USHPA works to update competition process

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USHPA works to update competition process

Postby Robb » Thu Dec 04, 2008 11:06 am

There was some ...interesting...exciting...heated...animated.. yea, that's it: animated discussion at the nationals this year about flying compititions; how they are run, who can attend, how you get points, who makes the national team, who is getting rich hosting comps, what's ushpa doing about it, etc.

USHPA wants to correct some comp problems, and also add local, low-key comps as a tool to help boost visability and add in retention of pilots. They have proposed a complete overhaul of the system and are seeking input. I encourage evereone to check out the presentation, and for those really interested the manual and rule book. Check out which local pilot contributed!
Robb




Important Announcement from Competition Committee to General Membership

Review of Competition Restructuring Plan Underway

In October of 2005, the USHPA board completed and approved its first Strategic Plan. The plan addresses the general decline in our sports and addresses ways to not only stop the decline, but also grow the sports of hang gliding and paragliding to healthy levels in the U.S.

Many issues contribute to the decline and USHPA has identified key areas on which we need to focus in order to promote growth, both internally (retaining pilots) and externally (getting more pilots).

Competition, along with marketing, site preservation, quality instruction, safety, etc. all play important roles in helping us create sustainable and healthy numbers in our sports.

The USHPA recognizes the many benefits of competitions in the United States. Developing and maintaining a strong team to represent the U.S. internationally is very important, however, there are many other essential areas which competition may also serve. These areas include site retention, marketing our sports, camaraderie, developing advanced skills, community and public relations.

Historically, USHPA had a competition system that focused on a larger audience of members. In 1986 the focus of competitions changed and the number of sanctioned events fell from 30 to 40 to as few as 5 or 6.

The 2005 Strategic Plan called for the Competition Committee to review the USHGA Competition System and develop a program to increase the number of Sanctioned competitions, focusing on Regional and National levels. To that end, a Competition Work Group has intensively worked for several months to help create a new competition system for USHPA.

A draft of the new competition system was reviewed and approved unanimously by all Board of Directors at the fall 2008 BOD meeting in Chattanooga.

Now begins the review part of the process. We are asking that the general membership take a look at the new competition system and give us your response. To do this, just go online to http://www.ushpa.aero/member_comp_restructure.asp to see a Draft of the new Competition Rulebook or to review the PowerPoint presentation viewed by the USHPA Board of Directors. The entire review process, including your feedback, can be done online. You will need to sign into Members Only to access the page, so if you cannot get in, contact the office to have your password reset.

Knowing that competition can have such a positive impact for our sport has been the motivation behind this important project. Our goal has been to assist in the growth of our sports while still maintaining a strong U.S. Team.

Please help us by going to http://www.ushpa.aero/member_comp_restructure.asp and tell us what you think.

Mike Haley
USHPA Director at Large
Competition Committee Chair
Cell: 805-990-5598
RaeLynn: 805-908-5162
Robb
 
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Re: USHPA works to update competition process

Postby Dean S » Thu Dec 04, 2008 11:53 am

There is lots of debate going on regarding this new re-structuring plan; it’s merits and short comings. Just to keep things fair, I should include some links to some of the forums that have feedback and heated debates going on concerning the changes.

Yahoo Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teamameri ... h/messages

OZ Report thread #1:
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... 41a9da368d

OZ Report thread #2:
http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14073
When in doubt...TOP OUT!
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