With all the action happening at the convention center with tons of competitions from bodybuilding and the worlds strongest man competition to chess, one organization with a huge presence is the After-School All-Stars, which helps kids with after-school programs to keep them off the streets from gangs, violence, and drugs. The ASAS of Ohio have a booth every year at the convention. In the past years, you could find autographed framed pictures of Arnold Schwarzenegger and other rare Arnold items. This year, they had three main products. One shirt was the “Come With Me If You Want To Lift Shirt, which Arnold has featured on his online videos pumping up at Gold’s Gym. The second shirt has the famous manshake from Predator which says “It’s Time To Lift, You Son of A B!#ch” And the last item was a As Seen On TV item called Bright Bugz, which are these little bugs you put on your finger tip and light up. All proceeds went to the After School All-Stars. Everybody working the booth was pumped up and even Arnold stopped by to sign some shirts to go on sale as well.
For the past 4 years, I have been fortunate and blessed to go the After-School All-Stars Experience event. The goal is to have a lot of fun and to raise a lot of money for this great cause. Featured guests have included Randy Couture, Mindy Robinson, Lou Ferrigno, Rick Flair, Evander Holyfield, Triple H, Apolo Ono, Johnny Bench, Big Show, WWE wrestlers etc.
This year, Randy Couture returned with Mindy Robinson, Bas Rutten, Phil Koegan, Chris Kirkpatrick, Matt Iseman, and the legend Arnold Schwarzenegger.
It was a sold out event. It featured great food, the best cigars from Tinder Box Easton, a great DJ and drinks. In the room, it also featured an Arnold ice sculpture.
TheArnoldFans.com staff was able to get a exclusive interview with the man himself. Ryan the Gillinator sat next to both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer at a table interviewing them about the 30th anniversary of the Arnold Sports Festival and even got in a movie question.
Arnold allowed us to take a group picture. This was very awesome!
Adrian Pavel was able to get some answers from Randy Couture on the upcoming Expendables 4 movie, which will be filmed in Romania later on this year, once the script gets finalized.
A great speech was given by Governor John Kasich, Tracy Ensign from ASAS Ohio and Arnold Schwarzenegger, talking about the importance of after school programs and giving back. After the wonderful speech, Matt Iseman comes out to pump up the crowd for items to auction. Memorabillia included a Terminator 3 Crew Jacket, which included a picture with Arnold (the winner was Dr. Bob Goldman founder of the International Sports Hall of Fame and donor of the Arnold Statue), and a limited edition Governor Schwarzenegger Ring which he has been seen on Arnold when he was governor. The winner of the ring was Cory Gregory from Max Effort Muscle.
It is such an honor to be able to hang around my idol in the same room every year. The event keeps getting better and better. We look forward to next year’s event. Stay fantastic, After-School All Stars!