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West Liberty’s Wells to Represent U.S. in World Arm Wrestling Tourney

Photo provided by WLU Tom Wells (left) poses with West Liberty University president Stephen Greiner.

WEST LIBERTY — The United States arm wrestling team is preparing to depart for the World Arm Wrestling Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria, which begins on October 1.

A key member of the U.S. squad is one of West Liberty’s own, Roger “Tom” Wells, who will be leaving from the Pittsburgh International Airport today in hopes of becoming the arm wrestling champion of the world.

Wells is a 33-year old exercise physiology major at West Liberty this year and is in his third year on the hilltop.

He grew up in Moundsville but did not find an interested in arm wrestling until about six years ago when he found out that his neighbor Neil Robinson was on the team.

“Neil (Robinson) has been the fuel to my training,” Wells said. “Every time I had to face a tough day of training, I just think of joining him on the United States team and it keeps me going.”

Robinson is still a member of the United States arm wrestling team and will be traveling with Wells to Bulgaria for the championships.

Wells’ interest in arm wrestling started as just an interest but throughout the last six years, it has grown into a passion. He was injured while competing in the sport and that injury led to another door that Wells has opened in his life.

“Because of my arm wrestling injury, I went to many doctors and it actually grew into a passion, which made me go to school for exercise physiology,” Wells said. “Now after three years of school, I am taking the principles of what I have learned at West Liberty and applied them to arm wrestling. ”

There can be a lot of injuries in the sport and I was not ready physically or mentally at first but the training has paid off and I finally made the team.”

Training for an arm wrestling competition is not the same type of workout as a body builder might go through. Wells’ max repetition for the isometric dumbbell curl is 145 pounds, which almost equals his weight of 187 pounds.

“A typical workout for an arm wrestling competitor is not the traditional stuff of a body builder,” Wells said. “There are strange angles involved and you won’t find the machines we use in a normal gym.”

Wells has been training very hard for the last six months and he qualified for the world championships by placing in the national competition in Atlantic City, NJ.

“It takes a great deal of strength in your entire arm, not just your hands or forearms,” Wells said. “Winning a match is really based on explosiveness.”

The tournament starts on Saturday and goes through Monday, the 10th. There are estimated to be over 1,000 competitors in the competition along with around 70 countries.

Competitors will be divided into weight classes and left-handed and right-handed participants will be in separate events. Then, each weight class will have a double elimination tournament and on the final day, a bronze, silver and gold medal will be awarded to the top three finishers in each weight division.

“The tournament can be very intense,” Wells said. “You are called up to the table and you just hope for a quick match to save your energy. It can be very tiring and matches can last up to about three minutes and that is when fatigue starts to set in, which is not good in a long tournament.”

A wrestler could have to participate in 15 matches in order to take home a medal and that could really take a toll on someone’s stamina. Even some of the best and strongest athletes could run into danger following a long match, which makes the world championship almost impossible to predict.

Countries such as Russia, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan treat arm wrestling like the United States treats the NFL. They are professional arm wrestlers who get paid to participate in arm wrestling competitions, while in the United States, it is more of a recreational sport.

“I have just been doing this for six years but these guys are seasoned veterans who are the best in their countries,” Wells said. “I have been aiming for this tournament since I started six years ago and of course I want to win but my goal is to place. Overall, I want to be the one standing at the end, holding the American flag during the playing of the National Anthem.”

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