[2006] Time to make the Changes

[Claude Regnier]

Directions

Okay so the elections took place in February and since then I’ve had a chance to speak with a lot of people about ISSA the old and the New.

The Old Rules do not need a complete overhaul.

I would like to see workgroups formed as suggested. Corky and others spent a lot of time on the rankings and I’d like to see Pat Chewing – VP of ISSA Chair the workgroup in charge of reviewing this area. Pat can work with Corky and others to figure out a better way to do this but maintaining a degree of flexibility for growth is a must.

Race Rules – Again these do not need to be totally revamped just some refinements. Is there a BOD member that would like to Volunteer to Chair a workgroup to discuss this area.

Other areas that need to be dealt with is ISSA and Media relations – We need to get a video about ISSA and holding a Sanctioned events in your community – Benefits for all –

Memberships – Sponsors and such

Organizers list could also be included in the new manual along with the Card System for cone Judges.

We (the BOD) need to be sure to speak with each other on a weekly basis about proposed changes or difficulties. The rest of you please contact me to figure out what you would like to work. I would suggest that you try to get someone from different areas for input in each and every topic up for discusion and change.

There is a lot of info within the site, it would be good to include and add as much as possible to inform people.

We really need to get this all done by the end of November in order to get the new rules and regulations out for Jan 2007.

The time is now folks. Step up and take charge. There are a lot of people that talk a good game so now is the time to put your money where your mouth is.

I will accept suggestions from anyone. If you are interested in voicing your opinion in an area please contact me and I will let you know who you are working with should it not be posted anywhere.

Thanks & Good Luck

ISSA – President
Claude Regnier

[Vincent Berruchon]

So what's up?
ISSA still doesn't exist as something real or is there something now?

[Janis kuzmins]

I have questin for ISSA, about ISSA situations. In all world all sports are Olimpical (inernational olimpic comitee), or not olimpic wich are in other union GAISF (General asambleum international sport Federations). Slalom is a tehnical sport (fho is faser). if we will be there we will be international prefer. Now we doesnt exist, we are like a small group of interesents like a mushrooms gathers not like a raly or other not Olimpical sports. Then will be easyer to organise competitions (to get suport from city and states goverments, ), may be will be posible to get money from state and city about your results in euro and world championships(in other states are other qritarien). Anyway we need to be there. Its realy important question! Had somebody think about it?

[Vincent Berruchon]

Here's the website:
http://www.agfisonline DOT com/

(Ed note 2011: The actual site is www.SportAccord.com /Jani)

It's at least time to have something official. Perhaps some people won't follow at the beginning
but if ISSA is nothing, what the use to talk about it?

To have official credits, we need official rules, official competitions
yeah skateboarders don't like rules, but they like to participate to some good events and media coverage, and I hope it's a way to have that!

What about the officialization of ISSA??? It's not difficult, so why is it so long?

[Jani Soderhall]

In all world all sports are Olimpical (inernational olimpic comitee), or not olimpic wich are in other union GAISF (General asambleum international sport Federations).

During all these years I have been asking myself this question: Where should ISSA be registered in order to be an international association in order to build an international representation?

I've had several proposals to register here or there, but to me that never solves the question. If ISSA is registered in France for example, what gives the ISSA authority over other associations or even federations, especially in another country.

GAISF may be the answer. Let's go!!!!

...or should we be associated with other rollersports through the current Olympic umbrella of FIRS (International Roller Skate Association?)

Let's assign a committee to work on this important question!

Thank's Janis!

/Jani

[Donald Campbell]

some stuff to consider:


a REAL, good-looking, officially-looking website for the sole prupose to represent the issa, rules, guidelines, upcoming events, sponsors involved.
all the euro races have to be officially sanctioned by the issa and held under the umbrella of the issa.

to get more interest in the modern world a real looking i-net portfolio has to be created as a first step. this will then be something which can be show to interested sponors.

that's a not too hard goal to achieve, is it?
am i the only one who has that idea?
i hope not...

besides that you might have noticed that in a few of the last posts a lot of criticism has been mentioned.
i think that criticism is totally justified.
claude has been the only one i saw this year who collected input and who wants things to go forward.the remnant of the elected body seems to be very inactive,due to whatever reason the single persons involved might consider as an excuse.

so here are my thoughts on that:
IF somebody elects you,you have a lot of work and duties which have to be fulfilled no matter what else happens in your life.any excuse is unacceptable.
why?
because the elected persons committed to something and that something seems to be important,or am i wrong here again?


at the current situation is see the last election that took place as a total disaster,because NOTHING really substantial happened.
the issa is still a dream(yes jani,your dream) which has never come to life in any way.
the people who took care of this dream failed to breathe some life into it.


this is the reason why the issa is receiving flak now.


my opinon(which is not worth to be considered i think, but i want to give it to you anyway, because that's how i would do it.)
fire the whole bunch
get jani, corky, vince, claude, marion, sam gordon, chris barker, maybe myself on board and get things rolling.
this should happen better yesterday than today.

wholeheartedly disagreement is excepted by myself, but the reason i write this text is because i think this whole issa deal completely sucks,because the wrong people are involved.

and now start complaining i know a few people will silently agree with my view of things and in my world a few phone calls would be sufficient enough to get things rolling.

[Jani Soderhall]

What happened?
The new ISSA board hasn't been that active, I think we all agree. It's a pity because as one stage it seemed to be off to a good start (behind the scenes for most of us) but unfortunately time flew by and not enough came out in the form of action plans etc, so basically people thought the ISSA board had just vanished.

But, I think part of the explanation was that they didn't really know where to start. All of a sudden they found themselves elected to take on a hundred different tasks. Each and every one that needed discussions, among themselves first, then in the open group. Claude then set out on a world tour to talk to as many people as possible. That was good, but now it's time for the next step and Claude can't do it on his own?

Just for the record, it's not really that the board has done nothing...
- Corky kept running his thing The World Ranking on time, as planned and to most peoples (>95%) satisfaction, which I believe is all we asked him to do when he was elected. We couldn't not have him in the board and then let the board decide about the future of the ranking...
- Wesley kept up his job at the site, which is valuable too.
- JRad and Joe I have been more active on the local scene, than on the intl, but that's part of the future too, so it mustn't be neglected.
- Pat made some of the early proposals as well as a few official ISSA annoucements. (He should have been elected president, he's good at that.)
- Jack took a year off from organization of events, he's well worth it. He's had his share of Radikal delays too. Probably hasn't helped his motivation.
...but obviously we were hoping for more.

Do we need another election?
Maybe, but right now we'd just waste precious calendar time. If the board decides to call another election, let's do it, but we don't have to rush that.
At the same time, I think the current group is well representative of the current world scene and as such would probably make representative and wise decisions. That's why they were elected because we believed in them to represent and take appropriate actions for the sport.

How do we move forward?
I think we can't expect the board to take the full responsibility for all the tasks at hand and I don't think we should expect them to take on the full work either. There's an active bunch of skaters here at the forum which could take on smaller tasks and for example lead discussions on many of the topics we need to discuss before next years races start out. For example we can each and everyone launch a rule topic that we find important and a) get the arguments out, then b) identify the alternatives, then c) let the members decide. The ISSA board doesn't have to be that much involved in such operations, do they? The only real thing we need from them is to formalize c) so that we can say that this decision was correctly voted and not just something that ended up like that because one of the guys was talking louder than others.

The small print
- Do I want to be on the board? No. I stepped down because I knew I couldn't spend the time needed this year on skateboarding related topics.
- Is it enough with just a few phone calls from Don, no probably not either. Didn't you recently take on some responsibility that you didn't live up to?

Official body?
This is one of the most important questions, I agree, but we don't fully depend on it. I would hope that the board could assign someone to contact the new organizations - probably Claude should do it, so that we can start taking the right actions and at least know what could be achieved. No need to rush the end result, but we need to get started NOW, or we may miss out on opportunities which are out there.

The time is now!
Now, each and everyone, start thinking about things that are of interest to YOU and that you're ready to fight for AND spend some effort on. Launch a topic, assign yourself moderator status and help keep that thread stay on topic and within facts. Everything else can be edited out. I'll help with official moderator status if you need it to keep the thread clean and on topic. Once we reach stage b) and we have clear and concise alternatives can we ask the board to step in and formalize the decision making.

...and don't say it's my dream or anybody else's. It's a matter of fact that we need to agree on some things. That has to happen whether we call it ISSA or something else. Take race statuses for 2007 for example - in each region that has to be sorted, so let's follow the abc method and just get it done. Don't sit around waiting for others to solve it.

/Jani

[Claude Regnier]

I just got in from North Carolina and am not going to post lengthy right now. I will answer it asap.

Since i originally posted this note on aug 9 I have continued my world wind tour to about 9 more events to total 17 for the season. I've talked to many people and seen some great stuff and have a lot to do in order to get ISSA or whatever it is we end up with going.

L8R

[Donald Campbell]

thanks jani
you're wrong
in my world it's a few phone calls to get things going,not bla bla here-if you think that's strange or whatever,your problem.

on the small print:i got that,one thing though:isn't it starnge that after e few months a few people start to tell me i fucked up on things?
i remember myself asking a few of you in brixlegg what you thought about the event,i was full of selfcriticism at that time and also a bit disappointed in myself,since i did not perform as good as i wanted myself?
i got a few comments there,which was very good.
the internet comments now are really unneeded.

last words on that subject:
your reply is full of excuses,but you can do what you want.
my oppinion doesn't count anyway,you will do things as you like and i totally respect that.

i'm coming to the point where i have more interest in my team and my future and where i see this debate and everything involved with it as pointless for myself.


disagree whith what i said here to protect your issa thing


i'm so out of this from now on(yes, i really cared about it).


all the best for your future efforts,
don

[Jani Soderhall]

Don,

It's really tiring because you always think people object to your posts and your whole existance and at the same time everything you've ever done. Just to point to the extreme misunderstandings in your answer: we're not talking about your event here. This is a topic about the ISSA. As a matter of fact I agree to almost everything you've said in your previous post. I was just trying to offer constructive help, rather than just agree with "let's throw everyone out" although that's how I initially felt too. I just don't think that is the best solution.

My fine print was directed towards your attempt to revive the home page of this site. You were very eager about that and I was very pleased you wanted to take it on, but that's where a couple of your phone calls didn't really help (enough, yet). Your proposal came at a good time and you certainly have the energy to make it happen, but see sometimes people put their energy behind a thing, and still it appears at almost nothing to others. It's not too late, just like for the board of directors. If thing start moving now, it'll still be valuable to the sport.

Chill down and don't take everything so personal.

Please note I have stepped down from any ISSA board responsibility. I will still try to help with ideas and my own personal comments, but ISSA is not in my hands now. I think it's cool if it goes on, if it doesn't, it's OK too. I'm just one guy in the crowd with my own ideas, that anyone can listen to or object to. Just like you.


Let's hope that one of the guys in the board actually responds to the criticism, or you and I will have to fund a new international body for slalom racing and a new forum and a new set of rules (but they'll be outdated by the time we're done) and a new world ranking system and why not a new slalom mag too. And then we're about at the same level and we can bring up this discussion again on what's the next step.

Cheers!

/Jani

[John Gilmour]

Well I think we need to have some sort of videoconference to discuss things. Not a long winded 4-hour video meeting. Just a few short 20-minute conferences to stay on target.

If demand is not happening the way we expected- then we should change the “marketing plan”. That’s how successful corporations get larger.

Easy to reach goals should be set.


So I'd like to propose a few goals and concepts.----------->3 concepts first

A- Abandon conventional skate mag penetration- they are NOT our audience. (*Concrete Wave and a few are our audience)

B-Focus on cross training areas like snowboarding and ski racing and other types of racing- even a racing sailor would understand…uhhh wasn’t that Howard Gordon?

C-Make great efforts to provide free lodging at contests and prize money



My reasoning behind these NEWER concepts:

A - Hasn't worked for 20 years so it should be for now, deemed a wasted effort, and no, fewer than 50 pages amongst the tens of thousands of pages of skateboard mags over the years doesn’t count for anything, compared to the payoffs of focusing our energy elsewhere. (I was there for snowboarding’s beginning and they had no success marketing to skateboarders at first- it was the fringe skiers who embraced it- skateboarders came much later when it was nearly mainstream. The budgets of the skiers more closely matched the snowboarders than the skateboarders, and the skiers were already fond of bombing hills)

B- Put our racing in front of other racers in other sports- they are a better target audience. Getting a person who identifies himself as a “freestyle person” (i.e. freestyle skier, street skater) as opposed to a racer is a harder sell. Sure there is some cross over, but I would guess that slalom skateboard racers enjoy many forms of racing, and likely even more than other freestyle events.

C- It costs about $200 (drive) - $600 (fly) to attend an event. Having lodging costs on top of that and no prize money for pros will eventually lead to a decrease in participation. I think a good goal would be to give the best pros from each region a free lodging ride as well as an attendance fee (small $50)- to be paid out by our organization. We must encourage pro participation whenever possible. PRO racing is what drives everything.


So the goals:

1. Pro racing is to ALWAYS be held in conjunction with other racing events (biking, inline skating, running- and try to get them to add us an EXTRA attraction on their brochures and mailers) in primarily urban venues. No more NOWHERE races. We currently have too many of them. NOWHERE races should be practices or jam sessions. Always have a table of race gear for people to inspect and buy at every contest. (This should be a display that goes from contest venue to contest venue and is replenished as things sell- proceeds from the table can go towards Prize money for Pros.) Encourage people to buy boards so they can have them autographed at contests. It is good if we hold a few “Demonstration contests” with limited entry and a high concentration of pros so an event can be impressive and short in duration (which can make permitting in an urban area easier). ANNOUNCE a beginner slalom clinic at races to get people into it. Run clips on monitors or laptops at races with testimonials of how easy it is to get into it and how much fun it is.


2. Create permanent slalom courses in urban areas near where contests are held FIRST. Create them Legally or do them “outlaw” long enough for them to become accepted. Then at the contest- repeat over and over and over the microphone where people can go to learn to slalom- have signs as well. Have a regular NEWBIE slalom course day that people can attend. Like for instance Saturday is the pro slalom course day and Sunday is the Newbie day for those that enjoyed watching the fast racing on Saturday. Tie longboard jams in with slalom courses. ****Have longboard jams start or end at permanent slalom courses.

3. Broadcast all slalom contests via the net. Record all of them. Email links to friends with reminders to tell them that you are racing. Get people involved via six degrees of separation. If you send someone an email clip of you slaloming from a contest and they talk to someone about skateboarding and racing comes up they can say “Hey I have a friend who races…I bet I can find the clip in my email, I’ll forward it to you”.

Motivations:

Contests get an upgrade when a permanent slalom course is associated with them.

This is not a final draft...just some points for open discussion.

Then we should make things actionable and easy to accomplish with minimal effort to ensure they get done.

[Claude Regnier]

Here’s a response to posts that followed my original post. Note the date at which I posted then the date of the 1st. response. Don’t point fingers, things have been moving. Just not visible action.

Vince wrote- What’s up. Well People we’re asked at the start of the year to get involved and this is what you got. I personally had a chance to speak to several people worldwide throughout the year and will try to use their input in my decisions on their behalf.
I have questin for ISSA, about ISSA situations. In all world all sports are Olimpical (inernational olimpic comitee), or not olimpic wich are in other union GAISF (General asambleum international sport Federations). Slalom is a tehnical sport (fho is faser). if we will be there we will be international prefer. Joining another governing body could be a possibility. Now we doesnt exist, we are like a small group of interesents like a mushrooms gathers not like a raly or other not Olimpical sports. As far as being recognized by the Olympic or sports associations NO we don’t exist. In order for ISSA to be recognized it need to be the voice for theSlalom community which it represents. I’m not simply talking individuals racers and such. I’m talking National bodies. As stated earlier each and every Nation will need it’s own association in order for full fledged acceptance. France has one. The US has one and we have started working on a Canadian slalom association. We are short quite a few worldwide organizations in order to really gain credibility. This is only part of the solution to the problems. Then will be easyer to organise competitions (to get suport from city and states goverments, ), may be will be posible to get money from state and city about your results in euro and world championships(in other states are other qritarien). Anyway we need to be there. Its realy important question! Had somebody think about it? Yes it is possible and we must contiue to work on it.
Jani wrote:

It's at least time to have something official. Perhaps some people won't follow at the beggining
but if ISSA is nothing, what the use to talk about it?

To have official credits, we need official rules, official competitions
yeah skateboarders don't like rules, but they like to participate to some good events and media coverage, and I hope it's a way to have that!

What about the officialization of ISSA??? It's not difficult, so why is it so long? Why revise something that’s needs change before making the changes? The idea is to produce a new ISSA manual/guidelines for the start of 2007. Once it is done then we can put it forward. Each country that chooses to register it’s own governing body will have all the information available to them. It will make it easier for everyone. Why push forward something that we have problems with. It’s better to refresh the ideas with all this experience we have gained then move forward.
Janis wrote:

In all world all sports are Olimpical (inernational olimpic comitee), or not olimpic wich are in other union GAISF (General asambleum international sport Federations). This may be a possibility and I will look into it.
During all these years I have been asking myself this question: Where should ISSA be registered in order to be an international association in order to build an international representation? Me too? We will figure that out as well.

I've had several proposals to register here or there, but to me that never solves the question. If ISSA is registered in France for example, what gives the ISSA authority over other associations or even federations, especially in another country.

GAISF may be the answer. Let's go!!!!

...or should we be associated with other rollersports through the current Olympic umbrella of FIRS (International Roller Skate Association?) Possibly?

Let's assign a committee to work on this important question! -Yes. It started a little earlier who did you contact to get involved with it? Forming workgroups was in my original post.
Donald wrote:
some stuff to consider:


a REAL,good-looking,officially-looking website for the sole prupose to represent the issa,rules,guidelines,upcoming events,sponsors involved.
all the euro races have to be officially sanctioned by the issa and held under the umbrella of the issa. This is good but it should not simply included all the Euro races but any worldwide races as well. If promoters or organizations do not wish to take part that is their choice. Possibly separate sites, linked?

to get more interest in the modern world a real looking i-net portfolio has to be created as a first step.this will then be something which can be show to interested sponors. This is part of the overall plan of creating a video and other stuff to hand out at contest and such for spectators.
that's a not too hard goal to achieve,aint,it?
am i the only one who has that idea?
i hope not... NOPE!
besides that you might have noticed that in a few of the last posts a lot of criticism has been mentioned.
i think that criticism is totally justified.
claude has been the only one i saw this year who collected input and who wants things to go forward.the remnant of the elected body seems to be very inactive,due to whatever reason the single persons involved might consider as an excuse. Some have been too quiet even when asked in person to be more involved. Hopefully things will fall into place in the next little while and those that do not wish to be involved will ask to step down.

so here are my thoughts on that:
IF somebody elects you,you have a lot of work and duties which have to be fulfilled no matter what else happens in your life.any excuse is unacceptable. I agree. If you made the choice to accept then you have a resonsibility.
why?
because the elected persons committed to something and that something seems to be important,or am i wrong here again? NOPE!

at the current situation is see the last election that took place as a total disaster,because NOTHING really substantial happened. Nothing substantial on paper but several things have happened to help the progress. We are stil dealing with a lot of dissention for worldwide representation. It was the main reason I accepted the role of President.the issa is still a dream(yes jani,your dream) which has never come to life in any way.
the people who took care of this dream failed to breathe some life into it. ISSA should be every ones dream if we really want it to progress so that we may have the opportunity to watch slalom continue to grow.


this is the reason why the issa is receiving flak now. The posting that has recently started should be the reason why there Is flack. The so-called members and supporters were too busy to get involved over the course of the season. Now the season is over and we are weeks away from the start of the next season and we need to get a rush on it all of a sudden.

my oppinon(which is not worth to be considered i think,but i want to gi9ve it to you anyway,because that's how i would do it.)
fire the whole bunch – No Problem! I’ll step down if you like. The pay is not that good anymoreget jani,corky,vince,claude,marion,sam gordon,chris barker,maybe myself on board and get thingsrolling.
this should happen better yesterday than today. Donald,I would like it very much for you to beinvolved as I asked you earlier in the year for input. You have added much to the Slalom scene the last few years.
wholeheartedly disagreement is excepted by myself,but the reason i write this text is because i think this whole issa deal completely sucks,because the wrong people are involved. I have to disagree on this one Donald. Perhaps some of the wrong people but only time will tell. I do think a few more people could be added to benefit the BOD, however.
and now start complaining i know a few people will silently agree with my view of things and in my world a few phone calls would be sufficient enough to get things rolling. Phone calls and lots of person to person contact was made. I am sure several people do agree with many o your points. We can only try to make it work for the best.

Jani wrote:
What happened?
The new ISSA board hasn't been that active, I think we all agree. It's a pity because as one stage it seemed to be off to a good start (behind the scenes for most of us) but unfortunately time flew by and not enough came out in the form of action plans etc, so basically people thought the ISSA board had just vanished. People were asked to get involved at every turn and nothing happened. You can’t force people to get involved. They were asked and didn’t. Plain and simple. I asked several people worldwide to talk it over with their friends, countrymen and slalom partners about what they like and didn’t like? Well maybe since J-Rad has posted the ISSA stuff in sections now they will become more involved.
But, I think part of the explanation was that they didn't really know where to start. Rule revisions was an area we thought should be 1st. and foremost. All of a sudden they found themselves elected to take on a hundred different tasks. YES. Each and every one that needed discussions, among themselves first, then in the open group. Claude then set out on a world tour to talk to as many people as possible. That was good, but now it's time for the next step and Claude can't do it on his own? That’s for sure. Obviously not even with a group around me, EH?
Just for the record, it's not really that the board has done nothing...
- Corky kept running his thing The World Ranking on time, as planned and to most peoples (>95%) satisfaction, which I believe is all we asked him to do when he was elected. We couldn't not have him in the board and then let the board decide about the future of the ranking... Corky and i would have talked in Antibes
- Wesley kept up his job at the site, which is valuable too.
- JRad and Joe I have been more active on the local scene, than on the intl, but that's part of the future too, so it mustn't be neglected.
- Pat made some of the early proposals as well as a few official ISSA annoucements. (He should have been elected president, he's good at that.) - Pat and I exchanged a few e-mails and one phone conversation. We had hoped to spend a little more time togeher in both Hood River and Encinitas.
- Jack took a year off from organization of events, he's well worth it. He's had his share of Radikal delays too. Probably hasn't helped his motivation. Jack and I spoke briefly and was asked to become more involved. Hopefully, he will sooner then later.
...but obviously we were hoping for more. We always want more!
Do we need another election? If you think so but I really think we need a little time to finish this.
Maybe, but right now we'd just waste precious calendar time. If the board decides to call another election, let's do it, but we don't have to rush that.
At the same time, I think the current group is well representative of the current world scene and as such would probably make representative and wise decisions. That's why they were elected because we believed in them to represent and take appropriate actions for the sport. Thank you! I also believe we have an group that offers excellent potential for the growth of Slalom. I won’t rule out adding other people to the BOD at some point.

How do we move forward? Let’s see if this latest input continues or dissipates before it’s finished.
I think we can't expect the board to take the full responsibility for all the tasks at hand and I don't think we should expect them to take on the full work either. There's an active bunch of skaters here at the forum which could take on smaller tasks and for example lead discussions on many of the topics we need to discuss before next years races start out. For example we can each and everyone launch a rule topic that we find important and a) get the arguments out, then b) identify the alternatives, then c) let the members decide. The ISSA board doesn't have to be that much involved in such operations, do they? The only real thing we need from them is to formalize c) so that we can say that this decision was correctly voted and not just something that ended up like that because one of the guys was talking louder than others.

The small print
- Do I want to be on the board? No. I stepped down because I knew I couldn't spend the time needed this year on skateboarding related topics.
- Is it enough with just a few phone calls from Don, no probably not either. Didn't you recently take on some responsibility that you didn't live up to?

Official body?
This is one of the most important questions, I agree, but we don't fully depend on it. I would hope that the board could assign someone to contact the new organizations - probably Claude should do it, so that we can start taking the right actions and at least know what could be achieved. No need to rush the end result, but we need to get started NOW, or we may miss out on opportunities which are out there.

The time is now! Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, each and everyone, start thinking about things that are of interest to YOU and that you're ready to fight for AND spend some effort on. Launch a topic, assign yourself moderator status and help keep that thread stay on topic and within facts. Everything else can be edited out. I'll help with official moderator status if you need it to keep the thread clean and on topic. Once we reach stage b) and we have clear and concise alternatives can we ask the board to step in and formalize the decision making.

...and don't say it's my dream or anybody else's. It's a matter of fact that we need to agree on some things. That has to happen whether we call it ISSA or something else. Take race statuses for 2007 for example - in each region that has to be sorted, so let's follow the abc method and just get it done. Don't sit around waiting for others to solve it. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


My additions:

I want to Thank everyone for their input. I hope I was able to answer some of your comments or statements. The recent poll forum created by J-Rad will help. Pat and Corky we’re working on some stuff together and we’ll see where that is at this point.

It is very frustrating at times to see some of the stuff going on at races and venues. I will compile some of the notes I made over the course of the season and hopefully be able to convey the dislikes of the racers as well as the organizers.

Trying to get more people involved in the process of re-writing rules and regulations has not been easy. Trying to convey the importance of a worldwide slalom organization to benefit everyone is not easy either.

How many people have moved forward to register their own national governing association?

You can lead a horse to water but…………………..

JG-nice thoughts.

[Wesley Tucker]

For everyone concerned about the most pressing problem now facing slalom, Claude told the board he is completely wrapped up in getting the Dovercourt Open organized and over with for the next two weeks.

So with luck and a little perseverance we'll get into what's really important early in July.

Yes, I'm referring to whether or not REAL BBQ is pork or beef?

[Robert J Herten]

I vote that you change the 'A' in International Slalom Skater Association from Association to Allegiance. Allegiance sounds so much cooler and you guys would get a ton of chicks.








............What? I'm tying to help YOU guys get chicks. I already get a ton of chicks.

[Kevin Dunne]

So with luck and a little perseverance we'll get into what's really important early in July.

Yes, I'm referring to whether or not REAL BBQ is pork or beef?[/quote]

Wes- Isn't "Real BBQ" hot dogs? In other words, nobody really knows if it's pork, beef, or some other mystery meat.

[Marcus Rietema]

I'm 42 years old and after years of skating bowls, downhill and freestyle I decided to give slalom a try this year. I had an enormous amount of fun and met a lot of great people along the way. Thanks to Richy Carrasco and Sk8 Kings, I was even able to have some modest success when I finished 11th at the world's in Open GS. Coming from my experience with downhill events, I probably came away from my year of racing with a different perspective than most... I love racing slalom but if the sport is ever going to grow and attract spectators, it will need a serious overhaul. The contests drag on forever and even the excited spectators lose interest after a few hours. Here are some ways I think the show could be improved.

1. Main Event- At big events there needs to be about a two hour time window beginning at 1:00pm when the top 16 pros would race in a Main Event to the finish. The pro racing needs to be the focus for the spectators. Run the first rounds of the open class in the morning and finish it off later in the afternoon after the pro race.

2. Younger Competitors- 2007 was a big step forward in this regard with skaters like Ramón Königshausen and Dominik Kowalski in the pros and emerging Open stars like Martin Reaves, Zak Maytum, and Joe McLaren. Many more young skaters are needed. Things like the Silverfish clinics at the Pumpstation are a great way to expose newbies to the sport. Small, low key races like we had at West L.A. College in the past would also be very helpful. Another idea would be to cut entry fees in half for those under 18. Without a healthy influx of young skaters, slalom will remain the domain of old farts and eventually die out again.

3. Build Excitement- A knowledgeable announcer who knows about the sport and knows the competitors is a very key element. If a world champion is on the start ramp, the audience needs to know about it. If there is only .005 separating two skaters after the first run, the audience needs to know about it. If a skater is competing despite having a painful injury, the audience needs to know about it. Without a good, knowledgeable announcer informing the public about what is happening, people will only see some talented skateboarders riding down the hill making quick turns. That will keep them interested for about 10 minutes at the most. If they are informed about the details of the competition and the personalities of the racers, you can keep them entertained for hours.

4. Make it Fun- If we are ever going to make slalom exciting and attract young skaters, it needs to have a fun atmosphere. Compared to the downhill world, I always feel like I've taken a trip to the country club when I go to a slalom race... Where's the fast music? Where's the crazyness? Where's the campground? Where are the big parties? Where's the energy? There needs to be a wholesale change in the planning and structure of events to make slalom more exciting and appealing to the younger generation.

Slalom faces many challenges but it's biggest is getting over the stigma of being the kind of skateboarding that the old guys from the 70's do because they can't ollie, are too old for riding vert or are too afraid to race downhill. I think there is a place in slalom for those over 35. It's in the Masters division because all of the young rippers have made it impossible for them to qualify in the Pro division. At the World's, I continually heard spectators say, "I can't believe how old the skaters are!" This MUST change!!!

A few years ago a marketing professional talked to me about the target audience of action sports. He noted that the Marines were a big sponsor of the X Games. Then he recited their famous slogan, "We're looking for a few good men." He went on to explain that it's definitely not , "We're looking for a few good OLD men." His analogy sums up the target audience and marketing of action sports brilliantly.

Who is slalom trying to market itself to?

[Peter Klang]

I agree with most Marcus, but I been around Skateboard and Surfing for 30 some years. I have seen it die more then ones and come back even stronger. Old guys like me are definitely a target group for skateboard manufactures, I make a hell of a lot more money compare to 16-25 year olds. I like spending money on skateboards, for me and my kids. Kids of non skateboarders probably have a far more difficult time getting there parents to cough up 300 dollars for a set of GOG or Radikal trucks. Get the parent then the kids. Get the money then the women. Seriously, I think the kids are the future, but slalom is something you can do for a very long time, hell the average age in the NHL is like 30, they play pro till they are 40 in a really tough sport. When an old guy like Mikael Hadestrand age 52 still beats a kid, it’s not something wrong with slalom skateboard, its something wrong with the kid.

OK so how do we win to crowd? Well the big events, just like you said, should put the best at prime time, but most important, web sites long before the race with all info about the race and the riders. Result up same night. Pictures and film up on web page and you tube within days of competition. This way we can as a united front approach a major sponsor (umbrella sponsor) of the ISSA world cup. We have to look good, professional and exiting to get media and sponsor attention. Remember slalom skateboarding is pretty simple to understand for the average Joe. The fastest guy wins.

I will take my responsibility to the rider during my term and listened to them and try to work for them and the sport. I think something great can be done in 2008.

Yours fastest
PK

[Rick Floyd]

Good thoughts Marcus - especially #3.

I heard Claude say he wants a video screen at the Canadian Nationals next year to show pics of the racers with a short bio - then their run times immediately at the finish, and brackets as they progress...Peter told me they want to do the same for Worlds in Sweden next year.

I agree that the above, coupled with really informative pro announcing, would go a long way towards keeping spectators attention.

-RF

[Marcus Rietema]

Thanks for your responses Peter and Rick! The internet is very powerful tool that promoters of slalom events aren't using to its' full potential. The Maryhill Festival of Speed was one of our most successful events of 2007. It was a first year event in 2007 and was promoted by one guy who worked very hard in addition to his normal job and family.

Pre-event promotion was done via the event website, sport specific websites, message boards, Concrete Wave magazine, local newspapers and posters. He worked with the local Chamber of Commerce and city government who were big supporters of the event. They provided things like the athlete campground, free daily pancake breakfast, entertainment budget (5 live bands, stage, PA system), beer garden and helped generate free publicity in local newspapers and radio stations. They also were a big help in finding local sponsors and other local businesses for other event needs such as food concessions, building materials, athlete meals, etc.

The promoter hired the IGSA to run the actual event for him. We have the expertise in running events and brought in our own timing system, computers, radios, flags, and everything else needed to run the technical aspect of the event. By using a top of the line timing system (Tag Heuer) with experienced operators, there was not a single timing related delay the entire week.

Daily event reports were posted at silverfish and a big post event article will be featured in the upcoming issue of Concrete Wave. The complete results were posted within days on the IGSA site (we are developing new event management software and next year results will be up within 1-2 hours of the event). There were lots of videos placed on YouTube and photo galleries around the web. Many people contributed to getting out the information for free because they love the sport and are genuinely excited about it. Slalom events are logistically a lot easier to organize than downhills. The venues are small in comparison and don't require even 1/10th of the infrastructure.

I hope this posting might inspire people in the slalom world to open up their minds and think big!!! If the promoters, ISSA and the skaters work collectively to improve the events, the entire sport will benefit! I also see a lot of benefit between the IGSA and ISSA working together on some of these projects. Both slalom and downhill are miniature in comparison to street and bowl skating.

Here are some links to sites related to Maryhill 2007:

http://www.maryhillfestivalofspeed.com

http://www.gravity-sports.com/results/2 ... ill_wc.htm

http://www.silverfishlongboarding.com/a ... -coverage/

http://www.rocketsciencephotography.com ... -luge-sat/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PciOdG50Le0

[Cat Young]

Too bad Marcus didn't get voted in---- probably just as well. He already needs a 28 hour day for everything he does.

I voted for him, though. I have seen what he does, I have seen what he's accomplished. He is truly passionate about every aspect of skateboarding.

I hope he will continue chiming in as needed, and people listen.

I hope we can all work together to make a better season for 2008.

Enough said.

[Cat Young]

Good Gawd, look how many spectators are at this event!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibaEGsQ3PJ0

Ed note: Torino, Italy around 1990 /Jani

[Hans Koraeus]

I think we know pretty well how we want it. But we need professional people knowing how to create a good event in general. Mostly slalom events are just done by people who knows how to create a slalom race event. For doing the other layer around the actual race you need more budget, more people, more administration aso. You start to see events evolving and taking steps in the direction you speak about above. I think we are about to build something up. But it takes time. It has been the same for the most sports. It was not always so glamourus as it is today. Mostly what triggers it in the end is money. Sponsors who want media coverage and hype factor. But without hype you don't get good Sponsordeals and media. And without good sponsordeal and media it is hard to build up that hypefactor. But it is possible and a lot has happened these last 4-5 years. I think we are on the right track and slalom scene takes new steps every year. And hopefully we will continue doing so. And at some point suddenly we will reach that hype factor that will get the fire to burn. Slalom in my opinon has always been the skate discipline that has the biggest potential of getting a lot of active skaters. It's so easy and you can skate good from 7-nn years. But unfortunatly we have a big skatescene to fight against as well. It's sad but what can you say. Money rules the world...