ISSA - International Slalom Skateboarding Association

Marcus Rietema (FROM ANOTHER TOPIC) wrote:I think charging sanctioning fees for ISSA events would be an important step in the right direction as long as the promoter was receiving good value for spending the money. Sanctioning fee money could be used for sending an "ISSA Technical Delegate" who would help organize the competition and make sure that the event was being run in accordance to ISSA Rules. They would not be allowed to compete to keep their focus on the job. In addition this person could write event reports for the ISSA website and other forms of media like silverfishlongboarding and Concrete Wave Magazine. They would upload race results to the website within hours of the events' completion so people wouldn't need to search message boards for spotty information. This would also drive more people to the ISSA website raising the ISSA's' value to events, competitors and sponsors.

I think someone like Dan Gesmer (sorry Dan) would make an excellent "TD". He is often flown to events to do timing already, knows the sport inside and out, knows how write, doesn't compete and is well respected.

..

And there was a request to open another topic about what the duties of a "technical delegate" might be .....

Duty for course setting: Make sure the courses are freshly set and nobody has been able to practice them in advance.

He might even be part of the course setting team if the organizer agrees.

rmn

How do we fund it? How do we get the money to fly Dan or Pat around the country / world for races? Increase entry fees?

at this moment the discussion is null and void...why?
what does the issa give to the race organizer?
at the moment not very much,fact......
anybody can throw a race with some sponsors of not in the game,people will come anyway.
the issa can't bring money to a race in form of sponsors f.e.
i don't know if experienced organizers need a delegate at this moment anyway

if....and i mean just if you want to go this way and if a race organizer agrees on having a separate person at the race i think it is very important that this person should be involved at an earlier stage,there are always a lot of things to know about any race in advance,not just showing up there and trying to give advice without knowing squat about the whole deal.

and also;if i would fly anybody in at any given time i would clearly make it visible to that certain person that a race requires a fulltime duty,nothing more nothing less and also an earlier attendance than just showing up when the race happens.
its not that easy,no criticism intended,don't take it that way please.

then also i would second dan gesmer for the usa
here in europe jani and corky are excellent

but still,that requires lots of additional money.
a strange discussion in the wohle context of people asking to lower entry fees and such.

before such discussions are started at all the issa should have at least a solid appearance to the public which really starts with a homepage.
you should start with the required basics before such discussions take place,its a waste of time.

In snowboarding we have a TS (tech super) at USASA and FIS races, but at that level things are a lot more organized than in skateboard racing to begin with, and competing in those races as a whole is WAY more expensive - my entry fee for TWO races in the USASA Nationals last year? $350.

So Donald's points are quite valid. It certainly is a great idea in theory - but in practice? Skaters as a whole are less wealthy than the snowboard racers I have been around, and I believe that is part of the appeal of skateboard racing...it doesn't need to cost an arm and a leg for one to be competitive.

I'm obviously not offering a solution, just some facts.



-RF

Assigning "techical delegates" to races is great if the delegate is already there. Hell, I'll be the TD at any race I attend. I know the rules as well as anyone (me and Pat are probably in the small minority who have actually READ the rules.)

Advocating, though, the expense of flying in TDs to a race is right now a bit over the top. First of all, has anyone attended an ISSA-sanctioned race in the past five years where it just got blown all to hell on a rules issue? I haven't and in the past 60 months I've probably attended as many sanctioned races as anyone.

I agree we should eliminate problems before they occur. That's why we have rules in the first place. People traveling to races, however, just for the purpose of refereeing is right now a bit of overkill.

Organizers of the larger races in the USA have already begun the practice of paying for qualified help in races.

Gorge Games, US Nationals, Dixie Cup, Morro Bay various years, World Championships, La Costa -- all of these races have paid (in varying degrees) to have qualified anouncers, timing set up, timing/spreadsheet entry, etc.

Making this more uniform in what is expected of this person, and making this an official ISSA service -- that might be a good thing.

again,i want to refer to the last sentence of my previous post.
anybody with a clear head will agree on that!