A story about an arm wrestler whose not old enough to drink and whose age ends
in "teen," slamming down the bulky forearms of men twice his age may
sound like a wild tale for some, but for Edwin Safarian, it’s ancient history.
Last year he won first place in his weight class and was named male MVP for
2000. He’s racked up two more MVP’s since then, and isn’t about
to stop now.
Safarian participated in the 2000 Empire State Golden Arm Championship (held
by the New York Arm Wrestling Association) last November and won first place
as well as male MVP for the year. To see the then 16-year-old win first place
in the open weight division was an astonishment to many and an embarrassment
to the men twice his age whom Safarian had beaten to climb up the ranks.
"I’ve beaten guys with biceps bigger than my head," Safarian
chuckled. What would go through the mind of a 30 or 40-year-old muscle-bound
arm wrestler after getting slammed to the table by Edwin Safarian? "They’d
be like, ‘what is this kid on?’" Safarian mused. "They’d
feel dissed."
"He puts men down like they’re nothing," said Gene Camp, NYAWA
president and founder. "He’s an arm wrestling superstar."
The former Flushing resident moved to Bayside last year and joined NYAWA in
June. Safarian recently competed in NYAWA’s NYC Junior Arm Wrestling Championship
held in Newtown High School in February, where he won first place in the open
weight division and male MVP for the tournament.
"I mainly competed to go up against [pro arm wrestler] Mike Selearis,"
said Edwin Safarian. Selearis, who serves as a science teacher and a wrestling
coach at Newtown, played referee for the event, and said that if Safarian could
last three seconds with him he’d give the senior a Sony Playstation.
"They put the strap on me, and that was my downfall," Safarian said.
The Bayside resident explained that the strap was a long strip of leather wrapped
around the grapplers’ hands, binding them together. This was the first
time arm wrestling with the strap on for Safarian, and it cut off the circulation
of blood in his hand. The result wasn’t good for Safarian who almost lost
instantly.
Safarian keeps his arms in good shape as he throws the shot-put for Bayside’s
track team. Launching the ball at about 40.7’, the senior qualified to
compete for the city title but couldn’t compete due to a back problem.
"My doctor said to go easy on my back," said Safarian. So now he throws
the discus for the track team, which he says is less strain on his back and
weighs significantly less than the shot-put.
Safarian plans to participate in the Empire State Golden Arm Tournament on March
29 to be held on the top of the World Trade Center. As last year, the senior
will go up against grapplers of all ages, but he has his sights set on going
toe-to-toe, or arm-to-arm, with Selearis once more.
As for college, Safarian is an art major at Bayside and hopes to continue those
studies at either Drexell College in Philadelphia or International School of
Fine Arts in Florida. "I like to create using computer-generated animation,"
Safarian said.
Apparently beating men of any age and collecting first place and MVP awards
is no challenge for Safarian. Only the professional forearm of Selearis is the
Moby Dick to Safarian’s Ishmael. There’s little doubt of how well
the Baysider will do come March 29, but how he’ll do against the his toughest
challenge to date is anyone’s guess.
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