Meet Judy Dodd
Hi Judy, how long have you been armwrestling?
I have been armwrestling for about 6 years now.
How did you get started?
Every year in my hometown of Patterson, CA they have an armwrestling tournament
at the Apricot fiesta (Patterson, apricot capitol of the world). So I started
there.
Then what happened?
A year later I
decided to go farther, so I went to The Tahoe tourney, got smoked. After that I
started working harder at it. The next year I took a second in Tahoe and in
Petaluma. After that I have been doing pretty good, I have won the last three
years in Tahoe (Nationals) and at the world championships in Petaluma, CA. Just
recently I won at the AAA Nationals, in Bakersfield CA. It was a total thrill
for me, the competition was very good. Team California won also. Now I qualify
to go to the worlds in Virginia Beach, and the Arnold classic. Now that would be
fun.
What are some of your greatest memories?
One of the greatest experiences for me was going to Russia with team USA in
1998. It started out bad; I was taken out in about 10 minutes. Very humbling.
But the rest of the trip was great fun. I met a lot of people from all over the
world. Monica Wazniak was my roommate and she will be a friend for life.
Your workouts?
I work out in the gym about 5 days a week at Patterson Health and Fitness. My
massage business is there also. My husband Tony and oldest daughter
Nicki work out with me. I mostly use free weights and the cable machines. I do
squats to get some core body straight. Some days I go to Los Banos and train
with Bill Collins. He is the greatest coach. When I train with Bill it brings my
level of performance way up. He and his wife Ginger are very special to me. There is also a group of people that
train in Ceres that help me out a lot. I would like to thank them also.
What would you say to newcomers?
My advice to people thinking of starting armwrestling, just keep working at it.
It takes a lot time and training to get it right. There is so much more to it.
Work out, get strong and apply that to your technique. Above all, have fun.
Tell us about your family?
I am married to Tony, a foreman for O'Donnell Plastering Inc., a very successful
company in the bay area. I have
three children, Nicki 15, Casie, 11 and Thomas 7. They are very supportive of
me. They are all in sports, so that keeps us pretty busy. I work as a massage
therapist, I also do yard maintenance for 14 homes and this fall I will be
coaching the freshman volleyball team for high school. Volleyball is my other
sport, love it.
Thanks Judy. We
are very proud of you. We also thank O'Donnell Plastering for their
support as Judy's sponsor.
