Pro/Am Contests Blog

The West Palm Beach Pro/Am on October 13th was a GREAT event that was a ton of fun for everyone involved!  The audience was full of competitors and fans from all around Florida that came to support our sport!  John Organ, the promoter, did a great job in getting the word out about the event and all of the seats were filled.

This show was very special for me.  I am the NPC Chairperson for figure and fitness in the State of Florida.  So, throughout the year, I attend shows almost every weekend and help out the girls backstage.  Every day I have countless e-mails in my inbox from girls asking questions about everything from shoes to tanning to posing and everything in between!  I do my best to assist the girls in our state and help them be the best competitors that they can be.  I also encourage each and every one of them to ENJOY competing and have fun at the shows!

When I walked out on stage for the first time in prejudging I got a lump in my throat because I walked out to loud cheers and support from the audience.  I looked out and saw countless girls who I had worked with backstage over the season cheering for me and offering their support. I couldn’t have asked for anything more!

Me on stage at the 2007 Europa Pro!

All of the competitors, both Pro and Amateur had a ton of fun backstage.  We all talked, laughed and truly enjoyed the experience.  All the girls got along great and were extremely supportive of each other.  Everyone was in GREAT shape and put on an awesome show!

Congratulations to Julie Palmer for her fitness win!  She is truly a first class competitor that never hesitates to take a moment out of her backstage prep to help another competitor.  She deserved this win 110% and is an inspiration to us all!

The West Palm Beach Pro was an incredible way to finish off my 2007 season!  Now it’s time to get ready for 2008!

–
Shannon Dey
www.shannondey.net
Boom Fitness Clubs
IFBB Pro Fitness Athlete
Florida NPC Figure/Fitness Chairperson

NPC Figure Competitor and BodySpace Member Dixie Reynolds won Class B at the Palm Beach Pro-Am on Oct. 13, 2007 and in this clip we see her on-stage and then she shares some of the details of her life and perspective on the sport.

Note: More West Palm Beach video clips here.

Having problems with the video?  Click here for the YouTube version.  Video courtesy of John Hawley from MusclePaparazzi.org.  Used with permission.

IFBB Pro Fitness Athlete Hollie Stewart continued her routine and signified she was okay, but it was a scary moment when she fell off the stage at the Palm Beach Pro-Am this past weekend…

Note: More West Palm Beach video clips here.

Having problems with the video?  Click here for the YouTube version.  Video courtesy of John Hawley from MusclePaparazzi.org.  Used with permission.

The always fabulous Gina Ostarly, well-known NPC figure and fitness competitor, model, and owner of GO Fitness in Stuart, Florida, shared a few minutes in conversation while working the Bodybuilding.com booth at the Palm Beach Pro-Am last weekend.

Note: More West Palm Beach video clips here.

Having problems with the video?  Click here for the YouTube version.  Video courtesy of John Hawley from MusclePaparazzi.org.  Used with permission.

Hey everyone!  Well, I am back home from the Palm Beach Pro-Am!  Wow, what an exciting and extremely packed weekend!  We flew into West Palm Friday afternoon and got our rental car and then headed off to our hotel.  After checking in and taking a few minutes to settle in, it was off to meet  with Shannon and Rob for my  "assessment".  I tried on my suits, did some posing, made some last minute adjustments, and sat back for my critque and final instructions!  Then it was over to the host hotel lobby for check in and an interview with John Hawley from Musclepaparrazzi.org.  During the filiming the interview, the lobby and lounge was crawling with competitors and vendors.  As I was leaving, I noticed a familiar face on the bench outside the hotel, and took a second look to realize that it was Valerie Waugaman!  Oh boy, I was so excited to see her face to face!  She is tall and beautiful and extremely friendly!  Well, that concluded my night and it was time to get some sleep and prepare for the competition.

Saturday turned out to be a pleasant surprise for me.  The Amateur division began prejudging at approx 10 am with the Pros showing up backstage to join us at about 11.  What an amazing experience, sitting right next to me applying make-up and styling hair was Gina Alliotti, Natalie Benson, Danielle Hollenshade,  Meriza DeGuzman and Zena Collins!!  WOW!!!  These women are actually next to me?!!  I was in awe.  They were so friendly and sweet.  The fitness ladies were in the room as well and they were exuding personality and enthusiasm!  There was so much comeraderie among this group of ladies, they truly do support and help one another even though they are competing against each other.   I was somewhat starstruck to say the least!  It was fantastic!  And just as an added little bonus to the evening, I was awarded the first place trophy for the Open Medium Division!!  Unfortunately, I was not the choice of the judges for the overall title, however I was the crowd favorite for it and that was more than enough to make me one happy camper!!! I ended my competitive evening with an interview with Isaac Hinds for Bodybuilding.com and some friendly P.R. with the ALR Industries spokesmodels and sales staff at their vendors booth.  They are an awesome group of competitors and all around people with some awesome products!

I finished off my weekend with a photo shoot this morning with fitness photographer Dan Ray of Dan Ray Photography.  It was windy as heck but we were able to get some great shots.  Dan took over 300 photos!!!  He is a spectacular photographer and an all around sweet guy.  Hope to shoot with him again very soon!  As I was finishing up my shoot, I ran into Isaac shooting with Julie Lohre (how awful that must have been for him!  LOL.)  She was looking beautiful and congratulated me on my win.

Thanks Dan, John and Isaac for your time and your interest in me and a special thanks to all of my BodySpace friends for your support and for leaving me all the nice comments and messages!!

Dixie

The 2007 IFBB Palm Beach Pro/Am Figure & Fitness Contest was held on October 13th in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Gina Aliotti holds her conditioning from the Olympia to win the figure division! Julie Palmer wins the fitness division!  Learn more here…

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/2007ifbbpalmbeach.htm

I’m chill’n at the Atlanta airport waiting for my flight back to Denver. I’m leaving behind the sunny skies of the south to the frigid cold that is blasting through Colorado. I had the chance to hang out with Günter for a bit as he was on the same flight as me. He had several people approach him and ask if he was on Beer Fest and in the new Saturn commercial. Always very friendly to everyone and a genuine nice guy. He told me his wife, IFBB pro and trainer on NBC’s Biggest Loser, is doing well and to watch for some drama in future episodes of the show. Gunter guest posed at the show last night and told the crowd he hasn’t ruled out returning to the stage.

I shot with Gina Aliotti and Julie Lohre this morning and both look awesome. I’ll post up some of our photos later this week.

Look for a full review of the show this week as well.

Those of you interested in the full scoresheets and all rounds as scored at the West Palm Beach pro can click over to the new IFBB PRO WEBSITE.

More photos will be posted today from the NPC & IFBB contests..

IFBB Pro Figure Results:

1. Gina Aliotti
2. Latisha Wilder
3. Paola Almerico
4. Natalie Benson
5. Heather Green
6. Zivile Raodoniene
7. Shannon Meteraud
8. Danielle Hollenshade
9. Tivisay Briceno
10. Christine Wan
11. Pia Johnsen
12. Meriza De Guzman
13. Melissa Pearo
14. Marie Gibbon
15. Cynthia Sharp
16. Claire Parmley
17. Helen Turley
18. Aymara Munoz
DNF - Zena Collins

IFBB Pro Fitness Results:

1. Julie Palmer
2. Julie Lohre
3. Stacy Simons
4. Heidi Fletcher
5. Michelle Mayberry
6. Maria Bellando
7. Nicole Duncan
8. Kendra Elias
9. Lisa McCormick
10. Liza Hughes
11. Shannon Dey
12. Hollie Stewart
13. Sonja Bruce
14. Angela Monteleone-Semsch
15. Sandra Wickham
16. Stephanie Worsfold
17. Allison Daughtry
18. Michelle Theison
19. Rosalind Vanterpool
19. Susan Groshek

Everyone is eating at the Cheesecake Factory now. I have some fun pics that will be up soon. Congrats to all the women tonight.

Two tidbits from the show that have people talking… Hollie Stewart has an awesome routine and while doing the routine went off the back of the stage. She was a total trooper, shook it off and did her routine again. The crowd gave her a standing ovation. She was pretty banged up and scraped her stomach. I believe she placed second in the two minute routine round.

Zena Collins left after the first round of prejudging and never came back. No one knows where she went but one could only assume that was the last time we’ll see her on stage.

Great show - there are 39 total pros. 19 in Figure and 20 in Fitness. Heidi Fletcher looked the best she ever has but based on the callouts will be outside the top 5. It’s the Julie showdown tonight. Julie Palmer looks to be in the lead with Julie Lohre nipping at her heels. Stacey Simmons should also make a run at things and most likely end up in third. Lisa McCormick and Michelle Mayberry will most likely round out the top 5.

I’d have it:
1. Julie Palmer
2. Julie Lohre
3. Stacey Simmons
4. Heidi Fletcher
5. Michelle Mayberry

Figure has a great lineup. It’s definitely the Gina show. She looked better here than she did at the Olympia. Second looks like it will be Latisha Wilder. The top 5 is very competitive and could go a number of ways. It’s a battle for the third and final qualifying spot. Heather Green looks to be at her all time best and much tighter than at previous shows. Natalie also looks good and improved from the Olympia.

I’d have it:
1. Gina Aliotti
2. Latisha Wilder
3. Heather Green
4. Natalie Benson
5. Paola Almerico

We’ll have galleries up shortly. Night show starts at 6:30pm EST.

I arrived yesterday after a long day of flying. The promoter, John Organ, was kind enough to pick me up from the airport and bring me to the host hotel. I love West Palm Beach, it’s a very nice area and the weather is great. Let’s hope this great weather continues as I have a number of photo shoots set up.

My laptop batteries were dead from the long flight and I was unable to charge them because of my charger deciding to go on strike. I ended up renting a car and taking a trek to the nearest Apple store. I was hoping to find something at a Radio Shack or Comp USA, but nooooo… If you have a MAC it can be a royal pain in the arse to find things as simple as a AC charger. Any whoo, got that taken care of, did some work until late into the night and now I am ready to rock.

I caught up with Gina Aliotti and Meriza DeGuzman as they arrived at the hotel. Gina looked great and in excellent condition. Meriza was covered up but she should be able to hold her own at this show.

My first shoot is with IFBB Pro Heather Green. Heather has had a great year. I remember chatting with her and her husband in April at the NPC Jr. USAs and she was going for her pro card. Fast forward a few months and Heather found herself on the Olympia stage. She’s looking to qualify again at this show for the 2008 Olympia. I saw her yesterday and she looks great. I’ll share some of our photos here later.

After Heather, I will be shooting IFBB Pro and cover model Kristal Richardson. I’m looking forward to this shoot as Kristal and I shot last year in this same spot. We got some good photos but I have a hunch we’ll get better shots this time around.

Stay tuned for more updates throughout the weekend.

Hi!  It’s me again!!  Just a couple of days left to the Palm Beach Pro/Am and I am getting really excited.  I will be flying out tomorrow and look forward to enjoying the show.  I am feeling really good and really have no expectations this time around.  Of course, it would be great to do well, but I can’t seem to get past the fact that I will be joining the pro figure and fitness girls at this show (on the amateur stage of course).  This will be my first pro show and I can’t wait to see the pro’s in action.  

I have a really full schedule while I am there.  Friday night I will be interviewing and shooting with John Hawley from musclepaparazzi.org.  John will be following me throughout stages of the competition and putting together a DVD presentation that will be used on his web-site as a “teaser” for the show.  I will also have it up on my website which is currently under construction.  Sunday I have a photo shoot set up with Dan Ray Photography so I am looking forward to coming home with some great images from the beautiful beaches of West Palm!  I also just joined the Sales Rep team of Southern Muscle Plus so if anyone out there would like to place an ad in the publication, please contact me and I would be more than happy to forward the information on pricing and ad specs!  If you are planning to attend the show as a vendor, seek me out if you want to discuss advertising!  I will be visiting your booths! Whew… that is gonna make me a really busy girl!

So, there you have it!  No more progress pics, you will just have to wait until I hit the stage to see how I fair!  Wish me luck and thanks for all of your support and comments!  Love you guys!

Dixie

Hello Everyone!  Well, just two weeks to go to the Palm Beach Pro-Am and I am getting excited.  (I originally posted this on my personal blog last week.)

I wonder what pros are gonna make it?!  I think I am more excited about who I am going to see than how I am going to do!!  That should make it really fun though, not feeling like I am under pressure to do well and just mainly going for the experience.  I took some progress pics yesterday and uploaded them and I must say I am very happy with where I stand right now.  In comparison to where I was two weeks out from the Florida, I actually think I am even further along this time than last and that is good since I was in my best condition for the Florida.

Palm Beach Pro-Am: Only 1 Week To Go!

I am wanting to come in a bit fuller this time though so I am hoping that I don’t lean out too much the last week.  My body always picks up momentum going into the last two weeks and I usually see a lot of changes so I am going to try to maintain some fullness between now and then.  I need to keep my upper body full whilst keeping my mid-section small and tight, so maybe I can make some progress in that direction!  Well, let me know what you think about my new progress pics!  Talk to you soon!