Written by Jim Banko, U.S. Steinholding Founder

U.S. Steinholding Association 2020 National Remote Steinholding Championship

We are very excited to introduce the first ever U.S. Steinholding Association National Remote Steinholding Championship! Due to the many restrictions and challenges presented by the COVID pandemic, most in-person Steinholding competitions and Oktoberfests have been cancelled. So this year we're keeping the fun alive by hosting our first ever official remote competition and enabling you to compete from the comfort of your own home! To compete, follow the guidelines below to record a video of yourself performing your best Steinhold and post it on social media by November 7th, 2020. U.S. Steinholding judges will review all entries for form and time and announce the winners on November 15th, 2020. The man and woman who hold for the longest win a $150 Visa gift card and a U.S. Steinholding merch prize pack, but all valid entries will be entered into a raffle to win a $50 Visa gift card and U.S. Steinholding tshirt. If you're ready to take up the challenge and compete, check out the details below!

Note: To ensure that all competitors are using steins of the correct style, grade, and material, you MUST use a 1 liter, clear dimpled glass Masskrug style stein for the competition, like our U.S. Steinholding Association official logo steins. If you need or want one of our steins, we recommend that you order by Sunday November 1st, 2020 at the latest so you'll have the best chance to get your stein in time to participate but the earlier, the better.

Once you register (details below), record a video of yourself performing your Steinhold using the following instructions:

1. Position the camera at approximately head/face level.
2. Start recording.
3. Prior to beginning the hold, show the camera a close-up shot of your stein to verify you are using a dimpled 1L glass stein and that it is properly filled up to the 1L mark with your beer of choice (water or any other beverage are also ok).
4. While you're still nice and close to the camera, give the stein a couple taps with a metallic object like the back of a bread knife or something so we can confirm that your stein is glass.
5. Position yourself to allow for clear judging of your form by standing far enough away from the camera that the video shows your knees near the bottom of the screen, your head near the top, and your stein near the edge of the screen.
6. Turn 45 degrees away from the camera in the direction of your Steinholding arm.
7. Right before beginning your hold, give yourself a 3-2-1 countdown and then start.
8. Check out our quick instructional video to see an example of what your video submission should look like.
9. All Official U.S. Steinholding Association Rules must be followed for the entire hold.
10. After your hold, review your video to make sure the footage is clear and that you are following all U.S. Steinholding Association Rules. If you aren't satisfied with your time or with your form, no worries, we all have bad days- try again!
11. Submit your best video on Facebook or Instagram any time before 11:59pm EST on Saturday November 7th, 2020 by doing the following:
1. First follow us on Facebook and/or Instagram.
2. For Facebook entries: Post your video on your personal Facebook page with the following caption and tag @ussteinholding: "I'm competing in the @ussteinholding Remote National Steinholding Competition! Grab your stein and challenge me by registering here: http://www.ussteinholding.com/info/steinholding-events/more/remote-2020"
3. For Instagram entries: Post your video on your personal Instagram account with the following caption and tag @ussteinholding: "I'm competing in the @ussteinholding Remote National Steinholding Competition! Grab your stein and challenge me by following @ussteinholding and registering through the link in their bio!"
4. Optional but encouraged: If you want to give a shout-out to the beer you used to fill your stein, go for it! We love to support breweries (especially small and local breweries) and they need the extra help these days, so tag the brewery too, and let us know which beer you're drinking!
5. Feel free to tag and call out any friends that you specifically want to challenge too, but first just make sure you use one of the captions provided above.

Your video will be judged by a panel of U.S. Steinholding Association judges and your official time will be recorded as the time when you stop holding or earlier if we determine your form stopped being acceptable. All of the other official USSA rules will apply, but since we aren't judging live, we won't be assigning any strikes, corrections, or warnings, so make sure your form is perfect because once it starts to look bad, the clock stops. Judging a competition over video is imperfect and difficult, so remote competition entries will not be eligible to set a new National Steinholding record. We're the best in the business when it comes to judging, but we need to see you in person to certify a new record. All judging decisions by the U.S. Steinholding Association are final.

The winners of the men's and women's division will be announced on Saturday November 14th, 2020 at 8:00pm EST when we mash up the videos to (virtually) pit the best of the best against each other at the U.S. Steinholding Association live streamed competition video unveiling where we will also announce the raffle winners.

The winners of the men's and women's divisions will claim the title of 2020 U.S. Steinholding Association Remote Steinholding Champion and will each receive a pre-paid $150 Visa Gift card and a U.S. Steinholding Association merchandise prize pack valued at over $80. The merch prize packs for the champions will include:

• The tshirt of your choice from the U.S. Steinholding Association merch page or our Threadless shop
• A 4-pack of our sweet new logo pint glasses (because you can't always drink everything by the liter)
• A pair of USSA logo koozies
• A pair of USSA logo pins
• A weather resistant USSA logo sticker/bumper sticker

The Raffle: Even if you aren't the strongest Steinholder in the world, don't worry, we've got you covered- all registered competitors will be entered into a raffle and two lucky Steinholders will be chosen at random to win a $50 Visa gift card and a U.S. Steinholding Association tshirt of their choice.

Remote competition entry fees: $30 or $10 - Default registration is $30 and includes Priority Mail shipping of your very own U.S. Steinholding Association official logo stein, a $28 value itself. If you already have a dimpled 1L glass stein, use the promo code "IGOTASTEIN" to register for only $10! Remember to register by Sunday November 1st, 2020 at the latest so you'll have the best chance to get your stein in time to participate but the earlier, the better.

   

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Jim Banko is the founder of the U.S. Steinholding Association. He is the 2015 Hofbrau Masskrugstemmen National Champion and previous United States record holder for Steinholding with an official time of 17 minutes and 11 seconds.

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