International Pole Masters Cup

Over the past weekend, I had the opportunity to travel with my dear friend Becca Butcher to Los Angeles to see Charlee perform. Charlee is a teacher here at French Kiss Fitness. Becca has been Charlee's mentor for the past year so it was very important to both of us that we were there to support Charlee in her first big pole competition.

Let me tell you a little about this competition. There were only two women invited to represent the USA, one of them was of course Charlee. The rest came from Russia, Australia, and Japan. Becca has attended dozens of events like this, and she said this one had the toughest competitors she's seen so far.

We flew out and stayed with my brother in law who offered up his home. Free sleeping quarters. Bonus! When we landed in the airport, Becca saw a Police bullet bike. She loves bullet bikes. So naturally, she had to get a picture with it :)

The morning of the competition, we wen't to breakfast on the 3rd street promenade and had the yummiest meal I've had in a long time. Then we headed over to the Santa Monica pier to meet up with some pole friends from South Africa. And what do you know? We found another parked police vehicle. This time, it had a surf board on top of it:)

The competition was at the Circus Disco in West Hollywood. Very cool place! I volunteered to help at the door checking in people who bought tickets. I got to greet everyone who came to the event. My favorite part was meeting the famous pole people. I met Steven Retchless (america's got talent), Natasha Wang, Jamilla Deville, Felix Cain, Fawnia, David Owen, Anjel Dust, Honey, and so many more amazing pole dancers.

There were four categories in the competition. Groups, Duo's, Women, and Men. Here are my favorite routines in each category of the evening.

Groups:
Jagged USA- 1st place

Doubles:
Sergia & Jennifer USA - 2nd place

Male:
David C Owenn USA - 3rd place
Video not available (what a shame, because it was AMAZING)

And in the female category, of course my favorite was our girl Charlee Wagner.
Charlee Wagner USA - 1st place

Yes! Charlee won the whole thing. The competition was so intense. There were four girls who really stood out and Charlee was the judges favorite. When the winners were announced, I was sitting by her mom Robin. The two of us fell apart when her name was read as the winner. I had a moment where I realized that we have some of the best talent in the world right here in Utah. That's crazy!

By the time time it was over, Becca and I were exhausted. We woke up the next morning only to find out that our flight had been changed to a different airport. We rushed to Burbank California, hopped on a small plane and came home to our families :)

Next time, I hope we can take more teachers and students. It was really a life changing experience that every pole enthusiast should experience.