Saturday, April 30, 2011
GC day 2: junior nationals
The proposal concerning changing the structure of Junior Nationals to join it with the US Championships and have our Juvenile and Intermediates qualify through Sectionals was passed as written.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Governing Council Day 1
After lunch, the GC meeting was called to order by President Pat St. Peter. Various reports were presented, including a review of RISE. Proceeds from the movie were more than $200,000 for the Memorial Fund -- that along with increased donations over the first quarter of the year put donations through March at over $400,000. This is about 4 times more than the full 2010 year. They also talked about the release of the DVD coming in Fall.
Most of the proposed rule changes were approved by the Board of Directors. Governing Council delagates may isolate any items they wish to discuss and have voted on by the GC as a whole. A number of items were isolated. Items not isolated and discussed are considered approved by all at the conclusion of Governing Council. (Delegates may still isolate items tomorrow if anyone missed anything today).
We began with review of the bylaws changes which are required to be voted on by all delegates (not the Board). All proposed bylaws changes passed. We then began the discussion of the rule changes. A few items were discussed and voted on before we broke today, including approval of the changes to the Adult MIF as they were submitted.
We have much more to discuss tomorrow, including the proposed changes to the Junior National structure and changes to the well balanced program requirements. After breaking for the evening many delegates stayed for a reshowing of the movie RISE. Tonight, many are attending a dinner put on by the Athletes Committee, which serves as a fundraiser for them.
Most of the proposed rule changes were approved by the Board of Directors. Governing Council delagates may isolate any items they wish to discuss and have voted on by the GC as a whole. A number of items were isolated. Items not isolated and discussed are considered approved by all at the conclusion of Governing Council. (Delegates may still isolate items tomorrow if anyone missed anything today).
We began with review of the bylaws changes which are required to be voted on by all delegates (not the Board). All proposed bylaws changes passed. We then began the discussion of the rule changes. A few items were discussed and voted on before we broke today, including approval of the changes to the Adult MIF as they were submitted.
We have much more to discuss tomorrow, including the proposed changes to the Junior National structure and changes to the well balanced program requirements. After breaking for the evening many delegates stayed for a reshowing of the movie RISE. Tonight, many are attending a dinner put on by the Athletes Committee, which serves as a fundraiser for them.
Sectional Meeting
This morning we had the Pacific Coast Sectional Meeting. We started with announcements and recognition of clubs & officials for years of service. Pacific Coast clubs honored were Seattle SC (75 years), Glacier Falls FSC (50 years) and Golden State FSC (25 years). Officials from our area who were recognized: Morry Stillwell (Judge, 60 yrs), Margery Schleh (Judge, 50 yrs), Jessica Gaynor (Referee, 25 yrs), Anita Conrad (Accountant, 25 yrs), and Phyllis Baldwin, Melissa Dumond, Nancy Hepburn, Rick Perez, Sharon Watson, Doug Williams & Helen Wong (Judges, 25 yrs).
Next, we discussed the proposed rule changes that anyone had questions or concerns about in order to try to come to as much agreement as possible in order to represent our clubs & section in the strongest way possible. There were special presentations on the budget & the proposed changes regarding Jr. Nationals. Finally, we elected Kevin Rosenstein to a 2-year term on the Nominating Committee (the committee that selects the leadership for U.S. Figure Skating) representing the CP region.
Next, we discussed the proposed rule changes that anyone had questions or concerns about in order to try to come to as much agreement as possible in order to represent our clubs & section in the strongest way possible. There were special presentations on the budget & the proposed changes regarding Jr. Nationals. Finally, we elected Kevin Rosenstein to a 2-year term on the Nominating Committee (the committee that selects the leadership for U.S. Figure Skating) representing the CP region.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Competitions: how and why to bid
An interesting discussion was led by Bob Dunlop and Pam Crowley on some of the strategies to employ to improve your bid package for various USFS qualifying competitions. They focused particularly on how to better utilize resources on the USFS website and personnel at Headquarters, before a bid is submitted. Bob confirmed that the 2013 US Nationals will be held in Omaha, Nebraska.
We also got the hear the thoughts of Tiffany King (who's recently been a very successful LOC from Salt Lake FS). She helped remind us of a lot of great reasons to host events beyond making the club some money - especially to strengthen relationships within your club as well as between your club and the rink management and the greater community. She also shared some creative ideas about how to make your event a special and memorable one for all the skaters in attendance (while still saving money and involving the local community). I hope we'll be able to use some of her advice when we host events in the future.
We also got the hear the thoughts of Tiffany King (who's recently been a very successful LOC from Salt Lake FS). She helped remind us of a lot of great reasons to host events beyond making the club some money - especially to strengthen relationships within your club as well as between your club and the rink management and the greater community. She also shared some creative ideas about how to make your event a special and memorable one for all the skaters in attendance (while still saving money and involving the local community). I hope we'll be able to use some of her advice when we host events in the future.
GC Seminars
Attended many seminars today. First, I went to the Future LOC meeting in my role on the Competitions Committee. Most 2012 host club representatives attended, including the Santa Rosa FSC, host of Centrals. We learned about all the requirements and expectations U.S. Figure Skating has for qualifying competitions. Then, onto Volunteers seminar to hear ideas about getting more people involved, plus suggestions for guiding/training and recognition of volunteers. After lunch, Critical issues where we had some lively discussions about proposed changes to Junior Nationals and member fees. The Athlete Development Committee shared their experiences with programs such as STARS (off-ice training) and the Program Components camp as well as plans to continue and improve these and other programs for skater development. Next for me was the seminar on recruiting officials, with presentations from all areas... Judges, Tech Panel, Accounting, Music & Announcing. After dinner was my final seminar - the Interclub forum. Representatives from Interclub associations across the county shared ideas about ways clubs can work together to achieve goals for the entire area. It was a long but educational day. If anyone would like more details on any of the above topics, please feel free to contact me.
Criical Issues Q&A
In critical issues currently...... So far we have discussed ways to recruit and retain officials, the Jr Nationals proposal, and now the membership and club dues increases.
It is always interesting to hear all of the different opinions, thoughts and ideas from around the country.
It is always interesting to hear all of the different opinions, thoughts and ideas from around the country.
budget meeting
The 4 year business plan is being presented. There is discussion of the fact that the Board is required to balance the budget each year and there is a proposal before the council to raise membership fees. If the membership fee increase is not approved, in order to balance the budget the board would be forced to cut expenses across all areas. This will undoubtedly be discussed in great detail during the general session.
here we go
We are officially beginning GC this am. My first meeting is "The Do's and Dont's of Non-profits". There's lots of valuable info here. Since we are a newly formed 501(c)3, this is especially important to us. The handout that came with this seminar is something that I'm sure to refer to often.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Possible Dues Increase- Opinions Sought!
At Governing Council next week, one of the issues to be discussed is a dues increase for almost every member that has been passed by the Board of Directors of US Figure Skating as part of their four year budget. Unless the increase is rejected by the entire Governing Council, the increase will take affect at the beginning of the 2011-2012 season -that is, July 1st of this year.
The proposed dues increase would be an additional $10 for the first family member and $5 for second family members. There would be no increase for Collegiate and Introductory members. There would also be no further increase in the dues for at least 4 seasons.
There is also a proposed increase for the dues paid by each club, and our dues would go from $250 to $500 per season.
There is also a proposed increase for the dues paid by each club, and our dues would go from $250 to $500 per season.
The total cost to the club of this dues increase would be just under $5000 per year.
We hope to get the membership renewal paperwork out to all of you by the middle of May. We are waiting to see if the dues increase takes effect before we put out the membership renewals.
We would like to have your opinion on this or any other issue in the Governing Council book. It is available on the Members Only site of www.usfigureskating.org or if you do not have access to the site yet, get in touch and we will send you a pdf of the meeting book.
Monday, April 18, 2011
USFS Governing Council will begin in less than two weeks!!
Proposed rule changes for U.S. Figure Skating are available to review online. You need a password to access the Members Only section on the U.S. Figure Skating website (www.usfigureskating.org). Once in Members only, click on Governing Council from the left hand column and then click on the link to the Meeting book.
Proposed rule changes are voted on during the Governing Council meeting, which will be April 29-30 outside Chicago, IL. St. Moritz will have 7 delegates representing the Club. Our delegates this year are: Susan Bonn, Lisa Erle, Jean Fahmie, Kianoosh Samii, Lynn Smith, Katherine Specht, and Pam Vanderzalm.
Please review the proposals and let us know if you have any comments or issues regarding the proposed rule changes so that we may represent the views of our club to the best of our abilities.
There are many proposed rule changes, these are some highlights:
Changes to Adult rules for MIF, program requirements, and artistic clarifications, pg. 41 - 44
Change to skater advancement for Juvenile & Intermediate -- if passed, skaters at these levels would go through the same competition structure as the higher levels -- advancing from regionals to sectionals and then sectionals to nationals, pg. 45 -- please also read the proposal presentation on pgs. 87 - 107
Change to Adult sectional scoring system for adult singles skaters (using IJS for Adult Gold and above), pg. 53 - 55
Change to Adult sectional scoring system for adult singles skaters (using IJS for Adult Gold and above), pg. 53 - 55
Change for Juvenile/Open Juvenile age, pg. 64
Changes for dance tests, pg. 65 - 66
Changes to Pairs short program and well balanced program requirements, pg. 70 - 71
Changes to Singles short program and well balance program requirements, pg. 72 - 77 & pg. 79
Changes to Singles test requirements, pg. 77 - 78
Changes to Synchro well balanced program requirements, pg. 80
Solo Free Dance proposal, pg. 108 - 112
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