Post by The Commish on Aug 20, 2003 16:00:09 GMT -6
Yes, I am a former TAMU fencer. However, so is Augie, and I don't see anyone casting aspirations over his ability to reman inpartial because of that. I was also coached by Mauro, but I don't see anyone saying that I am biased in his favor. In fact, I try to remain impartial as possible in my official dealings. It is to avoid conflicts of interest that I have declined to hold an office at the Section or Divisional level for the past three election cycles. Who ever it was that challenged my impartiality, I ask you to publically declare yourself.
For the record, I myself officially have NO bias as to WHO hosts an SSCC event within a division so long as:
1) They have supported the SSCC events in the past. This includes not scheduling (or allowing to be scheduled) RYC, veterans, novice or whatever kind of events that they host on top of another SSCC event in either the same or another Division. It would also be good if the head of the LOC had been physically present at two or more SSCC events in the previous season.
2) They have access to the proper kind of venue, and by that, I mean capable of holding enough strips, with a good floor, AND being open on Friday night, and from 8am to 8pm Saturday and 8am to 8pm on Sunday.
3) They are willing to hire trained bout commitee folks and sufficent numbers of trained referees and armourers.
4) They conduct online preregistration (preferrably using FRED) and have good computer support (preferably using FencingTime, but if you insist on using XSeed AND know how to make it sing, go ahead, so long as you submit the results to FRED - new thing this year).
5) They are willing to be flexible in their scheduling to allow coordination with other SSCC events, RYC events and SWIFA events.
6) The event is designated by August 1 (but this is going to change for next year).
I myself directly take responsibility for the computer issue and half of the equipment issue at the Heavy Metal last year and I've said so PUBLICALLY SEVERAL TIMES. I've taken more heat from this than you can possibly imagine, so get over it already. For the record, the database was not stored on a Mac, it was run on the Section website. I believe it uses UNIX servers. It was also compounded by a buggy piece of software that the USFA had distrubuted (supposedly, their XSeed version they've posted now doesn't have this bug). I've also taken steps to ensure that such a situation does not happen again, including removing myself from ever being involved directly with operations at SSCC events and delegating that to other people and trying to instute a uniform standard of computer resources.
The other issues, such as with the referees, the other half of the equipment issue and the charging of prices and other stuff however were the responsibility of the LOC.
As to how things ended up in the Ops Manual, and lack of administrative power, its a fairly simple process. The Section has attempted to standardize what goes on at each of the SSCC events. Every time the SSCC attempts to excercise any of the little authority is has been granted by the Divisions, the Division's gang up and overrule the SSCC and the Section. Case in point, the situation with the University of Texas being allowed to hold an SSCC event again after scheduling atop the Heavy Metal several seasons ago happend when the Section Executive Committee (Section Officers + Division Chairs) voted to recind the sanctions. I do NOT have a vote in that group and at the time I merely presented the situation, allowed the UT group to respond, and a vote was taken.
Incidentally, if you care about the future of the SSCC, then I challenge you to attend both Sectional General Membership Meetings and the open SSCC meetings. There will be three open SSCC meetings this year, held the Friday night before the Austin, Shreveport and Dallas touranaments. If you are an athlete, you can also communicate your grievances to one of the Athlete Liaisons - check the SSCC website for their contact info (it should up up soon). I'm sorry if Friday night doesn't work for your personal schedule, it is the best time for the coaches, referees, and operations personnel who have to be at the tournament and working ALL DAY Saturday and afterwards wish to take a small break until the madness resumes on Sunday.
However, please do not come to these meetings for the purpose of complaining about stuff that happend in the past without offering concrete proposals for improvement. We have long term planning issues that need to be resolved, including how to serve the huge influx of fences coming up through the RYC events who will be competing in SSCC events in the very near future, that ultimately are much more important than petty gripes about who is a better tournament manager and has bigger "cojones".
For the record, I myself officially have NO bias as to WHO hosts an SSCC event within a division so long as:
1) They have supported the SSCC events in the past. This includes not scheduling (or allowing to be scheduled) RYC, veterans, novice or whatever kind of events that they host on top of another SSCC event in either the same or another Division. It would also be good if the head of the LOC had been physically present at two or more SSCC events in the previous season.
2) They have access to the proper kind of venue, and by that, I mean capable of holding enough strips, with a good floor, AND being open on Friday night, and from 8am to 8pm Saturday and 8am to 8pm on Sunday.
3) They are willing to hire trained bout commitee folks and sufficent numbers of trained referees and armourers.
4) They conduct online preregistration (preferrably using FRED) and have good computer support (preferably using FencingTime, but if you insist on using XSeed AND know how to make it sing, go ahead, so long as you submit the results to FRED - new thing this year).
5) They are willing to be flexible in their scheduling to allow coordination with other SSCC events, RYC events and SWIFA events.
6) The event is designated by August 1 (but this is going to change for next year).
I myself directly take responsibility for the computer issue and half of the equipment issue at the Heavy Metal last year and I've said so PUBLICALLY SEVERAL TIMES. I've taken more heat from this than you can possibly imagine, so get over it already. For the record, the database was not stored on a Mac, it was run on the Section website. I believe it uses UNIX servers. It was also compounded by a buggy piece of software that the USFA had distrubuted (supposedly, their XSeed version they've posted now doesn't have this bug). I've also taken steps to ensure that such a situation does not happen again, including removing myself from ever being involved directly with operations at SSCC events and delegating that to other people and trying to instute a uniform standard of computer resources.
The other issues, such as with the referees, the other half of the equipment issue and the charging of prices and other stuff however were the responsibility of the LOC.
As to how things ended up in the Ops Manual, and lack of administrative power, its a fairly simple process. The Section has attempted to standardize what goes on at each of the SSCC events. Every time the SSCC attempts to excercise any of the little authority is has been granted by the Divisions, the Division's gang up and overrule the SSCC and the Section. Case in point, the situation with the University of Texas being allowed to hold an SSCC event again after scheduling atop the Heavy Metal several seasons ago happend when the Section Executive Committee (Section Officers + Division Chairs) voted to recind the sanctions. I do NOT have a vote in that group and at the time I merely presented the situation, allowed the UT group to respond, and a vote was taken.
Incidentally, if you care about the future of the SSCC, then I challenge you to attend both Sectional General Membership Meetings and the open SSCC meetings. There will be three open SSCC meetings this year, held the Friday night before the Austin, Shreveport and Dallas touranaments. If you are an athlete, you can also communicate your grievances to one of the Athlete Liaisons - check the SSCC website for their contact info (it should up up soon). I'm sorry if Friday night doesn't work for your personal schedule, it is the best time for the coaches, referees, and operations personnel who have to be at the tournament and working ALL DAY Saturday and afterwards wish to take a small break until the madness resumes on Sunday.
However, please do not come to these meetings for the purpose of complaining about stuff that happend in the past without offering concrete proposals for improvement. We have long term planning issues that need to be resolved, including how to serve the huge influx of fences coming up through the RYC events who will be competing in SSCC events in the very near future, that ultimately are much more important than petty gripes about who is a better tournament manager and has bigger "cojones".