I am sorry, how long were you "Grassroots Director" of USAT and how long has passed since you "resigned"? It would seem to me that what attention there was to grassroots people (however big or small) all fell apart under your watch as Director of Grassroots.
Please tell me, and others, exactly what good you have personally done over the past 5 years or so that you sat on the board, first as the chair and later as the grassroots director? Because frankly, I am not sure what you ever did, good or bad (other than oversee the destruction of what there was of a grassroots effort in the org.) Ohh, you handed my daughter her badge in Atlanta a few years back. Other than those 2 things, what did you accomplish during your years on the board?
Well, I worked my rear end off to attempt to protect athletes like your daughter in the 4 years I worked on that board. However, when the bylaws are written so the paid staff has a dictatorship, it does cause some problems. And when it takes 6 of 10 to vote for something and votes were running 4-6, it is also difficult.
Let's see - off the to of my head:
I got Grassroots Grants passed by the board and saw it canceled by the CEO because there is NO MONEY.
I am the reason there is bracketed forms at USAT events, it is a long, painful story, of office incompetence. Since the implementation of same, poomse competition numbers went up for the first time in organization history
I fought other directors who believe the way to support the grassroots was to put all energy into the elite competitors.
I negotiated the end of the HLTC Contract and was able to keep the compromise which would have allowed HP to keep a finger in - from happening. Not to mention the frequent threats that he was going to sue me.
I got the Women's Committee passed and a set of policies and procedures written, only to see it die as Kevin "didn't know what he wanted to do with it yet."
I was the only board member to introduce any bylaw amendments - especially those which brought the bylaws in line with the Colorado Nonprofit corp law.
I nagged incessantly to get money for the Poomsae team. I fought to get the office to handle their paperwork and not treat them like step children.
I had to talk to the WTF Secretary General to keep the WTF from canceling the IR seminar at the 2009 US Open because David insulted him and them.
I fought tooth and nail to get the selection process changed.
I brought conflicts of interest to light - regarding things like the Coaching Director being on the selection committee for National Assistant Coaches and also being a candidate. However, no one seemed to care.
I worked events so that I could see how things ran.
I kept the rules from changing 24 hours before the Florida Qualifier last year when it came to light that staff had changed the head kick rules and didn't tell anyone, outside of page 37 of the downloaded book.
I proposed the election bylaw changes which will never see light of day which would eliminate the reduction to 3 names on the ballot. CEO doesn't want that one. It's dead.
While the CEO was out of the country, I had USOC call about fixing the USOC election procedures which were rejected by the USOC.
I filed an Ethics Complaint (1 of 3) on the female board member who stated that it is her firm belief that the governance of this organization should be handled by the men as this is a male dominated sport and the men could handle it better - with the idea that up and coming females like your daughter wouldn't have to deal with the glass ceiling and gender discrimination, but the EC decided it was a board issue and they don't see a problem.
If this is not enough for you, I would be thrilled to add to this list.
For those who want Mr. Kaufman's number - a lot of the old qualifier info packets and others have staff member cell numbers - so I consider them public domain.
