Westward Ho!
As I write this I'm currently en-route to the USAT Congress in Colorado Springs. This is USAT's big dance. They combined a Board of Directors meeting, a Regional Federation meeting, a coaching certification program, the annual Race Director's Conference, a new Race Director Certification Program, and the Regional Official's Coordinator meeting into one big party. There may be more, did I miss anything?
I'm attending primarily for the Race Director Certification Program. It is also a great opportunity to network with a bunch of people I will be working with later this season.
I serve on the Race Director's Commission and we plan to meet as well. I'm not sure how much of an impact the RD Commission actually has on USAT policies. The USAT Board has a habit of making decisions that impact us without asking for input before they make the decision. At least they come to us after they make their decision to ask for feedback, but our feedback doesn’t matter at that point. I still think that all of the Race Director's should band together and form a union for bargaining purposes, even though I'm not a big fan of unions. Race directors are USAT's biggest customers, and without us, USAT would crumble. The most recent example of the lack of advance notice was when they raised the USAT membership fees this fall without requesting input from us in advance. I am not a big fan of the increase in one-day fees.
Some things never change when it comes to the politics surrounding the USAT Board. It appears a few members have a personal agenda going on and they are plotting behind the scenes to oust the current Executive Director, for no apparent legitimate reason. This move is backed by a "good ole boy" West Coast magazine publisher who is still pissed that USAT started publishing its own magazine. This blunder, if it succeeds, would set USAT back a few hundred thousand dollars. Just think of all the youth programs you could fund with those dollars! It would also leave USAT in turmoil for the 2007 season while they deal with the negative publicity and search for a replacement. Oh wait....perhaps there is a new board member who could easily fill that role. Could this play into the behind the scenes plotting? Hhhhmmm, sounds sort of fishy to me.
I would say more, but then I may find myself buried alive in a Colorado Springs snow bank.