USFA Election 2008 Debate Question #2: Qualification Concerns about Candidates

[KatyFencing]

Actually, most of the ideas were originally presented by Jack Kelley, who brought the US Olympic festival to Houston and was highly involved in the LA Olympics. The Fencing venue in 1986 sold over 2,500 tickets in three days. Officially, we were supposed to sell aproximately 1,800. We misunderstood the Fire Marshall when he gave us the capacity with athletes, officials and volunteers. We could not sell any additional tickets, and sent many people away.

The only other North American event I am familiar with is the LA Olympics, where there was additional draw, that had similar marketing success.

Many of the ideas that Oliver had presented resulted in the front page of the Houston Chronicle, (not sports), for the NCAA fencing championships in Houston. That is the one paper for the 4th largest city in the country.

[mdstasinos]

Originally Posted by KatyFencing

Actually, most of the ideas were originally presented by Jack Kelley, who brought the US Olympic festival to Houston and was highly involved in the LA Olympics. The Fencing venue in 1986 sold over 2,500 tickets in three days. Officially, we were supposed to sell aproximately 1,800. We misunderstood the Fire Marshall when he gave us the capacity with athletes, officials and volunteers. We could not sell any additional tickets, and sent many people away.

The only other North American event I am familiar with is the LA Olympics, where there was additional draw, that had similar marketing success.

Many of the ideas that Oliver had presented resulted in the front page of the Houston Chronicle, (not sports), for the NCAA fencing championships in Houston. That is the one paper for the 4th largest city in the country.

As an individual who not only worked 4 Olympic Festivals the LA Olympics and was one of the Coordinators for the Atlanta Olympic games I can tell you from insight times have changed. Technology, computer systems, venue requirements, security, shipping, staffing, routes of distribution have all evolved. What worked in Houston 22 years ago would not work the same or be distributed the same. There are plenty of modern day examples I am sure would allow credence to development and implementation of ideas and system but basing it on what was done in Houston is a weak and poorly thought out idea.
Mark Stasinos

[epeemike81]

Originally Posted by KatyFencing

Seak and EpeeMike,

I am referring to your ability to run multiple USFA tournaments the same weekend in your section, and promote fencing tournaments. Earlier I addressed a question that Seak took an offense to, and I will explain my position.

David Sierra and Jerry Benson are supportive and want to implement the model of the SW Section Circuit on a national level. I support the SW Section Circuit except for one aspect. Any weekend that the SW Section Circuit takes place, there can be no USFA tournament to compete within the section. If you are in California, PA or MA I think that you can see some issues when I look at askred. This severely hampers any school our developmental tournament targeting.

I ran into my problems with the division when I scheduled a USFA Div III the day of the SW Circuit in Shreveport, a 4 - 5 hour drive one-way. Jerry and David were on the executive committee and moved to have the tournament not sanctioned.

If Jerry states his public position on this matter, then it may make things more clear. Unless he has changed positions it could mean the end of the Bay Cup and many successful fencing programs.

I promised to address Fencing on TV, and will make a separate post for this after our webinar on Sunday evening. These ideas are not all mine, but many come from the ex-commissioner of NFL Europe and the current president of the local MLS team.

Just for the record, I'm not aware of any division running anything opposite a sectional event in NAS. due to a scheduling conflict, we did end up with a NE division E and under scheduled against one of our sectionals this year... as previously noted, that event was cancelled.

It seems like you are very hung up on the issue of this one tournament. Without agreeing or disagreeing with the policies, I'd just like to point out that you seem to be giving this one issue (with which you are intimately involved and have tremendous personal bias) undue importance.

-m

-m

[epeemike81]

Originally Posted by KatyFencing

These ideas are not all mine, but many come from the ex-commissioner of NFL Europe and the current president of the local MLS team.

Originally Posted by whtouche

I don't want to quibble, but are you sure that taking ideas from the ex-commissioner of nfl europe and a local soccer team is the best route to take for fencing?

Because soccer is wildly unpopular, and NFL europe no longer exists. These are examples we want our sport to follow?

Originally Posted by KatyFencing

Actually, most of the ideas were originally presented by Jack Kelley, who brought the US Olympic festival to Houston and was highly involved in the LA Olympics.

Is there a reason, then, that you neglected entirely to mention his name in that first post?

-m

[KatyFencing]

Jack Kelley is one person I discussed this with. Oliver Luck, the former NFL Europe commissioner and current Major League Soccer Dynamo president, is another. Phil Purcell, former Discover Card and Morgan Stanley executive is another. The former VP of marketing of Discover Card and the former executive in marketing is another.

I have had these discussions with many others, and I am sorry I can't name them all in this post. You can email me and I will send you more names.

If it seems I am stuck on this tournament issue, it is because there are other examples but not public. This is an occasion where it is public. Next time I will just save emails and post.

[oso97]

Originally Posted by KatyFencing

Jack Kelley is one person I discussed this with. Oliver Luck, the former NFL Europe commissioner and current Major League Soccer Dynamo president, is another. Phil Purcell, former Discover Card and Morgan Stanley executive is another. The former VP of marketing of Discover Card and the former executive in marketing is another.

I have had these discussions with many others, and I am sorry I can't name them all in this post. You can email me and I will send you more names.

If it seems I am stuck on this tournament issue, it is because there are other examples but not public. This is an occasion where it is public. Next time I will just save emails and post.

Talk is cheap, Augie. What's the last major tournament you actually HOSTED? Not helped with, not assisted, not volunteered at, but organized from start to finish?

[Swordmaster]

Originally Posted by epeemike81

.

How do you intend to pay this additional high 6 figure salary?

-m

With profits from all of those regional tournaments?!?

[KatyFencing]

Originally Posted by oso97

Talk is cheap, Augie. What's the last major tournament you actually HOSTED? Not helped with, not assisted, not volunteered at, but organized from start to finish?

The last major competition I hosted was the SSCC at Katy Blades. My division put my club up to host a SSCC several years ago, but it was rejected. Since you were part of that decision, you have to take blame for not having any major tournament failures you can point to. Sorry.

If you had fenced in the 80s to early 90s in the SW section, you could have participated in many tournaments that I hosted that had 90+ foilists, 60 - 80 epeeists and as many as 20 saber teams that I coordinated, marketed and hosted such as the Van Buskirk, The Bragging Rights Tournament, Southwest Sectional Championships, etc. I am sorry you were not fencing then.

[Swordmaster]

Originally Posted by KatyFencing

I ran into my problems with the division when I scheduled a USFA Div III the day of the SW Circuit in Shreveport, a 4 - 5 hour drive one-way. Jerry and David were on the executive committee and moved to have the tournament not sanctioned.

Just to set the record straight, Katy Blades had originally scheduled a youth event on the same day as one of only 5 sectional circuit tournaments. This was in fact was not against the rules that had been agreed to by the officers of the division. It was later that Mr. Skopik decided to add "D" and under events to his tournament. When it was called to his attention he initially agreed to remove the event, but as time drew closer to the date it was clear that he was not planning on removing that event and in fact did hold the event against the wishes of his division officers.
We are not talking about a huge number of days that are taken up by the SSCC. Surely this "developmental" event could have been re-scheduled to another weekend. After all it was being held at his (Mr. Skopik's) club.
I wonder if what is going on here is an attempt to "Get Back" with this repeated reference to Mr. Benson's vote to withhold sanctioning (actually that was his division's officers decision). Mr. Benson was a member of the EC of the section and at that time the EC was directly involved in the running of the SSCC. The rules of the SSCC were merely enforced. Katy Blades was sanctioned for not following these rules, by not being allowed to host another SSCC event. This is the fact, Mr. Benson, as part of the EC, supported the rules that Mr. Skopik had decided to break.

[mdstasinos]

Originally Posted by Swordmaster

Just to set the record straight, Katy Blades had originally scheduled a youth event on the same day as one of only 5 sectional circuit tournaments. This was in fact was not against the rules that had been agreed to by the officers of the division. It was later that Mr. Skopik decided to add "D" and under events to his tournament. When it was called to his attention he initially agreed to remove the event, but as time drew closer to the date it was clear that he was not planning on removing that event and in fact did hold the event against the wishes of his division officers.
We are not talking about a huge number of days that are taken up by the SSCC. Surely this "developmental" event could have been re-scheduled to another weekend. After all it was being held at his (Mr. Skopik's) club.
I wonder if what is going on here is an attempt to "Get Back" with this repeated reference to Mr. Benson's vote to withhold sanctioning (actually that was his division's officers decision). Mr. Benson was a member of the EC of the section and at that time the EC was directly involved in the running of the SSCC. The rules of the SSCC were merely enforced. Katy Blades was sanctioned for not following these rules, by not being allowed to host another SSCC event. This is the fact, Mr. Benson, as part of the EC, supported the rules that Mr. Skopik had decided to break.

Thank you for the clarification. Perhaps because it took place so long ago, August, remembers it different. From the posts it seems everybody else remembers it quite different than he. So, what is he saying about himself in trying to make this false accusation toward Jerry? Jerry Bensen is one of the most dedicated and giving individuals I know. He gives freely of his time and talents for the betterment of our sport and would be a valuable member of the new EC in moving the Association forward with growth and development. I know his track record of service, but all I have heard for August is his personal grudge for a incident that took place years ago in his division. Now that's potential leadership!
MD Stasinos
http://www.usfanominees,com

[Redblade]

Originally Posted by KatyFencing

My division put my club up to host a SSCC several years ago, but it was rejected. Since you were part of that decision, (1) you have to take blame for not having any major tournament failures you can point to. ...

If you had fenced (2) in the 80s to early 90s in the SW section, you could have participated in many tournaments that I hosted ...

(1) Blaming the organization (or in this case, an individual) for a rejected submission, and
(2) Pointing to decades-old examples in a quickly developing sport?

People on this board have viciously picked apart candidate bios for the same sort of vague rounding or dismissive generalization (which we all know are standard in professional resumes; everyone does it). We should probably avoid walking into such situations whenever possible.

[oso97]

Originally Posted by KatyFencing

The last major competition I hosted was the SSCC at Katy Blades. My division put my club up to host a SSCC several years ago, but it was rejected. Since you were part of that decision, you have to take blame for not having any major tournament failures you can point to. Sorry.

Augie, I'm not part of your division. I don't get any say on weather or not you get to host an SSCC or not. That designation is currently made ENTIRELY at the division level.

[KD5MDK]

Actually, the designation of KB as the 2006 Gulf Coast SSCC was rejected by the Section Executive Committee (of which oso97 was not a member) because of Katy Blades having scheduled a senior-eligable tournament on top of an SSCC as noted in this thread. That penalty (club being ineligable to host future SSCC tournaments) was known at the time of the overlap.

[schlager7]

Actually, as a member of said Gulf Coast Division (former officer & spouse of a current officer) I may be able to clear up the confusion.

I think two facts are being confused.

The Southwest Section had a rule that if you hosted a competing event opposite a Southwest Section Circuit Cup tournament (there are usually all of 5 per season), you would be banned from being considered a host for a future SSCC tournament. That would be the only decision Jerry Benson could possibly have voted on. I do not say he did, since I have no information at hand as to who the Section officers were at the time nor their voting record in this instance.

At the same time the Gulf Coast Division has a rule that, since our division supports/participates in the SSCC, any tournament within the Gulf Coast Division that competes with one of these 5 SSCC tournaments will not receive sanction. As already noted Jerry Benson is not (nor ever has been, to my knowledge) a member of the Gulf Coast Division. He had no vote in that decision.

As to what clubs may host an SSCC within our division, allowing the Section has not banned your participation and your club is a USFA member club, then your club falls into a regular rotation of all USFA clubs in the Gulf Coast. Since the Section has lifted the ban, Katy Blades will fall back into the rotation to host an SSCC.

Sorry for the length of the post.

[FencingKitten]

For further details, and if this specific incident requires further spelling out, I have posted my considerations *extensively* in KatyFencing's thread entitled "Voting Records."

My posts there also clarify the point of who can do what on an SSCC weekend. A member division may not provide sanctioning to a tournament that competes for the shared pool of fencers with the SSCC. Y12/Y10 tournaments are specifically listed as acceptable for sanctioning, and a club that opts to host an "informal" tournament rather than drive 6 or 8 hours (believe me, since I drive to all these to work, I DO understand) for the SSCC is WELCOME to, but their division may not provide sanctioning to that event.

If there are questions, please email the public point of contact for the commission, whose address is listed on southwestfencing.org.

[alexsmom]

Originally Posted by Mo

We came from Colorado and my kid's first club was the Colorado Fencing Academy then called Pierre Le Chet?? or something like that.
I cannot with a good conscience give Ms Pestotnik any kind of recommedation. She is a nice enough person but sure as heck is not "treasurer material."
I was under the impression that her husband ran their 40 person business, and Sheryl ran the fencing club.
No credentials.
The Momster

CFA was formerly Pierre Le Chat. What exactly is "treasurer material?" Sharol runs a non-profit, helped run a family business, and currently is a successful entrepreneur.

Vote for change or vote for the current slate who will continue to run the finances and USFA the same way (high debt, Kolfanty issue, and so forth.)

I think we should all take the high road; stop slamming people you probably don't even know.

[telkanuru]

Originally Posted by alexsmom

Vote for change or vote for the current slate who will continue to run the finances and USFA the same way (high debt, Kolfanty issue, and so forth.)

I think we should all take the high road; stop slamming people you probably don't even know.

I find these two statements pretty funny.

Stop slamming people you don't know- while I talk out my ass about things I don't know.

[alexsmom]

Wow, what an informative and intellectual response. So, what am I talking out my arse about, pal? Didn't Korfanty have to go to court to get paid? Isn't the USFA more than $500K in debt? You know it all, inform me.