Mike Hecker
MSHSNSCA President

October 20, 2009

Well, I’m into the final stretch and our fall membership meeting is only a few days away.  The past couple of weeks have been a blur, between the preparation of the various proposals, returning e-mails, and the logistics of putting this event on.

This not a “One Person” operation. I have to thank all those who helped put this together, including:

By now we have posted PDfs of the sample ballots, proxy ballots, Bylaw amendment and the Multi-Event Format proposal. I hope everyone has had a chance to review these files, especially the Multi-Event Proposal.  This is not a new issue to our Association. The first record (in our minutes) of this presentation was the fall of 2006. I remember earlier informal conversations prior to 06 at various Association gatherings.  In 2007, one of the first Multi-Event formated races was held at Elm Creek, The Northwest Suburban Jamboree. Since then others have tried the Multi-Event format.

The decision we are going to make as an association on Saturday will be, “Is this format the best for our athletes?”

I have yet to find any coach, athlete, or parent without an opinion. The committee that put this together spent the better part of the past two months putting this proposal together. Included were section site managers, past presidents of our association, and coaches. Feedback came from skiers, coaches, and the general skiing community, plus what has been learned from past Multi-Event competitions.

Bring your questions.  The committee members present will do there best to answer them. If you have an opinion either positive or negative, could your write them down and either e-mail them to me (I will make copies to hand out) or print your own. If we gave each member 5 minutes to speak their opinion, it require about 3 1/2 hours of our time (we expect over 70 members for our meeting).

We may be taking two votes on the Multi-Event format. First, is the format itself. This will be a simple yes or no vote. If this passes, then the second vote is how should it be scored--as a team or individual event.

If the Multi-Event does not pass, then we move on to how we would like to see our State and Section Meet scored with our current format. This issue was presented to the membership in the Fall of 2002. Yes, it has taken our association seven years to bring this to a vote. Again, there are several opinions on which scoring option is best. Those options are on our website in the form of a Instant Runoff ballot. For those of you who are proxy voting, you need to know that in Instant Run-off voting, it is VERY important you rank your choices from best to worst in numerical order. Number 1 being your first choice and so on to your last choice. Do not select a single choice and leave the others blank. If you have two you feel are of equal importance, flip a coin. For a ballot to be valid, each item needs to be ranked.  Like the Multi-Event format, we need to conclude this proposal and move on.

Remember what we are voting on is a proposal, a direction if you will. Once a vote has been cast, as president, I have a deadline of March 1, 2010 to submit our proposal to the High School League. We make the proposals, they alone make the final decision.

Our other “Hot Button” issue is the new travel restrictions. I have heard from several of you and we will formulate a response and present it to the high school league. As coaches we have to present our concerns, not only as an association to the State High School League, but also as coaches to our Athletic Directors and School Board members. They have as much, if not more influence on High School League decisions that we do. I will be looking for committee to draft a letter on behalf of our membership. This is time sensitive and I hope to have a letter ready in two weeks.

If you have not a chance to sign up and become a member, now would be a great time to do this! We will have membership forms at our meeting but avoid the rush and sign up now. If you will not be attending the meeting make sure you log onto our website and print a proxy ballot. This will assure that your vote will count even though you are not able to be in attendance.

Needless to say, we have a full agenda. In some ways we need to clear our plate. We need to look to the future and what items are important to the growth of our association and most importantly, the reason we are here, our athletes.

Following is a tentative agenda. Subject to Change.

8:30-9:30       Informal: meet with vendors

9:30-9:50       Call to Order, Roll call, Introduction, approval of the minutes

9:50-9:55       Treasurers Report

9:55-10:00      Victor C. Dunder Update

10:00-10:15     Old Business, uniform rule update.

10:15-10:35     Multi Event Format/vote.

10:35-10:45     Break

10:50-11:10     Team/Individual vote.

11:10-11:20     Section Qualifications deadline proposal to MSHSL

11:20-11:30     Bylaw 2.4 amendment

11:30-11:45     Team Support/Fundraising

11:45-12:50     Lunch/Informal meet with vendors

12:45-1:40      Rules Interpretation/2009-10 State Meet Course

1:40-1:55       Response to new Travel Restrictions

1:55-2:00       Closing comments. Adjournment

Mike Hecker

President Nordic Ski Coaches Association