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[GCD NEWS – 3/25/08] 2008 Annual Meeting Details The 2007-2008 Annual Meeting of the Gulf Coast Texas Division of the USFA will be held Saturday, April 12th at 3 PM immediately after fencing at Divisionals (as required by the Bylaws), at the Houston Athletic Fencing Center, 4997 W. Braseswood, Houston, TX 77035. This location is the same as the location of the divisional qualifiers for Summer Nationals, and the day is the same as the first day of Divisionals as is required by the Bylaws. The meeting is being held to receive reports from the Executive Committee, financial report, inventory and condition report of Divisional equipment, recommendations by outgoing officers, and to elect and qualify new officers and Congress representatives. Any Division member is welcome to vote if 1) he had his USFA membership accepted by the national office, and also 2) the national office became aware that he was born before February 1, 1990 -- both before February 1, 2008. Postcards announcing the meeting have been sent to all eligible voters. Votes may be by proxy. The meeting announcement postcards themselves have proxy forms on them. It is encouraged that these proxy forms be used, but this is not required. (The phrase "power of substitution" on the proxy forms means that the person designated to cast the vote may transfer this authorization to another person, for instance if he cannot attend the meeting either.) If you lose your postcard, here is another proxy form which will work. Proxies must be submitted to the Secretary by 1 p.m. on the day of the meeting to be valid. 2008 Divisionals and Annual Meeting The 2008 Divisional qualifiers for Summer Nationals, hosted by Clear Lake Fencing Club, will be held April 12-13 at the Houston Athletic Fencing Center. Details are available by clicking here. As required by Division Bylaws, there will be a meeting of the membership of the Gulf Coast Texas Division at 3 PM, after completion of fencing on the first day of the tournament, Saturday, April 12. The meeting is to receive reports from the Executive Committee, financial report, inventory and condition report of Divisional equipment, recommendations by outgoing officers, and to elect and qualify new officers and Congress representatives. Results from Qualifiers for 2008 JOs Results from the Gulf Coast Division qualifying tournament for the Junior Olympic Championships ("JO qualifiers") are available both on askFRED and on this Web site. Note that FRED has no concept of the idea of qualifying for Junior Olympics, so those who qualified for Junior Olympics are identified only in the results listing on this Web site. Junior Olympics is February 15-18 in Charlotte, NC. The entry form is available on the USFA Web site. The entry deadline is January 11th (with late entries accepted at triple price between January 12 and 18). 2008 Junior Olympic Championship Automatic Qualifiers Fencers who are on the Cadet or Junior NRPS lists (or high enough on the Y14 or Cadet lists respectively) as of January 11, 2008, automatically qualify to compete in the Cadet or Junior events respectively at the 2008 Junior Olympic Championships, and do not need even to attend the Division's 2007 JO qualifiers. The USFA has not prepared a list of everyone who could already be guaranteed to be on the NRPS lists as of January 11th.the USFA prepared a list of everyone who could already be guaranteed in November to be on the NRPS lists as of January 11th. Expect the USFA to revise the list after the December NAC, and again after the January NAC. However, fencers can determine this information themselves from the NRPS lists on the USFA Web site. But, caution should be used. Before January 11th, any Junior NRPS points earned at the 2006 December NAC Division I competitions and the 2007 January NAC Division I and Junior competitions will be deleted (and points from the corresponding events one year later will be added). Further, a fencer with points will still be removed from the NRPS points list if the number of points falls below the minimum for inclusion on the list (165). Before January 11th, any Cadet NRPS points earned at the 2007 January NAC Junior competitions will be deleted (and points from the corresponding events one year later will be added). Further, a fencer with points will still be removed from the NRPS points list if the number of points falls below the minimum for inclusion on the list (110). For purposes of the Division's qualifier competitions, any fencer who is not already an automatic qualifier must be treated as such, even if the fencer later becomes an automatic qualifier. Division I Team Championship Divisional Qualifiers There will be divisional qualifier competitions for this fencing year's Division I Team Championships at the same tournament as the qualifier competitions for the Junior Olympic Championships. Normal USFA policy is that the Division I Team Championships and the Senior Team Championships are one and the same set of six competitions, held at the Summer National Championships. However, this fencing year is an exception. Due to the Olympics, the Division I (individual) Championships are being held early, at the April NAC. Because of this, there will be six separate Division I Team Championships, held at the April NAC. To meet the date requirements of the April NAC, the USFA requires that the Division report the results of its six Division I Team qualifier events about a month before we hold Divisionals. By decision of the Executive Committee, the six Division I team qualifiers will be held during the same tournament as the qualifier competitions for Junior Olympics. Note that, like Junior and Senior Team Championships, it is clubs, not groups of individuals from different clubs, or even groups of individuals from the same club, which qualify. If, for example, one club sends ten teams to the qualifier, and another club sends one team, and that one team places eleventh in the qualifier, then both clubs qualify to send one to the championship itself. The specific people on the team at the qualifier need not bear any relationship to the specific people on the team at the championship. However, the team at the championship must include (at least) three fencers from the club who have classifications which make them eligible to fence Division I competitions. Note also that clubs whose teams place in the top four of the corresponding championship of previous year are automatically qualified. Note still further that if no more than four (non-auto-qualified) clubs attend the qualifier, then all clubs qualify. And, there is no requirement to hold the actual fencing if it has no effect on who qualifies. The organizers for the tournament are announcing that teams (unlike individuals) must pre-register. No walk-in teams will be accepted. Pre-registration will close at the end of Thursday, December 13th. Feel free to ask the Division Secretary for any clarifications involving these six qualifiers and the associated six championships. Junior Olympic Championships Qualifiers The 2007 Divisional qualifiers for the 2008 Junior Olympic Championships, hosted by the Galveston Fencing Club, will be held December 15-16 at South Houston High School. Details, including maps, are available here in the tournament announcement letter. Full details of eligibility requirements to compete in the Junior Olympic Championships, and this qualifying tournament, are given in the tournament announcement letter. Pre-registration is at askFRED, as noted in the tournament announcement letter. Masks, cords, and lamés and saber manchettes/gloves will be checked. Tournament Notification to Division Fencers (Revised) On September 10, 2007, the Executive Committee again modified the policy which specifies how much advance warning about a competition to the fencers of the Division is required. This policy exists because the USFA Operations Manual requires that "Classifications cannot be awarded if adequate notice of the competition has not been given to the members of the organizing body via such means as a published schedule, newsletter, or notices sent to all USFA clubs within the division or section" but does not say how timely "adequate notice" must be. (This policy was originally enacted December 7, 2004, and modified in minor ways January 4, 2005 and March 1, 2005, but has not changed in the following two and a half years.) The policy was rewritten to correct some careless failures to distinguish between competitions ("events") and tournaments. The policy exists to address a USFA requirement involving every competition, not tournaments. Also, an orthography error ("internet" versus "Internet") was corrected. One genuine new requirement was imposed — if adequate notice is being given by sending e-mail or the like to every club in the Division, the Officers are to receive courtesy copies too. And, yet another allowed way to give adequate notice was listed — direct notification of every single fencer in the Division. Other than what these changes required, not a single word was changed.
The minutes for the September 10, 2007 meeting of the Executive Committee, and all other meetings of the Executive Committee are available on this Web site. "Decisions" of the Division Tournament Committee The Division Tournament Committee ("TC") attempted and failed to meet on August 15th, 2007, to attempt to fulfill its obligation under the Bylaws to administer the allocation of specific weekends and days to tournaments hosted by specific clubs. However, as discussed elsewhere on this Web site, the TC defaulted in its obligation for the same reasons for the second year in a row. Also for the second year in a row the Executive Committee (EC) later acted and created a calendar which, for all practical purposes, could be treated as if the TC had made all the calendar decisions which it wished it had been at liberty to make on August 15th. The resulting calendar decisions are described here as if they were decisions of the TC, and can be legally treated as if they were TC decisions, but the legal truth underlying the calendar is considerably more complicated. The TC made no "decisions" which would cause the August 25th CLFC Fête de Lune and September 1-2 FCUH Cougar Call to Arms no longer to remain sanctioned scheduled tournaments. (They were earlier sanctioned by special action of the EC, provided the TC did not meet adequately in advance of them and elect not to sanction them. Given that both tournaments would be completed within 17 days of the TC meeting, the TC did not meet adequately in advance to have the option of superseding the interim decision of the EC.) The TC "decided" that these dates be "blackout dates" when there would be no USFA-sanctioned tournaments of the Gulf Coast Texas Division (except the qualifiers and SSCC tournament):
The TC "decided" that these weekends be "exclusive" weekends when any tournament(s) held on the weekend would exclusively involve a single particular club as organizers, usually for some traditional tournament:
The TC "decided" that these additional club requests for tournaments to be scheduled on other days which are not parts of "exclusive" weekends, be included in the schedule:
Note that these were only the decisions the EC declared as of September 10th to be considered as if made by the TC. This did not necessarily prohibit adjustments to how the "owning" organizers would manage an exclusive weekend. And, this did not prohibit additional competitions later being added to the schedule by the TC on days not belonging to "exclusive" weekends as long as no added competition would conflict with any already-scheduled competition on the same day. Executive Committee Meets After Division Tournament Committee Default As discussed in an earlier news item, the Bylaws required the Division Tournament Committee ("TC") to meet and follow explicit procedures for creating a calendar of Division tournaments for the fencing year, but it did not do so, and its members expected that the Executive Committee ("EC") would instead meet and decree what the calendar should be considered to have been. The EC did not work from a blank slate. All members happened to be in the room when club representatives gathered in a failed attempt to do the business of the TC, and were quite aware of the preferences expressed by the clubs' representatives. Ehe EC has finally met, on September 10th. Just as it did last year, the resolution it adopted was carefully phrased. Aside from leaving the already-held Fête de Lune and Cougar Call to Arms untouched, and acknowledging the existence of the two qualifier tournaments and the SSCC tournament (collectively called the "big three" tournaments), the resolution essentially said, "Pretend the TC itself made these decisions and presented the resulting calendar to the EC, which reviewed it favorably." So, like 2006, although the TC did not make any schedule decisions whatsoever, the EC deliberately created a situation where, for legal purposes, the Division can for simplicity treat all the schedule decisions as if they had come from the TC in a fashion which was legal, even though the TC could not legally have made those particular decisions on August 15th. Note that there are some differences between the recommendations of August 15th and the actual resolution of the EC. Because certain clubs still did not have USFA membership, there is no mention of them in the resolution. Results from 2007 Divisionals Results from the Gulf Coast Division qualifying tournament for Summer Nationals ("Divisionals") are available both on askFRED and on this Web site. Note that FRED has no concept of the idea of qualifying for Summer Nationals, so those who qualified for Summer Nationals are identified only in the results listing on this Web site. Summer Nationals is June 29-July 8 in Miami. The entry form and team entry form are available on the USFA Web site. The entry deadline is May 18th (with late entries accepted at triple price between May 19 and June 1). Mandatory Waiver Form for Tournaments All USFA-sanctioned tournaments held under the auspices of the Gulf Coast Texas Division will use one standardized, mandatory, form for a waiver and consent for medical treatment. (Naturally, this does not apply to non-USFA-sanctioned tournaments held within the geographic confines of the Division. Such tournaments are welcome to borrow and use the standard form, though.) The form requires the signature of the fencer or, if the fencer is a minor, the signature of a parent or guardian. The form is available on this Web site, both for tournament organizers to print, and for fencers (particularly minors who will not be accompanied by the signature of a parent or guardian) to print and prepare in advance. Tournament organizers are required to collect forms from all competitors, and to hold the waivers for one year. Full details will be available in the minutes of the May 8, 2006 meeting of the Executive Committee (which should be available here as soon as they are completed). Referee Development Funding The Executive Committee will consider requests from clubs to subsidize referee development opportunities, free for Division members and $40 to the Division for others. Interested clubs should forward proposals to the Secretary. Results from Division Meeting for Elections and Bylaws A meeting of the membership of the Division (see "past news" page for announcement) was held July 31, 2005, at which elections were held for the 2005-2006 terms and there were votes concerning replacing the Bylaws of the Division. Full details will be made available in the minutes of the meeting. The Officers elected were Chairman Louise Lepie, Vice Chairman Jerry Dunaway, Secretary Matt Delevoryas, and Treasurer Rachel El-Saleh. Their terms began a few hours after the meeting ended. What became of Bylaws was rather complicated. In brief, the bulk of the July 23rd draft prepared by the Bylaw Committee was adopted. Some portions were adopted with certain amendments. But, for certain other portions, the membership made clear in vague terms what it wanted, but there was no way actual wording could be drafted in the time available for the meeting. The Division delegated to the Bylaw Committee the charge of preparing the actual wording for those remaining portions. On the face of it, the meeting violated requirements in the old Bylaws and its requirement that Robert's Rules of Order (where applicable) prevail, specifically involving explicit advance notice required for possible changes to the Bylaws. However, for this meeting, there were rules superseding even the old Bylaws. The Division was, and, until final resolution, continued to be under the direct control of Donald Alperstein, USFA General Counsel, who was designated by the USFA "to conduct the Gulf Coast division in the current year's election and the adoption of by-laws to comply with USFA requirements" (see news item about USFA intervention in Division operations). The meeting was chaired by Donald Alperstein. Bylaw Committee July 23rd Draft The Bylaw Committee has an updated draft new set of Division Bylaws. The letter announcing the July 31st Division meeting for elections and Bylaws" states that it would be legal for further changes to be made to the posted proposed Bylaws through (but not after) July 24th. However, the Bylaw Committee is not expected to meet and change this draft in the remaining day and a half. But, any comments directed to the committee could appear in the form of amendments brought to the meeting by members of the Committee. The July 23rd version is available on this Web site. Division Meeting for Elections and Bylaws -- Place and Time The membership of the Division will meet at 1 PM, Sunday, July 31st. This was declared by Donald Alperstein, USFA General Counsel, who was designated by the USFA "to conduct the Gulf Coast division in the current year's election and the adoption of by-laws to comply with USFA requirements" (see news item about USFA intervention in Division operations). This notice was made in a letter to the voting members of the Division from the USFA. The meeting will be held at Courtyard Houston Near The Galleria [Webmaster's note: The previous five words used to link to http://marriott.com/property/propertypage.mi?marshaCode=HOUCG, but later the hotel was sold to Holiday Inn.] located at 3131 West Loop South (the northbound access road across the Interstate from The Galleria -- the map shows it on the west side in error). Absentee ballots and proxies will be allowed if they conform to the details in the letter announcing the meeting. Bylaw Committee Feedback Deadline The June 17th draft of proposed new Bylaws from the Bylaw Committee will almost certainly not be the final draft from the committee. The committee is expected to deliver its final draft on July 25th. All feedback to the bylaw committee needs to be received before then if it is to be incorporated into the final draft. The final draft, and any intermediate draft the committee may make available, will be posted on this Web site. Bylaw Committee A committee of volunteers has been working to draft proposed replacement Bylaws for the Division. The members of this committee are:
USFA Intervention in Division Operations; Elections Delayed In response to a formal request of the USFA to intervene and (at the least) conduct the upcoming elections, this message has been received, written and sent at an undetermined date on or before April 7th: This message is to inform members of the Gulf Coast division that the USFA will designate a delegate to conduct the Gulf Coast division in the current year's election and the adoption of by-laws to comply with USFA requirements. Please be advised that the Gulf Coast division is responsible for all costs associated with this process. Further information will follow this message. Thank you, Linda Merritt Secretary USFA There is no additional information about when to expect the designation of a delegate. However, in a telephone call between Chairman Louise Lepie and USFA General Counsel Donald Alperstein the afternoon of April 7th, he specified that the Division should do nothing involving the holding of the election or the amending of its Bylaws until further notice. As such, the brief biographies and statements of goals submitted by candidates will not be mailed, the notice of the Annual Meeting will not describe an election, and there will be no mailing of proxy forms suitable for use at the Annual Meeting. Illegality of Profiting from Collusion, Favoring an Opponent Fencers, coaches, and referees are reminded that the rules of fencing specify that "Competitors must fence to their utmost ability in a sportsmanlike manner until the end of the competition in order to obtain the best possible classification, without giving away touches or seeking to be favoured by being given touches by anyone" (rule t.88). The penalty chart (rule t.120) specifies that "profiting from collusion, favoring an opponent" is a fourth group offense, and the referee is required to penalize it with presentation of a black card resulting in exclusion of the fencer from the particular competition where the offense occurred. USFA Needs Your E-mail Address! The USFA has ceased mailing newsletters (unless specially arranged) and now exclusively e-mails newsletters to USFA members (you should have received one Nov. 2nd titled "US Fencing Newsletter - Junior Olympics"). They rely on you to provide your e-mail address(s) on your membership application. If you are not receiving the newsletters, you may not have put a working and legible e-mail address on your application, and you should immediately contact the USFA, or ask the Division Secretary to contact them on your behalf. News from the Past News items formerly appearing above, but removed when their time had come, can usually be found here. |
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