If what I am hearing is correct, the new BOD will be making a point of HELPING new people to run events this coming year. I have heard several excellent suggestions in that vein, such as a one-click "how to run a race" on the ISSA home page (thank you Fatty and Joe). Shit, I'd love to run a race, but I am the only person in this area and cannot afford ramps timers etc. on my own - but with help it could easily happen. We now have at least wo timing systems I know of that the owners have volunteered to mail around New England for the purpose of running races. Antrim has two great starting ramps and now a trailer to move them. I know of at least 15 racers around NE who are new to slalom in the last two years. I've coached a number of them myself. Then there are all the kids who tried slalom for the first time at Woodward this summer through the efforts of Joe and his team.
In the last three years, I've heard too many people in the "older" generation lament the fact that they are the only ones running races, or that the sport is "dying", yet no proactive steps were being taken to make that change. It seems there was a lot of "nobody appreciates what I do so I'm quitting" instead of "we need to teach others to do this and help them to do it"...so we can retire (jab intended)...or race without worrying about being an organizer of course.
Speaking for myself, I went to 5 main and 1 major race in the US this year, had a blast, and spent the limit of what I could afford to do so. It may have been different in the past, but my perception was that there was plenty! Throw in the 4 or 5 small outlaws I went to and it was a pretty darn full season. Those outlaws could easily be bigger events if the ISSA had some money behind it to help out - another thing that sounds like it is in the works. A lot of us are good racers, and many are great event organizers, but what is clearly needed is more of a business model and mind behind an organized and active sanctioning body, and that sounds like it is happening. I would have accepted my nomination and run for the board if I didn't have some pressing personal issues which are likely to make 2010 a year of upheaval and change for me - maybe in 2011 - but I'm still gonna give input where I can. Helping to make the world rankings happen this year is just a start.
I've heard the "slalom is dying" lament fairly regularly the past three years too - but the number of new faces, and more importantly YOUNG new faces, I see at races just since I got back into it in 2006 is huge. One comment I do hear regularly from many of the new racers is "why do these people all seem to dislike each other so much"? They hear all the negative talk about so-and-so did this or that, and they read all the contentious stuff on the 'net that we (yes, me too) post...that has to stop or they will get turned off.
I really feel that if we look and move forward, forget past issues and personality conflicts, and really work together with a unified vision devoid of petty disagreements, that there is plenty of room and a strong likelihood of growth for this sport.
I'd love to go to a race, say in 2011, where a bunch of enthusiatic kids are running the show, and Cbark, Mig, Joe, Jason/Terri, Garth and Pat, DHB "elders" (no offense
etc. can all just race and hang out, do some coaching, have a beer and relax. I bet EVERYBODY would be happier, and that would attract even more people - nobody wants to miss out on a good time, right?Jordan's plan for running the Sizzler this year is a HUGE step in the right direction. Let's not look back. It seems things got a little stagnant for some, and understandably. I'm here to tell you I have had the time of my life doing this the past three seasons and I thank all you guys who have worked so hard to run the races from the bottom of my heart - even if you were burnt beyond burnt from doing it for so long. It's a new day baby - let's ride!!
-RF
