United States Pro/Am Slalom Association

[Eddy Martinez]

After being away from slalom a year and a half. I have awoken. I am a bit dissappointed. 1.With myself. 2.With the direction United States slalom is going. Since the resurrection of the sport that was pushed hard by Jack Smith and the FCR. With out them I think alot of us would not have a clue or the idea to start our grassroot slalom organization. I spoke with Gary Glasser of the COSS Boys. He and I want to form a slalom association for the USA.
1. The governing board would be made up of one spoke person from each contest organizer or group. We do not want outside forces to govern our contest.
2. There would be a ranking system for USA skaters. Yes the ISSA has a ranking system, but this would include USA skaters only.
3. We would still follow the guide lines set by the ISSA. They are the govening body. With out rules. We have anarchy. We do not want this.
4. Europe, Brazil have their own skating organization. We do not.
5. We would charge annual dues/fees of 25$ for the year. This would go to helping out the smaller Races e.g. Kentucky Cone Fest, Wiggle War etc and bring them up to par with the bigger races.
6. What is meant by help: Timing sytem that can be shared from one contest to another, cones, possibly ramps, insurance, creating a website to cover the all of the contest that are going on throughout the slalom season .
7. On the Friday of the contest. The Pros would hold a slalom clinic for all of the Amatuers that are competing on Sat and Sun.
8. There would be Masters, Pros, Amatuers, Womens, Amatuers A, B, and C Class. Junior class.
9. At the end of the season we would have our overall champions in each class.
10. If you raced Pro you would not be allowed to race Am.
11. So far as I said Gary Glasser, Tom Manglesdorf, Lenny Poage, Joe I and myself are throwing ideas around. Joe I said it best " We lack unity ". I agree.
12. We have no vested interest in this venture. There is no money to be made here. And what ever money we do make goes to helping our sport prosper.
13 We need a true USA Amatuer and Pro Champion.
14. Skaters from all countries are welcome to attend our contest, but your placing as well as other racers would go to the ISSA World Ranking. The placings of the USA racers would go the American Ranking system.
Throw your ideas at us, we need feedback more than anything. This venture would require alot of hard work, but I know we can pull this off. Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws.

If you are an American Race Organizer Let's here from you. Jack Smith-Morro Bay, Richy and Maria Carasco-Pump Station. Pat Chewning, Gareth Roe-Gorge Games.

[Joe Iacovelli]

Ed,

*Please read the message below as it is intended, constructively. I really am not looking for you to answer, in fact I prefer you do not. I prefer careful reflection and fully formed ideals and plans. Please take the time to do so.*

This is a good start, but still, IMO, just the seeds of an idea. You need clear goals with a business plan to attain them. If you are going to ask people for money, they need tangible benefits, not promises (and not a t-shirt either). Lofty ideals are good, but pragmatism will win a lot more members in these times.

Consider member and non-member race fees, or your first race of the year includes your membership fee. Consider the cost of what you are willing to offer (timing, insurance, etc). How many memebers do you need in order to support that. What happens if someone breaks your timer (Tway loaned his timer and it came back busted). What if they don't ship it back at all?.

If you went to the bank and asked for money, you would need all of these details. If you are asking me for my money, I want them too.

And that is just the first part. How are you going to rank racers. You need a points system. Will it be different then Corky's? How about the classes. I can race AM/Pro/Master this weekend, and race something different the next weekend. Justin Collins declared himself Pro after winning the AM class of the Dixie Cup last year, and then won the World Am Title this year - and why shouldn't he? It's totally legit.

There is a whole lot to consider. If you are going to do, do it better and completely. I'm anxious for your complete and fully formed presentation.

[Eddy Martinez]

This is just the seeds of an idea. I do believe it should be the race organizer running this organization. Not outside forces. All I know I want ideas from all of the U S A racers. We need uniformity or stagnate. A rogue/GrassRoots loose group/organization should have direction and a goal. Keep those comments coming. Your Amigo Eddy Texas Outlaws.

[Marcos Soulsby-Monroy]

Eddy I wonder why the US needs to reinvent the Wheel here. Why not just have a US. organization under the ISSA umbrella? I know that they (the ISSA) are not perfect . . . Hello 6wheelers:) but who is. We could name a US amateur and Pro champion and put rules for thoses classes in the sanctioned contests in the rules we have already.

Do the ERO and Brazil orgs. comform to the ISSA rules?