USAG State Chair Election

[bklyngymom]

As elections for USAG State Chairs are held. Talk round the gym(coaches) focused on the affiliation or ownership of gyms by the State Chair. They appear to favor NO ownership and refer to an increase in bias of judging to favor the gymnast and gym(s) owned by the State Chair. The opinion that the Chair needs to be focused on the gymnasts and the wellbeing of the gymnasts not on the profits/recognition for their respective gyms. As one Coach stated " well there goes any fair judging". Any thoughts?....

 

[profmom]

I'm not sure I understand your post, but maybe that's because I'm not that into USAG politics. What do state chairs do, and who would want to be a state chair other than a gym coach/owner? If I had to guess, I'd guess that most state chairs are coaches or owners, so is this a problem in every state?

Having chaired other things, my sense is that most people don't get into chairing for all the power and glory involved. As a colleague of mine once said, "The increment (of power, extra pay, etc.) isn't worth the excrement." But maybe gymnastics is different, LOL!

 

[chalkbowl]

I would venture to guess that in MOST states the State Chair is a gym owner and/or coach. Just looking quickly it looks like that is the case in Alabama, So. California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Washington.

The current New York State Chairman, Paul Spadaro, is not affiliated with any club. He ran his relection "campaign" on the fact that he was no affiliated with a club and therefor had the best interest of ALL athletes in mind. He was just defeated in this years election, but I am not sure if that person is a gym owner/coach or not.

State Chair Responsibilities:

Be directly responsible to their Regional Administrative Committee Chairman (RACC).
B. Serve as a voting member of the Regional Administrative Committee (RAC).
C. Must submit all committee meeting agendas and subsequent minutes to their respective Regional Administrative Committee Chairman prior to distribution.
D. Serve as the USA Gymnastics Women's Program consultant for that State and answer any correspondence directed to that office.
E. Send copies of correspondence to the appropriate regional personnel.
F. Be responsible for overseeing the Junior Olympic Sectional and State Championships in their state, at least once per year.
G. Conduct the annual state meeting of Women's Program Professional members.
H. Determine the site and event director for Jr. Olympic Qualifying Meets, Sectional and State Championships. This may be done by bids or solicitations.
I. Assure that these competitions follow USA Gymnastics Rules and Policies.
J. Attend the State Championships meets or send a state committee member as the USA Gymnastics representative.
K. Provide State Administrative Committee (SAC) representation at all sectional meets and above.Latest update: July 2011
L. Make recommendations to the Regional Technical Committee Chairman (RTCC) and the Regional Junior Olympic Committee Chairman (RJOCC) concerning petitions into the Regional Competitions.
M. Establish procedures to raise operating funds for the state, if necessary. The State Administrative Committee Chairman (SACC) may, with the approval of the State Administrative Committee (SAC),
determine and/or collect competition and/or club fees for the purpose of raising operating funds for the state. All fees will be retained in the State account for use as determined by the State Administrative Committee (SAC).
N. Publish minutes of all State Administrative Committee Meetings.
O. Shall be accountable for all state funds and publish each year the financial statement reflecting activity as of July 1 – June 30.
P. Provide for a State Administrative Committee, the number and type of positions to be determined by each state, in order to best serve the needs of the program in the state.
Q. Inform the Regional Administrative Committee Chairman (RACC) and other appropriate Regional Administrative Committee members of any actions contrary to the Rules and Policies of USA Gymnastics. The Regional office shall inform the appropriate National Chairman of any problems. After due investigation, corrective measures shall be recommended by the National Administrative Committee Chairman (NACC).
R. Publish a newsletter as necessary (or as directed by the Regional Administrative Committee Chairman (RACC)). This newsletter shall include new information related to the USA Gymnastics program, results of competitions, dates of events, official bulletins from committees.
S. Send state newsletters to the membership of the state, and to the Jr. Olympic Program Director and the National Junior Olympic Committee Chairman (NJOCC), the National Administrative Committee Chairman (NACC), and the National Technical Committee Chairman (NTCC).
T. The SACC or a designated proxy will attend National and Regional Congresses and all designated meetings, with travel and expenses funded by the state account.

 

[sportyfam5]

As elections for USAG State Chairs are held. Talk round the gym(coaches) focused on the affiliation or ownership of gyms by the State Chair. They appear to favor NO ownership and refer to an increase in bias of judging to favor the gymnast and gym(s) owned by the State Chair. The opinion that the Chair needs to be focused on the gymnasts and the wellbeing of the gymnasts not on the profits/recognition for their respective gyms. As one Coach stated " well there goes any fair judging". Any thoughts?....

I don't understand. Do you feel that because the state chair is associated with a gym that he will show preference? Someone new might be good too, we hope(?)

 

[bklyngymom]

While I have no opinion on the subject I thought it was interesting that this would be a concern. So, I wonder if this is a common occurence or even a common concern.

 

[gymdog]

It's somewhat difficult to have someone who isn't affiliated with any club whatsoever. Not sure where they would come from, or how they could do the job without being a gymnastics person, which would mean they are probably affiliated with a state gym, unless they just move there and decide the only thing they want to do with gymnastics is chair the state board. Maybe a parent. Then again I don't feel our state chair is particularly involved with the judging. State chairs don't have to judge (ours is not a judge, has never been to my knowledge). We have judges who are affiliated with gyms or gym owners anyway, no real way to avoid that either.

Right now our state chair isn't a current owner or coach, because they are mostly retired. Obviously they have a previous affiliation to some extent but again I don't really feel it has much to do with the judging. But once they decide they no longer want the job, then I assume we will most likely have someone who is a coach or owner. The rest of the board pretty much are owners and coaches.