NEWSLINE STORY
published March - April 2017
President's
Message
Council
Introductions, Goals and Challenge for Membership
by Stu Sipma, NHPA President
I first want to start my President’s Message by welcoming Gary Roberts to the NHPA Council. Gary was elected at the 2016 delegate meeting and took over the duties of 1st VP January 1st. Gary replaces Dan Sanders.
The NHPA Council held their annual winter meeting Jan. 20-21 in Las Vegas. All Officers were present with the exception of Jerry LaBrosse and Tina Hawkins.
This year’s winter meeting included two full days of meeting topics. Some of the main topics on the agenda included: finalizing our 2017 goals, reviewing the 2016 financial report, establishing our 2017 budget, review of proposed by-law changes, review the 2017 W.T., future of game related sales, membership and sanction league reports to name a few.
I do want to outline that our goals have changed slightly. We have added one new goal to “Continue to Integrate Technology”. All of these goals are very important to the Executive Council and hope they are just as important to all of you.
· Increase Membership
· Control Spending- Maintain/Attempt to grow the General Fund 2%-3%/yr.
· Promote the Sport of Horseshoe by continuing to incorporate recommendations by marketing research
· Support and Maintain the NHPA HOF Museum memorabilia
· Secure National Sponsorships
· Provide Consistency and Improvements throughout the Charters
· Continue to Integrate Technology
Dave Sidles prepared a report to the Council that the adult membership count has declined slightly. Adult members dropped from 9,661 in 2015 to 9,315 in 2016. Juniors, however, increased from 440 in 2015 to 463 in 2016. My message to the Charters is that if we ALL don’t do our part and get new members to sign up and participate, the Council has no option other than to review the need to raise our membership dues. Membership dues are the only revenue to run our business.
Dave Sidles reported to the Council our current financials for 2016. The Council went through the financials with a fine-tooth comb. I want to thank Dave for a great report. The Council did finalize the 2017 budget at the end of the second day.
One of our toughest decisions the Council made at our winter meeting was to determine the future of our Game Related Sales (GRS). At our 2016 NHPA annual delegate meeting in Montgomery, AL, it was announced that we would discuss this and come to a decision on how to proceed. In what we feel is in the best interest of the NHPA, the decision was made to close down GRS. This will occur at the conclusion of the 2017 World Tournament. When it started out, GRS was the sole source of horseshoe pitching equipment outside of the local hardware store. Ed Doomey originally started this business. Well, times have changed and this portion of our overall business is no longer viable. It's likely that for many of you this will be a barely noticeable change. The NHPA will be there to help direct you to one of the many independent distributors. Many of these same distributors will also be at tournaments around the country selling horseshoes and related products. And we will always have horseshoe sales at our World Tournaments.
The Council would like to welcome Wayne Callicoate to our NHPA Staff. Wayne has been appointed as our new NATSTATS Director replacing Rob Hagman. If you need to contact Wayne for any NATSTATS questions, please email him at wayne.callicoate@sbcglobal.net. If you get a chance, please stop by and introduce yourself to Wayne, he will be at the 2017 W.T. in St. George.
The Council would also like to announce a new I.T. Director position. Rob Hagman will take over the duties of this position and will be responsible for the setup/teardown of all the W.T. computers/IT equipment and cameras. He will also retain his duties as our W.T. Statistician. Rob will also be assigned the technical support for the HS master software. This is a position that has been needed especially with all the changes we have made to our electronic scoring at the World Tournament.
Regarding the 2017 World Tournament, the entry form is on the website for you to print out. The schedule will be finalized around May. The W.T. entry fee will remain the same as last year, adult’s entry fee is $130 and juniors $25.
Positions up for re-election this year are the 2nd VP, 4th VP and Sec/Treas. Tina Hawkins and Dave Sidles have submitted to me their interest in running for another term, however the position of 4th VP is open for candidacy. Jerry LaBrosse has decided not to run another term. Jerry is currently responsible for Charter Communications, and W.T. court layout/set up/teardown. He also inspects all the equipment for the W.T. and makes repairs (as needed). Jerry also serves on the Rules & By-Laws committee.
Per the By-Laws (ARTICLE V Section 7) Candidates for NHPA Office must announce their candidacy in writing, to be received by the President and the Horseshoe Pitching Newsline Editor no later than April 1st, 2017. Please know that the current roles Jerry is serving may change with the new incumbent pending on their experience. The President has the authority to make these changes in the best interest of the NHPA. I want to thank Jerry LaBrosse for all his work on the Council since 2006. Jerry said he would like to stay engaged in helping out wherever he can.
In conclusion, I challenge each and every one of you to inspire your clubs within your Charters to sign up members and not only adult members but junior members too! If each Charter would take this initiative this year, can you imagine how membership would grow? Come on everyone; do your part this spring and sign up new members. Let’s see what we can do to turn this trend back the other way.
I wish everyone a very successful and safe new year. I am looking forward to a great turnout this summer at the 2017 World Tournament in St. George, UT July 17th – 29th. Don’t forget to get your reservations made early!
Thank You.
Stu