Post by schlager7 on Feb 14, 2009 21:17:59 GMT -6
Veteran’s Committee Report
A Veterans Fencers‘ Meeting was held on Saturday, December 13, 2008, in the Officials Lounge at the Broadmoor Hall, at the Colorado Springs, Colorado NAC, which was attended by approximately 40 veteran fencers and Mr. Brad Baker, Secretary, USFA. The attendees were informed that the USFA Board of Directors did not accept the motion to modify rule 2.11.6 in the 2007-2008 Athlete Handbook, as proposed by Judge Paul Levy to introduce a separate 70+ category at NAC and National Championships. Judge Levy had previously explained to the Chair of the Veterans Committee that the Board would not support his proposed method, which would have the 70+ fencers in a unique pool. The reason is that would skew the seeding for the 60+ event in that a 70+ fencer would get a high seed for only fencing 70 year-old fencers, while the rest had to fence all those from 60 through 69.
The overall strategy for the Veterans Committee which had been previously advocated was that we need to provide an avenue of competition for the 70+ fencers that would eventually convince the FIE to create a separate event at the World Championships. An appropriate alternative was recommended to hold a separate event for 70+ fencers, as long as there were at least 3 competitors, on the same day as the 60+ events. The 70+ fencers could decide to fence in either competitions or just one; if he or she was concerned that the 70+ events would hurt their chances for the 60+ events or that he or she had no interest in the 60+events.
The veteran fencers present unanimously agreed to have Judge Levy attend the USFA Board of Directors meeting to sponsor the recommended motion in Albuquerque and argue in its favor.
Mr. Philip Gerring has submitted his resignation from the USFA Veterans Committee. This means that there are currently four vacancies on the Veteran Committee and it is critical that the USFA appoint a diverse group of new members willing to serve in this capacity. The Veteran fencers attending the meeting overwhelmingly supported the idea that Judge Paul Levy replace Mr. Gerring on the Veteran Committee because of his vast fencing experience on a national and international level as the former chair of the Veteran Committee. It was also suggested that an additional lady be selected to become a part of the Veterans Committee. The USFA was requested to expeditiously move forward in the appointment of individuals to replace the needed members of the Veteran Committee.
The Veteran Committee wants to express how pleased and proud that the US Veteran Fencing Community is with the results achieved by the US Team, which won a total of 9 medals at the 2008 World Championships in Limoges, France. The Championships had over 400 athletes, 35 national teams, constituting the largest Veterans Fencing World Championships ever held since its inception. The Veteran Committee would like to express its thanks to Mr. Scott Harkey for volunteering his services as the team‘s armorer. In addition, the Veteran Committee recognizes the support of Mr. Brad Baker, who agreed to referee at the World Championships on very short notice. Without Ms. Jeanna Mendoza‘s continued hard work on behalf of the team members our efforts could have been realized in Limoges, France. Many Thanks.
The Moscow Veterans Fencing World Championships, which will take place September 23-27, 2009 – will require a more substantial cadre of volunteers that will constitute the Official Cadre of the US Veterans Team to ensure complete and effective support of the team members. It is recommended that the team has a Chief of Mission, a Captain, a Doctor, a Coach, a Trainer and Armorer. Numerous issues were raised at the Limoges Veterans Fencing World Championships that required the specific attention and expertise of all of the aforementioned positions, including translation responsibilities. These issues will be multiplied as a result of the lack of adequate Russian language skills available for the team.
The Heads of Delegations meeting, October 4, 2008 at the World Championships in Limoges, France, which was requested by the delegations to be Chaired by the USFA Chair of the USFA Veteran Committee resulted in some key recommendations to the FIE, which was represented at the meeting by Mr. Max Geuter. There were issues that are important to the veteran fencing community in the United States that should be addressed by the USFA in the future, in that it was unanimously agreed that:
Future organizers of a World Championship must ensure that expenses for the event must be covered by the published FIE rate for entry fees to Veterans Fencing World Championships should be obligatory.
The FIE be approached for a derogation regarding referees in that active and respected ex FIE listed referees, who have due to being over 60 years been removed from the FIE referees lists, be allowed to referee in the World Veterans Championships until the age of 65 if they have continued to be active for one year prior to their 60th birthday.
The FIE be approached for a derogation, or a change of rules, so that the use of transparent masks should not be obligatory in Veterans World championships. The point should be made that there is no TV presence at the championships and that excessive costs are incurred participants who have to meet all of their own expenses with many of pensionable age.
It was agreed that the use of conductive bibs at foil should be adopted in line with FIE timescale.
The use of wireless scoring and video review should not be the rule for veteran world championships and that the FIE be approached for a derogation.
It was recommended to have a team championship alongside the individual World Championships. It was generally accepted with the suggestion that this be initiated in a gradual way, to be able to assess its effect on the organizers and the level of participation. It was agreed that a pilot event be added to the championships program, as was done with Women‘s Saber, as soon as possible.
The team event should be based on 9 bouts per match, not relay. The teams should consist of 3 persons per team with a minimum age per person of 50 years and an aggregate age to be determined. The question of team; whether members must have entered the individual event was not resolved and needs clarification.
The FIA consider that there be an expansion of the number of veteran fencing categories at the Veteran World Championships to be more in sync with the veteran competitions held in different European countries that have the 70 + category. In addition, consideration should be given to the formation of a veteran masters category for fencers over 30 and veterans 40 +.
The Veteran Fencing World Championships organizers must ensure that the website publish all information in the three official FIE languages; French Spanish and English. All information and communication at the Championships be translated for all participants in the official FIE languages.
The organizers must ensure that their website is being properly managed to enable participants to communicate with organizing officials.
The Veterans Committee received information that there should be a change in the Veteran NAC association with Division II and III NAC because it would subject the veteran fencers to referees that were still in a training cycle. Mr. Brad Baker, Secretary of the USFA indicated that the USFA has done everything possible to enhance the quality level of officials in USFA competitions. Everyone in attendance at the Veterans Meeting in Colorado Springs expressed their pleasure with the caliber of officials in Colorado Springs NAC. It was noted that the percentage of the officials scheduled to participate in the March NAC (Vet and Div II and III) would be in training. This does not mean that there will not be highly qualified officials that will handle the finals within each event. It was noted that this be brought to the attention of the USFA Tournament Committee. Mr. Campana agreed to again set out for the USFA the concerns raised by the Veterans Committee.
Respectfully submitted,
Rinaldo A. Campana
Chair
January 31, 2009