New development in USFA politics!

[ivlobane]

Ok, so the other officer slate that has been nominated by the Nominating Comitee, where is it's platform, ect? All I got is a little card in the mail with some unfamiliar names...

[Wise-Epeeist]

http://www.usfencersforchange.com/

I was bemused at the five pillars of success which are supposed to clarify the "approach" of the candidates. Yellow is a pretty color.

[noodle]

Ok, so the other officer slate that has been nominated by the Nominating Comitee, where is it's platform, ect? All I got is a little card in the mail with some unfamiliar names...

the names on the card were more familiar to me than the names presented by these people. not a very good point of argument, i think.

also, they should've called it "epeeists for change".

[keith]

Ok, so the other officer slate that has been nominated by the Nominating Comitee, where is it's platform, ect? All I got is a little card in the mail with some unfamiliar names...

I think it's safe to assume we can take the same platitudes as applying to both sets of candidates.

I suppose that if either set actually gets round to doing something someones ox is going to get gored - so not surprisingly details seem scarce.

Of course the new officers might find a few million dollars in loose change when they re-arrange the furniture.

[KD5MDK]

Ok, so the other officer slate that has been nominated by the Nominating Comitee, where is it's platform, ect? All I got is a little card in the mail with some unfamiliar names...

If the names are unfamiliar to you, you've not been paying too much attention at the national level to who gets things done.

It doesn't have a platform, it's the people who expressed interest in serving who were interviewed by the nominating committee and selected as the best candidates for the job.

[ivlobane]

...If the names are unfamiliar to you...It doesn't have a platform...

So an unfamiliar committee selects unfamiliar people with no platform? Sorry, I don't know who gets things done, or not done. I want three things:

• Online registration.
• A large screen device with real time updates at National events.
• Reduction of NAC size. In epee especially.

Reduction of the NAC size would most sensibly include intelligent design of local and sectional qualifying paths. It's not easy convincing a parent of a newly minted "C" fencer to invest in a year of six 5-touch bout NAC trips. A lot of other sports use a much more incrimental progress path where merely going to the Nationals means you are an elite athlete.

What's my problem with all the Div2-3, 1A, ect? I want those events to occur at a more local level. My clients would have an easier time seeing a return on their investement of time and money into this sport.

The http://www.usfencersforchange.com/ platform includes things I want. I'll have faith that their statement of...

Collaboration with fencingpictures.com (fencingchannel.tv), fencingphotos.com, fencing.net, askfred.net, and other similar organizations to develop exposure of US fencing with timely articles, photos, and internet coverage of international events, NACs, and regional events, etc.

...includes hiring a professional web designer. Someone like Peet... Or one of his friends... (<---wishful thinking...)

[Allen Evans]

...includes hiring a professional web designer. Someone like Peet... Or one of his friends...

Something they obviously didn't do for their own web site. ;-)

[noodle]

So an unfamiliar committee selects unfamiliar people with no platform? Sorry, I don't know who gets things done, or not done. I want three things:

• Online registration.
• A large screen device with real time updates at National events.
• Reduction of NAC size. In epee especially.

Reduction of the NAC size would most sensibly include intelligent design of local and sectional qualifying paths. It's not easy convincing a parent of a newly minted "C" fencer to invest in a year of six 5-touch bout NAC trips. A lot of other sports use a much more incrimental progress path where merely going to the Nationals means you are an elite athlete.

What's my problem with all the Div2-3, 1A, ect? I want those events to occur at a more local level. My clients would have an easier time seeing a return on their investement of time and money into this sport.

The http://www.usfencersforchange.com/ platform includes things I want. I'll have faith that their statement of...



...includes hiring a professional web designer. Someone like Peet... Or one of his friends... (<---wishful thinking...)

online registration and a better webpage could be handled easily by your typical web developer. pretty quickly, actually. i bet i could knock out the functionality of a user information/update/membership/event database in a weekend with a nice hardcore rails session.

what would a large projector screen display, exactly?

and i can sign on to the reduction of NAC sizes. i'd like to think that the distribution of the divisions (edit: division 1/2/3, not geographical divisions) is no longer relevant given the size of the sport now. it has to change sometime, we changed to move it to the divisions, why can't we modify it further? imo, though, this process goes hand-in-hand with an improved ratings system.

[ivlobane]

what would a large projector screen display, exactly?

The same stuff the little paper displays that gets posted around National events. The seedings, pool assignment, strip assignment, cut-off line, ect. Another alternative is a few wide screen TVs with a cheap wireless laptop attached and remote controlled to display the same pages they print out. Again, an IT profi required.

[ivlobane]

imo, though, this process goes hand-in-hand with an improved ratings system.

Yes, I agree as well, but I could only vaguely imagine that changing any time soon. My immediate idea would be something like a chess rating, with letters representing certain ranges. This has been talked about so much though, off-topic?

[keith]

Reduction of the NAC size would most sensibly include intelligent design of local and sectional qualifying paths. It's not easy convincing a parent of a newly minted "C" fencer to invest in a year of six 5-touch bout NAC trips. A lot of other sports use a much more incrimental progress path where merely going to the Nationals means you are an elite athlete.)

Of course but can you imagine a successful campaign based on national competitions being restricted to the development of athletes fighting for representative honours?

There probably simply needs to be a split between international competitor development and Rec level events (everything other than the top tier of DivI).

[ivlobane]

Of course but can you imagine a successful campaign based on national competitions being restricted to the development of athletes fighting for representative honours?

There probably simply needs to be a split between international competitor development and Rec level events (everything other than the top tier of DivI).

I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand you correctly. Why discriminate between "rec" and "competitive" ? One grows into the other a lot of times. If you say that because rec fencers want variety in their opponents and that requires cross-continental travel, that is simply not true any longer in a lot of areas. I see divisional and/or metro-area championships having the same variety and prestige as Div2/3, if not more.
These divisions/sections need not depend on geography either, but on the local fencing population. For example, when a Division grows to some maximum of x, it splits and becomes two minimums of y...

[keith]

I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand you correctly. Why discriminate between "rec" and "competitive" ? One grows into the other a lot of times.

One of the goals of the USFA is to get medals at international tournaments - rec fencers do not 'grow into' those type of fencer (outside of vet categories).

Now to my mind the assumption that only 'international' level competitors need national level competition is flawed. The benefits for other levels of fencer are different but still just as important.

If you say that because rec fencers want variety in their opponents and that requires cross-continental travel, that is simply not true any longer in a lot of areas. I see divisional and/or metro-area championships having the same variety and prestige as Div2/3, if not more.

It may not require cross country travel but what if people want to? Sounds quite mad to me but hey some people are crazy.

[dberke]

The same stuff the little paper displays that gets posted around National events. The seedings, pool assignment, strip assignment, cut-off line, ect. Another alternative is a few wide screen TVs with a cheap wireless laptop attached and remote controlled to display the same pages they print out. Again, an IT profi required.

Did you attend the Tucson, Dallas, or Richmond NACs? We were experimenting with a projection screen displaying the information you're talking about at those NACs. While not a perfect solution (lighting conditions and avaialble hardware being the limitations), there is progress being made on that front already.

Dan

[ivlobane]

Yes, I was at the Richmond NAC and the projector I saw there was shut down. Little papers were still used, and in Atlanta there was no projector.
The lighting is a problem for a lot of those things, you're right. What was the projector model in Richmond?

[noodle]

Yes, I agree as well, but I could only vaguely imagine that changing any time soon. My immediate idea would be something like a chess rating, with letters representing certain ranges. This has been talked about so much though, off-topic?

imo, there's too much information and technical problems required for a simple projection screen solution, and the LCD screen solution is pretty expensive. perhaps the USFA could solicit some donations of some large (42+) non-HD LCD monitors.

[keith]

imo, there's too much information and technical problems required for a simple projection screen solution, and the LCD screen solution is pretty expensive. perhaps the USFA could solicit some donations of some large (42+) non-HD LCD monitors.

I'm surprised, given the use of convention space, that these are not available from the sites.

[ivlobane]

imo, there's too much information and technical problems required for a simple projection screen solution, and the LCD screen solution is pretty expensive. perhaps the USFA could solicit some donations of some large (42+) non-HD LCD monitors.

Anything with a rating of 2000+ Lumens works well in broad cloudless daylight, which is brighter than those conference rooms. Again, one wireless laptop or a super long VGA cable is all that is necessary.

These would work, I've seen the NEC one on a sunny day and 10pt emails were readable from about 10 meters away when it was set up to be about 5 meters away from the screen.

[ivlobane]

Sorry, I edited my earlier post because I posted a link to the wrong projector...

[KatyFencing]

Dear Fencers,

My name is August Skopik, and I am one of the candidates that Tracy asked to run for office. She wanted a variety of candidates with different perspectives. I was a division chair in the mid 80s, sectional chair in the mid 80s and blew out my knee twice and in 1993 gave it up until 2001 because of the knee.

I moved my fencing club in a mall in the Houston area in May, and you will see more of my ideas on this website shortly and our candidates website. I do have specific ideas on how to help coaches/clubs/schools grow their club and sport.

I ran the US Olympic Festival fencing section in 1986, and that was the first fencing event that sold more than 50 tickets. I learned a lot working with Jack Kelley on promoting fencing, and we sold over 2,100 tickets in 3 days. We actually sold more tickets for the finals than we had seating, and that did not include the athletes/coaches/volunteers and administrators.

I was also involved in the two NCAA championships in Houston.

I really want this to be a campaign of ideas and platforms. I know Greg D. well, and I was division officer when he began. It is just that I don't see a platform yet, and we have an opportunity to change the sport. While I was "retired", Xgames is now a staple, MLS is back, skateboarding has arrived. We need as a sport to look at what made the other sports successful and take their best ideas and put them to use.

I would like to address online registration. I represented a company that did online payments and integration for government agencies. I presented a plan to the USFA that would have been implemented within three weeks with a fee of $3. I integrated the states of Kansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas and many large counties that handled 100,000s of electronic payments in a short time. I no longer represent these companies, but I can't see why that has not been implemented.

You will see more in the future.