s Bodybuilding: Dallas McCarver, 21, became the youngest competitor in history to win an Overall title at a pro qualifier when he won the Super Heavyweight and Overall titles at the IFBB North Americans.

- Women’s Bodybuilding: Tammy Jones, 33, started training after joining the Army as a teenager. Jones won the Heavyweight and Overall at the IFBB North Americans.

- Figure: Forty-four year-old Dawn Fernandez, a mother of three, started training as a way to get back in shape after having her third son. Fernandez, who started out as a Bikini competitor, won the Overall and Class F titles at the North Americans.

- Bikini: Sabrina Nicole of Dallas, Texas, won her class and the Overall at the North Americans. Nicole, 35, started competing in 2011.

- Men’s Physique: Anton Antipov is a former fashion model who was born in Belarus and moved to New York City at the age of 14. Antipov, a self-described “skinny teenager”, won his class and the Overall at the North Americans.

- Women’s Physique: Jill Rudison, 34, started competing in Figure in 2010 on a dare from a friend. Rudison won her class and the Overall at the North Americans.

- Fitness: Danielle Delikat, 35, took two years off from fitness competitions to work on her routine for the 2012 season. The layoff paid off, as Delikat won the Overall and an IFBB Pro card at the North Americans.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATIONAL PHYSIQUE COMMITTEE AND GASPARI NUTRITION ANNOUNCE AUGUST ATHLETES OF THE MONTH

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (November 19, 2012) – The National Physique Committee and Gaspari Nutrition have selected seven competitors as NPC Athletes of the Month for the month of August. Mustafa Kabbani, Tiffany Upshaw, Crystal Wong, Janet Gerber, Jesus Burgos, Margie Martin and Angela Stueber all were honored for standout performances during the month.

All of the athletes will be profiled on the NPC News Online and will receive free product from Gaspari Nutrition.

Each month, NPC President Jim Manion selects the Athletes of the Month in each of the organization’s seven divisions – Men’s and Women’s Bodybuilding, Figure, Bikini, Fitness and Men’s and Women’s Physique – based on in-person analysis and on the information provided by contest promoters across the country and featured in the NPC News Online Contest Roundups.

For complete profiles and galleries of the August NPC Athletes of the month, go to www.npcnewsonline.com.

About the August Athletes of the Month:

- Men’s Bodybuilding: Mustafa Kabbani, 26, started bodybuilding at the age of 16 in Saudi Arabia. In two NPC contests since 2011, Kabbani has two class wins and one overall win.

- Women’s Bodybuilding: Former Marine Margie Martin of Temecula, California, won the Overall at the Pacific USA Championships. Martin, a mother of four, is working towards becoming a science teacher.

- Figure: Crystal Wong, 33, took an eight-year break from NPC competitions to start a family. In August, Crystal won her class and the Overall at the Pacific USA Championships in her first contest since 2004.

- Bikini: Tiffany Upshaw of Ft. Meyers, Florida, won her class and the Overall at the Dexter Jackson Classic. Upshaw, 25, is a communications major in college.

- Men’s Physique: Former football player Jesus Burgos. 21, won his class and the Overall at the Tim Gardner Extravaganza. Burgos was a backup quarterback for the Miami Hurricanes before an injury ended his playing days.

- Women’s Physique: Janet Gerber, 36, started competing as a lightweight bodybuilder in the NPC in 2009. Janet, who switched to Women’s Physique for the 2011 season, won her class and the Overall at the Tim Gardner Extravaganza.

Fitness: Angela Stueber won the Overall at the Dexter Jackson Classic in her first contest since 2007.

Brian Yersky

Folks in attendance at the former NPC Junior Cal (now the West Coast Classic) may well remember the names Brian Yersky and Art Shahnazarian. Brian came all the way from Ohio to compete in the 2007 show, winning the heavyweight division (Kioshi Moody won the overall); Shahnazarian finished third in the middleweight class two years later.

Art Shahnazarian

My, have these two gents come a long way since then. All the way, in fact, to the pro stage after last weekend’s NPC Nationals, held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. The 250-pound Yersky won the super heavyweight and overall titles, and Art, a lawyer based in Los Angeles, took to court the rest of the welterweight division to also earn a trip to the IFBB flex-for-pay ranks.

Congrats also to Ian Lauer, who finished fourth in the tall class in men’s physique at the 2011 WCC. Laurer’s second place landing in class E allows him to move on to the next level in 2013 as well. In all, I announced the names of 62 athletes who left the ballroom with pro cards intact. Despite Hurricane Sandy decimating the East Coast 10 days before the annual Steve Karel production, 855 contestants showed up and played to a strong audience.

For complete results, photos, scoresheets and more, log on to www.npcnewsonline.com.

The Women’s Bikini Division has become a real focus of attention in current NPC events. It has become well accepted by the public and brought many new competitors and fans to NPC-sanctioned events. Since this division focuses on attractive, healthy and fit women, it has opened up a whole new world to those who compete under the NPC banner. One of the greatest potential assets of this new fan base is that mainstream products and services will look at this new area of events as a way to influence their buying public.

NPC National Media Director and promoter of the 2012 NPC Nationals, Steve Karel, has developed an avenue through his Stonecutter Media Ltd. arm, to further expose the Bikini Division and its Nationals class winners to the general public. Through his work in the boxing and MMA worlds, he has made arrangements for all Nationals Bikini Class Winners (6) to be eligible to appear on-camera as ring-card girls at a King of the Cage nationally televised MMA event, seen on MAV-TV-HD, and on a Star Boxing national cable broadcast such as ESPN, Showtime and NBC Sports Network. Additionally, these class winners will also potentially be interviewed on air and host a VIP event reception at these events because of their accomplishments.

Steve’s idea is to raise to the mass market, the commercial viability of the class winners as a group, very much like the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders or a very, very high profile group of bikini-wearers known as the Swedish Bikini Team, TV endorsers of Old Milwaukee Beer. The idea here is for more of the public to see and meet these girls and their accomplishments in mainstream media and thusly raise their commercial worth. This at the same time should encourage more general market companies like Revlon, L’Oreal, Maybelline, Cover Girl, and others to get involved with the NPC and its competitions of this nature. This is a win for everyone involved.

The NPC Nationals will be held on November 9-10 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Check out some of the photos with last year’s Bikini Nationals winners!

Photos: J.M. Manion-www.jmmanion.com

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA (August 24, 2012) – The National Physique Committee and Gaspari Nutrition have announced seven competitors – Anthony Pasquale, LaDawn McDay, Vida Guerra, Mallory Haldeman, Darrian Tissenbaum, Sadik Hadzovic and Betty Vasquez – as the Athletes of the Month in their respective divisions for the month of June.

NPC Chairman Jim Manion selects the Athletes of the Month in each of the organization’s seven divisions – Men’s and Women’s Bodybuilding, Figure, Bikini, Fitness and Men’s and Women’s Physique – based on in-person analysis and on the information provided by contest promoters across the country and featured in the NPC News Online Contest Roundups every Monday.

For complete profiles and galleries of the June NPC Athletes of the month, go to www.npcnewsonline.com.

About the June Athletes of the Month:

- Men’s Bodybuilding: Anthony Pasquale, a former Cryptologist in the Air Force from 2001-2005, recently won the Heavyweight and Overall titles at the Junior Nationals

- Women’s Bodybuilding: LaDawn McDay, an elementary school teacher from Michigan who began competing in 2004, won the Heavyweight and Overall titles and the Junior Nationals.

- Bikini: Vida Guerra won her pro card by winning her class at the Junior Nationals. Guerra has appeared on the covers of Playboy, FHM and Maximum and was named FHM’s Model of the Year in 2004.

- Figure: Mallory Haldeman, 26, won the Overall at the Junior Nationals. Halderman started competing in 2011, two years after she broke both ankles in a rock climbing accident.

- Fitness: Twenty-one-year-0ld Darrian Tissenbaum earned her IFBB Pro card in just her second competition by winning the Overall at the Junior Nationals.

- Men’s Physique: New York resident Sadik Hadzovic won his class and the Overall at the Junior Nationals.

- Women’s Physique: Betty Vasquez, a former figure competitor, won her class and an IFBB Pro card at the Junior Nationals.

Contact:

Allan Donnelly
Editor
NPC News Online
editor@npcnewsonline.com

I predicted to promoter Jon Lindsay a year ago he’d get 1,000 competitors at the 2012 NPC USA Championships. And, according to the numbers in hand I heard swirling around last weekend, I might not be too far off. I’ll be heading out Friday morning for Las Vegas, arriving in time for the start of the noon prejudging at the Artemus Ham Auditorium on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

This will be my 20th year hosting the event, and it has grown so much that the Saturday evening finals have been moved to 5 pm. Who is the favorite to replace Steve (Kid) Kuclo as this year’s men’s bodybuilding champion? Good question. Keith Williams, the Susan Lucci of bodybuilding, will be there one more time in hopes of winning his pro card. A guy I like to possibly win it all is big Max Charles; Mad Max, with the huge guns, was second in the supers at last year’s Nationals, after coming off a class win at the Atlantic States Championships. And, also watch out for Nick Trigili and Jonathon Ward, who took the LA title over the weekend.

On the subject of pro cards, I will announce the names of 53–you read that right, 53–folks who will earn the right to move on to the IFBB upon the conclusion of the show. I explained in detail who gets in the cards in the September issue of News & Views, so you gotta read the column to get the info .

For all the hot facts on the hottest NPC event of the year to date (both in numbers and in temperature), log on to www.musclecontest.com.

Be there or be square.

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, February 28, 2012 – The National Physique Committee was created in 1982 with one goal in mind: giving amateur bodybuilders the opportunity to compete in an organization that put bodybuilding and its athletes first.  Now, we are proud to announce that the 2012 competitive season will mark our 30^th Anniversary. In conjunction with our 30 Years of Excellence campaign, the NPC News Online (npcnewsonline.com) is undergoing a facelift in order to keep up with the growing demand for bodybuilding-related news, results and information, from both the National Physique Committee and the IFBB Professional League.

“The NPC News has been covering all aspects of the bodybuilding industry for 25 years,” NPC Chairman Jim Manion said. “We felt it was time to redesign and relaunch our web site in order to keep up with the growing number of NPC competitors and their family members, friends and fans looking for news, coverage, results, announcements and information on all of our seven divisions.”

Three decades after opening our offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the NPC continues to grow, setting participation records at all of our pro qualifying events in 2011 – led by the National Bodybuilding, Figure, Bikini and Physique Championships in November (943 competitors) and the USA  Bodybuilding, Figure, Bikini and Physique Championships in July (689 competitors).  This year, the NPC will award a record-setting 284 IFBB Pro cards.

Lee Haney, Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, Dexter Jackson, Phil Heath, Cory Everson, Lenda Murray, Kim Chizevsky, Iris Kyle, Susie Curry, Adela Garcia, Davana Medina, Jenny Lynn, Nicole Wilkins, Sonia Gonzales and Nicole Nagrani are just some of the past and present stars of the IFBB Professional League who got their start with the NPC. In all, NPC athletes have gone on to win a combined 24 Olympia and 38 Arnold Classic titles.

NPC athletes are regularly featured in and on the covers of international publications such as FLEX, Muscular Development, Muscle & Fitness and Muscle & Fitness Hers, Fitness Rx for Women, Ironman, Oxygen and Musclemag International.

For more on the NPC and for coverage of the IFBB Professional League, go to www.npcnewsonline.com.

Yours truly, Ruthless Ruth Silverman and Burrito Bill Comstock will get on the big bird at LAX on Thursday and head for Miami Beach, the site of this year’s NPC Nationals. I’ve heard different reports on the actual number of competitors; the first was around 900, the latter at about 800. Either way, it shatters last year’s record of about 520. This will be my 19th consecutive year hosting the Steve Karel produced event, and rumor has it people on making bets on what time I’ll be able to get the show done. All I can say is, pass the throat lozengers! Let’s put it this way–good thing restaurants stay open late in the area.

So, who am I picking the win the men’s show? Well, since I really don’t have much of an idea who’s going to be stepping on stage at the Jackie Gleason Theater, I don’t want to be held accountable if I’m off on this one. But, then again, the Swami never backs down a challenge, so here I go. I say it will be An-believeable Nguyen who takes both the heavyweight class and the overall titles. Now, if competitors would have gotten a hold of me, and let me know they are ready to steal the show, they might have gotten consideration. Thus, I’m going with Nguyen, the 5’8″, 220-pounder, who finished second in his class at the USA four months ago. Actually, I probably would have gone with a win for Nguyen anyway, but it would have made things more interesting.

Keith Williams will be back for yet another crack at a pro card, and I think he’ll be tough to beat in South Beach in the supers. Now, if Todd Jewell ever hits his conditioning spot on, the big guy from Washington could reach the winner’s circle. And, is my man Stephen Frazier ready to bring it? Frazier was better at the USA than he has been in recent shows (7th) and has to potential to knock out his opponents.

I heard Darren Glenn is doing the Nationals; Glenn is coming off a second place finish in the light heavyweight division to Tamer El Guindy at the USA, so Darren has to be considered the fave in this division. There’s not much controversy going into this season’s Nationals. JB Bartlett was the only dude with any huevos, writing me and letting me know that he thought he got jobbed at the USA in the welterweight class and that he will definitely turn the tables on Victor DelCampo this weekend. I wrote Victor, and asked him to comment on Bartlett’s words, but no response.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish every single competitor the best of luck. There’s a lot of pro cards at stage in bodybuilding, physique, figure and bikini so, as Marvin Gaye once say, let’s bring it on.

I’m out.