RED DEER MAN ELBOWS HIS WAY TO GLORY
He was the guy in high school whom you wouldn’t dare arm wrestle. “I was the kid to beat,” says Matt Mask with a laugh. “I had no idea back then that it was an actual sport, with fans around the world.”
Mask, who lives in Red Deer, never did grow out of that early love of testing his arm-powered strength and endurance. These days, the 6-foot-5, 245-pound athlete is one of the world’s top arm wrestlers, in a sport that is growing in popularity, thanks to such technologies as live streaming.
On Aug. 9, he’ll face off against fellow Canadian Devon Larratt of Big Island, Ont., a 43-year-old veteran of the Canadian Special Forces and the world heavyweight champion for the past four years in, gulp, both right and left arms.
Still, Mask is no slouch: While he has yet to secure a world title, the competitor of more than a decade has won numerous World Armwrestling League regional left- and right-hand heavyweight titles and is described on the league website as “an explosive, powerful puller.”
The two will be one of the many matches at WAL 405, an event staged by the league in Los Angeles, which will also be livestreamed on Turner Sports’ new digital platform B/R Live (Canadian fans will have to watch it online, at walunderground.com, at 8 p.m. Pacific Time on Aug. 9).
“His social media mind game is off the charts, so I’m staying off of it,” says the 37-year-old of his upcoming bout with Larratt, an opponent he otherwise counts as a close friend. “He knows his time is coming.”
When the folks at the league tipped me off earlier this week to the upcoming Canuck versus Canuck showdown, for a second or two I thought it was a joke. Like Mask all those years ago, I didn’t realize that the challenge I’d taken on in many an elementary school lunchroom — made popular thanks to cartoon character Popeye — was an actual thing for grown-ups, no less one with thousands of dollars in prize money.
Sure, Sylvester Stallone briefly alerted us to the sport in 1987, when he played a truck-driving arm wrestler in the film Over the Top.
It has a much older and richer history, though, than most would suspect.
Egyptian tombs dating as far back as 2000 BC boast paintings that depict arm wrestlers in full clench.
In 1952, journalist Bill Soberanes staged a competition at a bar in Petaluma, Calif., which was celebrated by cartoonist (and local resident) Charles Schulz in a series of Peanuts strips. Sadly, Snoopy was bounced from the competition due to his lack of an opposable thumb.
The American Armwrestling Association (now named American Armsports Association) was formed in the 1960s and, in 1979, Canada played host to its first world arm-wrestling championship. These days, even Calgary has its own club, the Calgary Rams.
Along with a growing number of clubs all over the world, in 2014 the sport got a boost with the founding of the Chicagobased World Armwrestling League, which Mask describes as the pre-eminent organization for professional competitors, offering up to US$30,000 in annual winnings for the best of the best.
“You do need a day job,” adds Mask, who works as a downhole toolhand for Calgary-based Packers Plus.
“But there are other perks, like people flying you, all expenses paid, to events in places like China.”
While a match is about two men (or two women) and two arms, Mask is quick to stress that, despite appearances, it really is a team sport.
“You practise with your teammates, there is a lot of learning and camaraderie,” he says, noting two of his three teenage daughters also compete at the amateur level.
It’s also not just about having a strong arm.
“You need technique, skill and strength,” says Mask, who says he recently “blew out a pec” and dislocated an index finger, though has managed to avoid more serious injuries like a broken arm.
“It’s a whole body movement, all channelled to the arm and hand. I’ve had cramps in my calf muscle after a match.”
One of his favourite aspects of the sport described by many as “ordinary people doing extraordinary things” is how it has staying power.
“You can be on top right until your 50s, so I have a lot more years,” he says. “This underground sport is just starting to take off, so it’s the best time for all of us involved.”