Since my email has been thrown into the middle of this open letter, I
feel a responsibility to clear up "my prompt dismissal" of the Dallas
venue. I have quoted several emails below and apologize for the length
of this message. Those not interested should probably read no further.
What I am about to say may anger some of you and I apologize if you
think I am out of line. However, I am pretty angry about the picture
that has been painted here and I resent it. I have stepped in as the
RYC coordinator because I love my son and what fencing has done for
him. I care very deeply about the RYC and the opportunities it provides
for our youth fencers. This is not a political game for me. I am here
because I care and was asked to take the position. As to Brenda's
letter:
This is obviously not a joke and it is also not a predicament that the
North Texas Division has suddenly been put into. This is a predicament
that the RYC as a whole has been in for well over a year. After all of
the discussions and unmet promises, it is hardly the time to cry "foul".
In Samantha Arnold's final report to the section on the RYC at the end
of last season, she detailed the participation of different regional
areas throughout the season. Dallas fencers accounted for 3% overall
and Oklahoma accounted for 4%. In her report she suggested that last
season may have been a fluke, but that she would suggest that these
venues be dropped from hosting next season (2000-2001) if the numbers
did not improve this season.
The issue was later brought up on the texas-fencing email list by Vinnie
Bradford in late January as a proposal to change the venues in the
middle of this season. At that time there seemed to be some agreement
that we should wait until next year for a Dallas RYC if there were not
at least 5 Dallas fencers at the Austin RYC (there were three).
Brenda Waddoups wrote:
> Vincent Bradford wrote:
> >
> > I am in full support of any area that wants to play ball - so if Dallas can
> > guarntee that at least 5 fencers (from any Dallas Club) show up to the
> > Austin RYC and that at least 10 fencers from Dallas will be fencing in the
> > Dallas RYC then I am willing to consider amending my proposal. If fewer
> > than 5 show up in Austin then perhaps we should wait until next season to
> > hold a RYC in Dallas
>
> This sounds like a good plan. I sent an e-mail to our fencers
> addressing this issue. Hopefully, this will wake some folks up!
>
> Brenda Waddoups, Secretary
> North Texas Division
After the Austin RYC, a decision had to be made quickly about whether or
not to change the venue. The next RYC is fast approaching, and a
replacing host will have to work quickly to organize the event and
notify everyone. Gary Murray quickly let me know that the decision was
not mine to make. He informed me that there had been a vote at the
executive officers meeting at the Pouj 2000 and that the schedule was
only to be modified if there was not a commitment from all divisions
present to have at least five fencers participate in the RYC.
Gary Murray wrote:
> The decision by the executive committee was simply this: All division
> present, Ark-La-Miss excluded, pledge to support this function, therefore,
> the decision to continue the RYC as it appears on the current sectional
> schedule, was made. Now, if for any reason, any of these divisions fail to
> honor their pledge, then all bets are off and the remainder of the schedule
> will be modified. All parties in attendance know this and it is a unanimous
> support or not at all. That was the decision and we will abide by it.
>
> Once you have determined that this has not been done, I am to be notified and
> I will consult with the other officers and a final decision will be made. I
> appreciated you coming on board late in the game and just remember I am here
> for you so contact me anytime. Thanks. I don't have the oklahoma division
> email, but if you will go to the section web site and get Bob Fiegels email,
> he is the division chair.
>
> Gary Murray
I was actually trying to form a case to keep the RYC in Dallas, but
stopped trying so hard when I heard from Brenda that she was not so keen
on the idea.
Brenda Waddoups wrote:
>
>I'll be very honest with you, I'm of the same mind as Vinnie... I'm not too
>keen on knocking myself out to put on a tournament for the Dallas/Fort Worth
>kids if they aren't going to show up for the other tournaments (That's not
how
>we were brought up....); and if South Texas/Gulf Coast kids aren't going to
>come up. Our kids will travel south so it won't hurt them.
>
>I'm willing to give this one more shot, with a Thursday deadline. If we
don't
>get any response, and we have enough time to change, I'd say take the
>tournament south. If you don't think you have enough reaction time to get
>flyers out and change the venue, I will be happy to run the tournament up
>here.
>
>(BTW, I've added Tom Page to our discussion. Tom is our Youth Team
>Coordinator for Fencing Institute and is the one that has been traveling with
>the FIT team.) My apologies for being so bummed, but I really had expected
>these people to respond better.
>
>Brenda
>
It all seemed to be moot when I received a response from Bob Fiegel that
there was no commitment from the Oklahoma division.
Bob Fiegel wrote:
> No, Oklahoma did not commit to sending any number of fencers anywhere.
> Currently, there may be 5 youth capable of attending. Whether they choose
> to attend is unknown to me.
>
I informed Gary Murray of these responses and suggested immediately
sending email to the participating coaches in the Gulf Coast and South
Texas Divisions inviting them to host the remaining two events. He
informed me that he had discussed it with the sectional officers and the
decision was made to change the venues.
Gary Murray wrote:
> I have talked with the section
> officers and we agree that the Dallas and Oklahoma RYC's should be relocated
> to a different venue. Keep the dates the same.
>
> Please contact all the coaches you listed and see who wants to host these
> two. Once you have a comitment, email a flyer to all the division chairs
> simply as a note so they can contact their clubs. In the meantime contact
> Ray Parker and Mauro and get a list of the clubs represented at their RYC's
> and email each club and let them know of the change. Ask for a response to
> your email so you can be sure that they all have been notified. Let me know
> when this has been done.
>
> Keep me informed as to what's happening so I can keep up with it. I am
> letting you have all the latitude you need to do this job. If and when you
> need any help just let me know. Thanks for what you are doing.
>
> Gary Murray
Before sending the email to the coaches which was quoted by Brenda in
her open letter, I wanted to let Brenda know about the decision and the
ultimate reasons behind it before informing anyone else. I had been led
to believe to this point that she was in agreement with this decision.
I wrote:
> Brenda, Tom,
>
> RYC#4 and RYC#5 will have a change in venue. The ultimate decision was
> made by the sectional officers. At the sectional meeting at the Pouj
> 2000, the agreement was made that the RYC schedule would be modified if
> there was not a commitment from all Divisions present to support the
> RYCs. Oklahoma is not commiting any fencers, so this leaves the
> schedule open for modification. The sectional officers agreed that we
> should change the venues and keep the dates.
>
> I am sending this to you first to let you know about it first. I will
> shortly be sending an email to the coaches of the participating clubs
> from Gulf Coast and South Texas Divisions to solicit hosts for the two
> remaining tournaments.
>
> Brenda, there is absolutely no need for you to apologize for being
> bummed. I think that we all share your disappointment. I also want to
> say that, while disappointed in the lack of participation form the
> Northern divisions, nobody is disappointed in you. You have done all
> that you could to organize and encourage, and that is well recognized.
> Sometimes there is just nothing that can be done.
>
> After the venue changes have been settled, I am going to start opening
> up discussions regarding what can be done to improve the RYC. I have
> already been approached by coaches with concerns ranging from the
> quality of referees to the participation in smaller events. Perhaps
> there is something that we can do with the RYC to help make it more
> attractive to the Northern divisions?
>
> I will let you know about the changes in venues as they are decided.
> Thank you so much for your efforts. I am sorry that everything turned
> out this way.
>
> Mike Kline
> RYC Coordinator
That's where it stands. An announcement will be made later today, if
possible, regarding the location of the April 1st RYC. All divisions
will be notified as well as coaches of the clubs. I believe that three
weeks is sufficient time to get the word out. If desired, the words
"NOT AN APRIL FOOL'S JOKE" can be added to the fliers.
For those of you who took the time to read this, I thank you.
Michael Kline
RYC Coordinator
Brenda Waddoups wrote:
>
> To: Gary Murray, Section Chair
> From: North Texas Division Officers
>
> Reference the following e-mail:
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Michael Kline
> > To: Eric Mallet ; Gary ; J. Gerard
> > Poujardieu, Jr. ; Mauro Hamza
> > ; Paul Schimelman ; Ray Parker
> > ; Viktor Svatenko ;
> > Vincent Bradford
> > Date: Wednesday, March 08, 2000 1:03 PM
> > Subject: Immediate call for RYC hosts!
> >
> >
> > >First, let me say for those of you who do not know, I have taken
> > >Samantha Arnold's place as the RYC coordinator. Samantha is
> > >concentrating on work and school right now and I was asked to fill in.
> > >Gary Murray has made the change official.
> > >
> > >Now on to more important things...
> > >
> > >Due to a lack of commitment from Dallas and Oklahoma fencers, the
> > >section has decided to change the venue and keep the dates for the
> > >remaining two RYC tournaments this season. The remaining dates are the
> > >weekend of April 1, 2000 and the weekend of June 10, 2000.
> > >
> > >I am soliciting IMMEDIATELY new hosts for these events. Please respond
> > >to me right away if you would like to host one of these tournaments and
> > >which (you can say either) you would like to host. If you do not wish
> > >to host, please let me know that as well. We would like to have the
> > >April venue decided within the next two days so that the hosting club
> > >can organize it and so that we can provide proper notice to the
> > >sectional clubs.
> > >
> > >Any comments are wlcome as well.
> > >
> > >Mike Kline
> > >RYC Coordinator
>
> North Texas Division has been put into a predicament with the April 1st
> Regional Youth Circuit. Since "the Section" recently voted (without
> knowledge or representation of the Section Secretary or North Texas
> Division Chair) to remove the Regional Youth Circuit from our North
> Texas venue, will the Section send notices to all the fencers so they
> understand this is NOT AN APRIL FOOL'S JOKE? Our Division officers are
> concerned that fencers from surrounding areas will arrive at the venue
> because they didn't receive word that "the Section" changed it. North
> Texas Division mailed 200 flyers, and flyers were taken to the last RYC
> and the Pouj, so it is likely someone will not get the word without a
> mailing.
>
> North Texas Division wishes to go on record stating they had a venue
> (St. Mark's) and fully intended to support the Regional Youth Circuit as
> a Section circuit tournament. We also understand the lack of
> participation by the northern divisions' fencers in previous RYC's has
> precipitated this action. However, we do not believe that withholding
> future RYC's from North Texas or Oklahoma will strengthen the
> tournament, nor will it encourage participation by either Division in
> future RYC's.
>
> We appreciate Mike's prompt dismissal of our venue. We were able to
> release the school in time to be rescheduled for another sporting group.
>
> Brenda Waddoups, Secretary
> North Texas Division
Youth Circuit
