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TheAirHockeyGuy - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 472

I agree with you both Andrew and Brian. A lot of what I want to do will not work with the way the USAA is structured. As I began to research some of the legal requirements for a non-profit organization I continually wonder what actually is in place currently, if anything, and whether or not it is even worth it to try and make it right or just start from scratch. In response to your question Andrew, currently the route I would currently take to decide the type of business to make the USAA would be to make it, or ensure that it is a registered non profit organization. The organization would have to follow the rules and regulations put forth by the IRS regarding Social and Recreational Clubs in order to remain tax-exempt. The $ limits provided by the IRS are more than enough for the USAA or a new organization to operate under. If you visit the IRS website and look under non-profits you can see some of the requirements to register as a non-profit. My initial reading did not present any huge red flags that would make us ineligible to go this route. Finiancial records do need to be kept however the reporting requirements to remain a non-profit are not very complicated. The IRS just wants to see how much money you brought in and where it came from. As long as the majority of the money is brought in my your membership there are no problems. The organization is even allowed money from non members but it cannot exceed 35% of the total money brought in. As long as the gross receipts total less than $50,000 there is a simple 7 or 8 question form that must be filled out each year to remain tax exempt. Given this information, I'm still not sure where my efforts are better spent, starting something new or working with what is already established.

Chris Lee
Co-Founder, CEO
Air Hockey Players Association (AHPA)

TheAirHockeyGuy - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 472

Davisl said:

Ideas, visions and dreams are great. Unfortunately, there are too many dreamers, and not enough doers. Don't talk about what we should do, there's no one stopping anyone from doing things. Don't blame the USAA's shortcomings for holding back the sport - the USAA is the last thing anyone needs to worry about. THE USAA IS AN ASSOCIATION, IT IS ALL OF US, SO IF IT HAS FAILED, WE HAVE ALL FAILED.

Davis- I agree that everyone should do their part in promoting and growing the sport. I also agree that many of us fail in this department. However nobody outside of the USAA has any real obligation to do so. Is it beneficial for the growth of air hockey? Absolutely, but the USAA has responsibilities and duties as dictated by its constitution which it is not fulfilling. We have every right to blame the USAA for its shortcomings as it has done nothing to advance the sport.

Chris Lee
Co-Founder, CEO
Air Hockey Players Association (AHPA)

brain - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 578

While there are those in life who are naturally driven to succeed, even when there is no reward beyond the sense of accomplishment, most people do not operate this way. Most people do just enough to get by. (Even I cut corners sometimes because it is necessary). That is human nature. The forefathers of our country recognized the failings of human nature and designed a system with checks and balances. Such is the same for us. It is time to revise the system because it is out of balance.

The key is to understand that it is not anybody's fault. There is no need to assess blame. We are where we are because this is all part of the natural evolutionary cycle of a group. (I analyze Corporate Law Departments for a living and see much of the same thing over and over as the groups struggle to evolve to implement best practices and achieve new levels of awareness and efficiency.) The current structure was designed for a handful of people to manage the organization with little red tape and structure to allow max flexibility. But as the interest and needs have grown, this no longer is valid. You need a solid risk/reward model and incentive/accountability plan built into the structure. That ensures both incentive for leaders to operate and members to expect reasonable progress.

The biggest change that needs to occur is very much the same as in our country - attitude. Since the beginning of time, there have been those who expect something for nothing. That will never change. Mankind will always have some semblance of sloth in its numbers. But the tolerance of this and the tolerance of ineptitude must change. Players must both want for better things AND (and a big and here) be willing to do what it takes to achieve that. This was Davis's point. Every human being has visions of better things. But achievement requires personal sacrifice. It requires setting reasonable expectations, and, if they are not being met, not being afraid to impose accountability. On the counter, it requires acknowledgement of achievement and reward for it. Any of us for work for corporations know about having goals and then a system of measurement versus those goals. Fall short, and your employment is in jeopardy. Meet them and you keep your job. Beat them and you get a bonus.

So long as this community operates on the attitude of being happy to get meager handouts and doesn't demand reasonable minimal requirements in organizational and promotional governance and doesn't support fair reward for exceeding expectations, we will be having these same discussions 10, 20, 30 and 100 years from now with little or no progress made. Adjust the attitude (much like adjusting a cross straight against a stingy defense) and prosperity will follow.

Your speaking out, Chris, is a first step in the right direction. Thanks for sharing your voice. It is nice to know there are others who see it and have the guts to express it.

Brian

tableman - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 690

ajflanagan said:

First, as far as I'm aware, the USAA is not a legal entity. It's not a functioning business or non-profit.

Andrew - you ought to come to more USAA meetings, then you'd know more of what's going on. :)

About 4 or five years ago the Board discussed the issue and we agreed to begin registering USAA as a non-profit in a few states, to at least get us on the board, so to speak, to head off any usurper of the name. We had volunteers to register USAA in Colorado, Texas, and Georgia, but to my knowledge, I'm the only one who followed through. The United States Air Hockey Association is a legally registered non-profit corporation, registered in the state of CO. And being registered in at least one state means all the other states will recognize it, just as a corporation registered in Delaware is recognized by other states as legitimate.

State registration is easy, but as Chris says, federal IRS 501(c)3 status is much more complicated. The good news is: as long as your association's revenues average below $5,000/year, you don't need federal registration to be a non-profit, to have donations be tax-deductible, and to not owe taxes on your revenues. Go to irs.gov and read publication 557.

BTW I agree with Andrew about what the USAA is designed to do. It really was set up to be, and evolved to be, more of a rule-making and sanctioning body - a voice for the players - and not to be the direct promoter of events.

Mark

Juggernaut - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 121

Warning: No ideas ahead.

Man, is it 2001 or 2011? Same people making the same arguments with the same effects.

travis - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 530

ajflanagan said:

Here's what I think the USAA should focus on...

Keep the Worldwide player base together and informed. Build an official USAA website and leave AHW for the promoters that own it, built it and manage it.

I'm confused... I thought that's what I was doing with AHW. AirHockeyWorld isn't built for one promoter or group; it's for the entire air hockey world to be able to view and exchange information. I have tried to provide as much visibility to all air hockey promoters as they are willing to use on the site, and I am willing to give access to players to broadcast their own promotional activities, if they want it.

Over the last couple of years, I have made every attempt (in futility, it would seem) to make this a space for USAA information to be seen and shared. If the USAA officers can't even use this site for USAA affairs, then I'm not sure creating a new USAA-specific site would gain much.

Travis Luscombe
AirHockeyWorld.com Webmaster
http://twitter.com/air_hockey

jasonstevens - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 176

I agree with Travis

travis said:

ajflanagan said:

Juggernaut - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 121

travis said:

I'm confused... I thought that's what I was doing with AHW. AirHockeyWorld isn't built for one promoter or group; it's for the entire air hockey world to be able to view and exchange information. I have tried to provide as much visibility to all air hockey promoters as they are willing to use on the site, and I am willing to give access to players to broadcast their own promotional activities, if they want it.

Over the last couple of years, I have made every attempt (in futility, it would seem) to make this a space for USAA information to be seen and shared. If the USAA officers can't even use this site for USAA affairs, then I'm not sure creating a new USAA-specific site would gain much.

Whether or not the USAA can use this site's functionality for promotional purposes has no bearing on whether or not the USAA needs its own website, any more than the existence of Facebook fan pages obviates the need for corporations to maintain their own Web presence.

Note that I'm not arguing whether or not the USAA should establish a website (it would just gather dust).

- 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 658

While i want growth too, and am realistic with the idea that Airhockey can grow largely, i think taking some real baby steps and not biting off more than we can chew is a real good idea.
First, the idea of buying 8 tables and storing them, then the storing costs involved, is way too much money right now for the USAA can come up with in a short time, unless someone wants to just donate that sort of money. I think however, that with a player base like Houstons, that we could get a few people there just to store these tables in their homes or garages. They could in turn get free use from them, and maybe some free admissions to tournaments in return. That way, we just eliminated a sizeable yearly storage fee. Along with that, Houston would even have more tables to have at their tournaments, and we'd only have to worry about shipping costs to somewhere like Vegas, etc.
While, i've thought long ago about ways the USAA could get tables, the money obstacles of storing and shipping were always hindering reality at that time. But if people can pitch in, with the ways described above, i think it's much more realistic to try and do this.

travis - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 530

Juggernaut said:

Note that I never said the USAA shouldn't have a web presence. I just said it wouldn't gain much from it.

Travis Luscombe
AirHockeyWorld.com Webmaster
http://twitter.com/air_hockey

ajflanagan - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 509

Juggernaut said:

Warning: No ideas ahead.

Man, is it 2001 or 2011? Same people making the same arguments with the same effects.

Wil, all cynicism aside. Ten years ago, in 2001, I attended my first weekly air hockey tournament at Shooters in Houston. I had never played competitive air hockey before that. I certainly had no intentions at that time of getting involved in event promotion. But, a lot has happened while you've been away. In 2009, I was proud to be an integral part of a team of Houston promoters that organized the largest tournament in the history of the sport. In 2010, we did it again... and added the largest sponsor contributions to the list, too. In fact, we provided quite an impressive stage for Davis to win a World Championship on. So yes, I agree that talk is cheap. But talk that is backed up by the actions of highly capable people is invaluable to our sport.

I am just one example of what motivated players are capable of given the support.

I, for one, am excited that someone as intelligent and level headed as Chris is now eager to jump into the fray.

This forum is here for us to talk and share ideas. Yet, every time an active and positive conversation begins, cynics like you come out of the woodwork, literally, to stomp it out or make people feel stupid for having a discussion. Would you rather talk about dungeons and dragons?

Personally, I'm not interested in the politics of the USAA. That is not where my strengths are. However, as a promoter, it is in my interest to make sure that the USAA remains a stable entity with a purpose and with some sort of value to the player base. Without the USAA, a tournament is just a tournament. It's not a "USAA Sanctioned" tournament... for whatever perceived value that adds.

ajflanagan - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 509

travis said:

I don't really know how to explain this to you Travis... but it's all about creating a presence and more importantly... credibility.

I'll put it this way. The printing industry has a number of general printing related websites where business owners, printers, designers, sign makers, etc can get together and share ideas, discuss new technology, ask for help with problems, get critiques on designs, etc. If I went to one of those sites and tried to use a thread on their forums to represent my own company, it probably would not be very effective. It certainly wouldn't add to the credibility of my business. In a nutshell, it would just look bad. My company needs to represent itself like it's the real deal.

The USAA is an organization made up of some highly intelligent people. I firmly believe that it wouldn't take an act of God for the USAA to establish its own presence on the web. It's actually a fairly simple process. But, sadly, the USAA is too dysfuntional to make even the simplest of things happen in a timely manner.

travis - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 530

ajflanagan said:

travis said:

Yes, I think the USAA should have a web presence. Since that doesn't exist currently, I have been doing my best to give the USAA at least SOME presence via AHW.

But if they're not even willing or able to use AHW to disseminate information, then who in the hell is going to be physically creating the USAA website and posting content for it? Oh yeah....probably me, right?

Travis Luscombe
AirHockeyWorld.com Webmaster
http://twitter.com/air_hockey

Darth_Wafu - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 117

ajflanagan said:

Would you rather talk about dungeons and dragons?

I prefer league of legends or starcraft 2 myself

As for the topic at hand, I think Chris definitely has some good ideas. A free mobile app for ratings is a fantastic idea. In addition, I do believe having more frequent and easily accessible board meetings for the USAA is a necessity. In the 70s and 80s it made sense to have one board meeting in person per year. With the internet (particularly with the awesome resource Travis is providing in this site), USAA business could be conducted year round. Trying to do everything in one 4 hour meeting per year is not getting it done, and I doubt it ever will.

Nick Geoffroy

Davisl - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 168

Darth_Wafu said:

ajflanagan said:

Would you rather talk about dungeons and dragons?

Now this is the best simple idea I've heard in awhile. Having the USAA board meetings twice a year thru web chat would be awesome. There would be more widespread viewing of the meeting, better questions and discussions brought up by people who don't normally attend the meetings, etc. A major reason why people don't attend and participate is that it takes so much time and is so boring. If we could view it and walk away when we needed to, it would be much more effective. Good idea Nick! Someone get this passed, I have no idea what the procedure is.

Juggernaut - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 121

Darth_Wafu said:

As for the topic at hand, I think Chris definitely has some good ideas. A free mobile app for ratings is a fantastic idea. In addition, I do believe having more frequent and easily accessible board meetings for the USAA is a necessity. In the 70s and 80s it made sense to have one board meeting in person per year. With the internet (particularly with the awesome resource Travis is providing in this site), USAA business could be conducted year round. Trying to do everything in one 4 hour meeting per year is not getting it done, and I doubt it ever will.

The question raised, however, is what "it" is, and it's a good question. But talkers just talk, nobody ever puts together a plan, and so it's the same old same old.

Congrats to anyone that had a hand in running two tournaments in a single decade, we couldn't have gotten here without you.

(And I made FAR more money off D&D in seven years than all the air hockey champions combined over the past thirty. So yes, I'd rather talk about D&D. Maybe the USAA and its quinquennial promoters have something to learn. :) )

Also, I think the team that's put on the last two Houston events should definitely put on a Vegas event. They'll probably find out that it's not easy to promote and run an event that doesn't have a prefab player base and isn't in your backyard. If they ever tried it, though, they'd probably do a pretty good job!

Juggernaut - 24 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 121

Davisl said:

Now this is the best simple idea I've heard in awhile. Having the USAA board meetings twice a year thru web chat would be awesome. There would be more widespread viewing of the meeting, better questions and discussions brought up by people who don't normally attend the meetings, etc. A major reason why people don't attend and participate is that it takes so much time and is so boring. If we could view it and walk away when we needed to, it would be much more effective. Good idea Nick! Someone get this passed, I have no idea what the procedure is.

It does sound simple, but there are some key questions.

First, what lessons were learned from the first attempt at electronic board activity?

Second, if people are just getting up and walking away, who's listening and evaluating ideas?

Third, are you sure the time and location is a major reason people don't attend and participate? Some sort of evidence for that assertion should be gathered before it's acted upon. I could offer several alternative conjectures for why people don't attend and participate. :)

Fourth, what is the point of encouraging more participation in USAA board activities? What are the goals you are trying to meet?

Fifth, how would electronic meetings be scheduled? Duck's Ninth Maxim states:

It is never possible to arrange a meeting between any three people at a mutually convenient time at the first attempt. The reason is that (Curto 2009) â€œthe probability of finding a common time follows a Poisson distribution, which, you guessed it correctly, leads to an exponentially decaying probability density function. As the number of people increases, the scheduling conflicts increase exponentially, thereby the exponential decrease for the probability that we could find a common time."

Sixth, allow me to talk about Dungeons & Dragons for a bit. Well, ok, actually online games and Dunbar's Number. There are some interesting conclusions to be drawn from the study of social networks in online games (IOW, guilds) that heavily inform the problems we've had in organizing and growing air hockey. Check out http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/2004/03/the_dunbar_numb.html", and then the followups (though particularly http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/2005/10/dunbar_group_co.html "2005-19 Dunbar Number and Group Cohesion" from which the following quote comes:

"I've been saying for some time that studying online games is a valuable place to understanding social software. I'm quite pleased that this research is proving this to be true."

That research is showing that small groups maintain cohesion between 5-8 members and then lose it between 10-20 before it starts trending upward toward 50, which is approximately the optimal group size for technical/organizational work, rather than survival work that is measured by Dunbar's Number. I'm seriously abridging it, though, so have a read.

Essentially, before you seek group cohesion through online social networking, be sure that your goals align with your methods and more importantly with probable outcomes.

jasonstevens - 25 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 176

Davisl said:

Darth_Wafu said:

ajflanagan said:

Would you rather talk about dungeons and dragons?

Possibly with new officers it would be very easy. The current officers could have more meetings if they wanted as there is a place for it on this site.

TheAirHockeyGuy - 25 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 472

I appreciate the comments and support of everyone that has participated in this colorful discussion. I guess the floodgates were opened in my brain and pretty much every idea that I have had regarding air hockey spilled out. I agree that much of what I said are things for the future and not necessarily right now. Take my ideas as an insight to the types of things that I see as possible for the USAA and would like to someday work towards for now. However, for now, these are the items I would consider my immediate platform (Some I covered early in this thread):

1. Transparency- The workings of the USAA need to be communicated with the air hockey community. A newsletter should go out at least quarterly to keep people informed of what is going on with air hockey and what is currently being worked on.
2. Planning- I would really like for the USAA to be able to announce the two major tournaments for the year by the end of January. The USAA should ask for bids from the states interested in hosting a tournament and then decide which locations have the resources necessary to hold a tournament. Tournaments will be sanctioned by the board using standards established by the USAA.
3. Board Meetings - thinking anything will be accomplished by meeting at most twice a year is not realistic. Issues should be presented throughout the year and we should set a time frame for voting. Maybe have a vote at least every quarter with deadlines as to when issues can be presented for the next voting session. The USAA should use the section created by Travis to hold discussions on new issues and to conduct votes.
4. Change the eligibility requirements for voting and organizational structure- we need more people involved and represented in the USAA. I would like to see representatives from each state with an active player base as part of the USAA board (exact number to be voted upon by the board). Each state should be able to elect who they want to represent their player base and representatives should be allowed to vote on all issues. The current board members would remain in tact in addition to the new representatives from each state.

These are my main ideas and I will respond to any questions anyone has on these issues. I have said my piece and will now sit back and leave the rest up to the current leadership. Thank you all for listening.

Chris Lee
Co-Founder, CEO
Air Hockey Players Association (AHPA)

travis - 25 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 530

Juggernaut said:

Essentially, before you seek group cohesion through online social networking, be sure that your goals align with your methods and more importantly with probable outcomes.

So what are some goals that the USAA can accomplish, short-term? I think one thing the USAA is lacking right now is organization. Here are my own non-PhD thoughts on what we could do to improve organization:

1. Have a definitive, transparent, and maintained list of active members

a. I'm not sure there is a current "official" list of active members. If there is one, it's on Michael Rosen's laptop, and it needs to be moved somewhere that can be accessed by someone that has the time to publish it regularly.

b. Once we get that list nailed down, the Secretary and/or Treasurer should go through it a couple of weeks prior to USAA meetings, and then publish who will need to pay dues at the next meeting, and who will need to be voted on for move up/down. If we know this ahead of time, we can probably save some time in the meeting.

c. Once all of the dues are paid and the move ups/downs happen, the Secretary and Treasurer should work together and produce an updated list no later than two weeks (or some specific time) after the USAA meeting.

2. Make sure USAA meeting decisions are getting recorded somewhere and acted upon

a. It's one thing to go to a four-hour meeting and make some decisions. But if can't even review what is decided, then what's the point of meeting in the first place? Does anyone remember everything that was voted on or decided on at the 2010 tournament? The minutes should be recorded and displayed somewhere, again within a certain amount of time after the meeting.

b. When we do decide we're going to act on something, we should come up with some short-term actions that can be performed to get us towards that goal, who is going to do them, and what resources they're going to need. For example, we created a "technology" or "web" committee for the USAA, and decided on people to be in the committee, but haven't had any clear idea of what they were supposed to do. Forgive my ignorance of USAA procedure, but do we appoint a committee chair? If so, maybe we should task them with coming up with these tasks, and then reporting some kind of regular status update (monthly, bimonthly?) Or if nothing is happening, at least we can be aware of it at the next status update and scrap the idea if it's not moving forward.

c. Changes to the rules similarly need to be recorded and updated in some visible "official" rules list. I've been trying to keep the USAA rules on here up-to-date as possible, but the official rules should be maintained and posted following any USAA meeting that introduces a rules change.

I'll post more thoughts later as I have time.

Travis Luscombe
AirHockeyWorld.com Webmaster
http://twitter.com/air_hockey

TheAirHockeyGuy - 25 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 472

TheAirHockeyGuy said:

Also, ease the requirements for becoming an officer to allow more ambitious people with good ideas the opportunity to take action.

Chris Lee
Co-Founder, CEO
Air Hockey Players Association (AHPA)

jasonstevens - 25 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 176

TheAirHockeyGuy said:

Also, ease the requirements for becoming an officer to allow more ambitious people with good ideas the opportunity to take action.

Or maybe add some other positions to the Board that would fall below the ones we have now. Adding 2-3 people might be helpful as it seems not all of the officers attend the meetings.

Juggernaut - 25 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 121

travis said:

1. Have a definitive, transparent, and maintained list of active members

a. I'm not sure there is a current "official" list of active members. If there is one, it's on Michael Rosen's laptop, and it needs to be moved somewhere that can be accessed by someone that has the time to publish it regularly.

b. Once we get that list nailed down, the Secretary and/or Treasurer should go through it a couple of weeks prior to USAA meetings, and then publish who will need to pay dues at the next meeting, and who will need to be voted on for move up/down. If we know this ahead of time, we can probably save some time in the meeting.

c. Once all of the dues are paid and the move ups/downs happen, the Secretary and Treasurer should work together and produce an updated list no later than two weeks (or some specific time) after the USAA meeting.

2. Make sure USAA meeting decisions are getting recorded somewhere and acted upon

a. It's one thing to go to a four-hour meeting and make some decisions. But if can't even review what is decided, then what's the point of meeting in the first place? Does anyone remember everything that was voted on or decided on at the 2010 tournament? The minutes should be recorded and displayed somewhere, again within a certain amount of time after the meeting.

b. When we do decide we're going to act on something, we should come up with some short-term actions that can be performed to get us towards that goal, who is going to do them, and what resources they're going to need. For example, we created a "technology" or "web" committee for the USAA, and decided on people to be in the committee, but haven't had any clear idea of what they were supposed to do. Forgive my ignorance of USAA procedure, but do we appoint a committee chair? If so, maybe we should task them with coming up with these tasks, and then reporting some kind of regular status update (monthly, bimonthly?) Or if nothing is happening, at least we can be aware of it at the next status update and scrap the idea if it's not moving forward.

c. Changes to the rules similarly need to be recorded and updated in some visible "official" rules list. I've been trying to keep the USAA rules on here up-to-date as possible, but the official rules should be maintained and posted following any USAA meeting that introduces a rules change.

I'll post more thoughts later as I have time.

Excellent post. Short-term goals are necessary to any group because they encourage both focus as well as satisfaction and identification. All of these are excellent suggestions and are a good starting point for a new administration, who ignores them at their own peril. Member move-up justifications and rebuttals are a great example of things that should happen electronically, because there are clear guidelines and any rebuttals are usually just egos butting heads, wasting time.

Juggernaut - 25 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 121

jasonstevens said:

Or maybe add some other positions to the Board that would fall below the ones we have now. Adding 2-3 people might be helpful as it seems not all of the officers attend the meetings.

This is also a good suggestion, as it would help the board fall within that 5-8 person range that is optimal for technological and organizational tasks in online groups.

If I could extend your suggestion, I would also do away with "officers" altogether. You can still have a board, but the officer nomenclature constrains both expectations and energy on the part of those who want to *do* things. The organizational structure of the USAA has inhibited it since Day One, though outside forces have obscured at certain points in our history. Rosen has it right, we need a commissioner, and then we need point men that would act like the team owners do in major league sports, developing their own brand within the confines of the commissioner's direction and some charter document. This will unleash people's energy and creativity rather than keeping them fighting over trivialities.

No other sport is organized like an Elks Lodge.

brain - 29 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 578

Travis has hit the nail on the head. These activities are EXACTLY what the USAA should be doing. These are its current5 minimum requirements which are not being met.

And Wil, we would do an excellent job if given a tournament in Vegas. :) And we would actually communicate much more effectively.

The fact that you and so many others think it is OK that less than 5 weeks from the tournament literally one post has been made by the organizer is acceptible is concerning. Commnunication is the key to everything. Think of it like this. I am about to get a PMP certification (professional project manager certification). Organizing is nothing more than a project. It has a beginning and an end and a specific set of goals. The "organizer" acts as the project manager and his "team" is the project management team. We, the players, are the customers, and Vally-Dynamo would be the "project sponsor".

All that said, do you know how PMI, an internationally recognized project management organization, says that a project manager spends 90% of his/her time? on "COMMUNICATION". An effective project manager communicates often and regularly, especially with the sponsors and customer so as to keep them informed of activities.

Nobody is questioning the difficulty in organizing an event in another city. There are absolutely challenges. But here is another PMP concept. Kill point. Many project are divided into phases. And air-hockey tournament is definitely one of those. Phased 1 is ensuring that you have the big 3 covered: 1) Location, 2) Table, 3) Baseline funding to cover minimual expense requirements. Phase 2 is developing the budgetary needs and setting baselines (i.e. the project management plan). You determine entry fees, prize structure, events, formats, policies, ability to comply with USAA standards and precedence, etc. Once all of this is done, Phase 2 ends with the official announcement. Phase 3 are the promotional and advertiding activities, and Phase 4 is the actual tournament execution.

The project must have 2 kill points. Att he end of phase 1 and end of phase 2. If at th end of phase 1 you have not secured the big 3, you do not have the minimal resources and the tournament efforts shoudl cease. AT the end of Phase II, if you cannot set costs, values and policies effectively, then you kill the event. Once the announcement is made,there is no turning back.

The kill point dates need to be set well in advance of the planned event to give the "customers" (i.s. the player) adequate time to plan and purchase airfare at a reasonable rate.

The point of all of this is that we are inside of 5 weeks now and there has been not little but ZERO communication. If this were being properly managed, then we have well passed what should ahve ben either kill point. If the affairs have not yet been resolved, then the event shoudl be withdrawn.

This is where the USAA can serve a simple function - sanctioning standards.

brain - 29 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 578

...continued

Sanctioning standards are currently based on "tradition". Tradition has been 8 weeks to announce and share details of the tournament. "Tradition" has been that any player can play regardless of race, gender, religious affiliation, and AGE. To disallow players under 21 is discrimination and eliminates an age bracket that has crowned 2 or 3 world champions (Tim Weissman, Jose Mora, and I think Wil Upchurch). But none of that matters because there are no "written" standards allowing for players to let things slip and slip and slip. At some point in time, you must have pride in what you do.

I have dedicated 20 years of my life to this sport, 15 of which have been in running and promoting tournaments. As Wil says, there has been talk talk talk for those 20 years but only a handful of people actually invest the time and dollars to implement those ideas. The fact that so many of the players want for better things is encouraging, and yet they are tolerant of obvious ineptitude is offensive. Yes we do have to recognize that people are volunteers, but, even in a volunteer, environment, there must be minimum standards. In the case of the USAA, maintaining a financial register of money management, memnbership list, and meeting minutes. If you can't do those 3 simple things, how can you be expected to do anything even remotely more complicated?

I will say this for the upteenth time: The player base in Houston is not a free gift. We work very hard to maintain and grow it every week. Andrew Flanagan found SRO, and Phil and I have been managing that relationship and weekly tournament for 3 years now and Travis has provided a nice web site and program for running the events and housing the data (which is available for free for everybody). And when people suggest we have some unfair advantage, in Houston, that is offensive. We EARN it every week by contributing our precious time and talents (and in some cases our treasure). What I earn is not a gift. (Well according to Barack Hussein Obama it is.) :)

Answer this: Name one professional sport where the governing body would allow a "World Championship" event to be announced 10 weeks prior to the date and then no details provided to inside of 5 weeks with no indication of when such details would be provided. Gee, I can't think of any. We hear over and over how we want bigger and better things. And yet nobody will hold Mr. Rosen accountable for that. Why? Plane tickets are now nearing $500 from Houston. I could barely afford that. Can somebody making $10 an hour? no way. Advanced notice is not just a courtesy, it should be a necessity because planing is everything. Are we all really lacking in general common sense and the concept of "accountability" and "minimal standards"? Really?

Brian

brain - 29 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 578

...and I agree with Wil that the officer struture is all wrong, but we don't need a dictator - oops I mean a commissioner. Most not-for profits or non-profits have a board of members who are deeply vested in the affairs ofthe organization. Most models usually require board members to invest financially in the organization. The organization will also have other revenue streams like general membership where regular members paydues in exchange for some serviced (like a newsletter and privileges for having thaqt membership like discounts at tournaments sanctione by the organization).

The board will then hre "administrators" and give them fancy ttles and pay them to do the work for the orgazanization. The administers do the work as assigned by the board. This model allows only financially and spiritually vested individuals to be part of the decision-making body (removing people who never look beyond their own needs and choosing a path that benefits the greater good) and then removes authority from a "doer" but compensates the doer for the work creating a balance of acountability and reward. The administrator(s) have incentive to do the work. If the board says draft a set of sanctioning standards by X date, the admin does it or is canned and a new one is hired. Pay can be task base or continual.

THIS is the tructure we need for our governing organization.

Thanks,

Brian

brain - 29 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 578

1 last thing since I am on a roll: ;)

Anybody who would suggest that my motive is to discredit another promoter so as to avoid acknowledging the legitimacy of my points, please note:

1) I supported Rosen's involvement in our event last year, and I have helped him run his events and Yevish's in Vegas in the past. I like Rosen personally and want for his success, as more tournaments is good for air-hockey.
2) I have never won a singles title
3) I am 38 years old and alreay beyond the oldest age ever won by a champion(36)
4) As such, my window of opportunity to win a singles tournament continues to shrink with each passing day
5) Having 2 opportunities this year doubles my opportunity as opposed to only my tournament (which I will be helping to run and thus further reduce the opportunity of winning)

Given 1-5 above it would benefit me to support this tournament, regardless of the circumstances, as a USAA sanctioned international tournament. And yet, I have consistently been about principle as a means to empower growth for 20 years and backed that up with my actions including personal accountability. I believe in rules and standards first. And we are all bound to them, even when it is our friends, and especially when it is us. In Houston, when we top the puck and the ref didn't see it, we forfeit because we believe that integrity leads to success. And it does. Even when you fool others, God see all!

I will be starting a separate thread in the USAA section to discuss whether the Vegas event should be a USAA sanctioned international tournament. Please feel free to join me there and share your thoughts. If you are a USAA member and don't have access to the USAA section, please contact Travis Luscombe.

Brian Accrocco

Davisl - 29 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 168

I'm losing all respect for people who are trying to desanction the Vegas tournament. Yes, Rosen is not communicating details, but if there is one person on the planet who I would believe that would come thru when he says there is a tournament, it is Michael Rosen.

I don't believe that you guys like Michael Rosen at all, and that this 10 day rant is all aimed at trying to discredit him.

I thought the first post by Travis from the CHAT group was very classy, saying that everyone should try to attend both events. Just let the players decide. I now have a bad taste in my mouth.

There are ways to do this and the way you guys are doing it is disrespecting all the players who have confirmed(and paid for travel) and are excited about this upcoming event in Vegas. I "was" very excited about Air Hockey this year. Count me out for the Houston event.

Juggernaut - 29 Apr 2011
Total Posts: 121

Just want to clear something up.

Brian said, "The fact that you and so many others think it is OK that less than 5 weeks from the tournament literally one post has been made by the organizer is acceptible is concerning."

I, in fact, never said that. :)

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