COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The USA Archery Board of Directors met in Colorado Springs, Colorado on May 30 and 31. Two new Board members were welcomed: David Haynes, who replaces Bill Corbin in the Independent Director seat; and Dee Falks, who succeeds Linda Beck as Coach Director. The first order of business was to elect a new Chairman of the Board, and Haynes was elected as the new Chairman for an initial two-year term through 2015.
The meeting kicked off with a discussion of non-profit governance best practices, led by Kae Rader of Rader Consulting. The Board also performed their review of the annual audit with outside audit firm Waugh & Goodwin. USA Archery is in a very strong financial position and the Board voted to approve the audit and related recommendations.
One of the key votes taken during the meeting was a decision to approve the establishment of a college archery program within USA Archery. A task force will be created to advise USA Archery on the development of this new program. USA Archery feels that a college program within the organization will support many key initiatives, from grassroots development to elite athlete and coach training.
As part of this meeting, USA Archery Board members also heard updates from staff program leads, in the areas of High Performance, National Events and Outreach activities. Exciting new programs include Explore Archery, which offers communities a turnkey option for starting archery programs. Also in the works for 2014: updated instructor certification materials, and new resources for archery clubs.
Membership has seen significant growth in the past twelve months, with over 12,800 individual members as of May 2014. This continues the trend seen over the past five years, with membership increasing each year since 2009.
The Barebow division was also discussed. During the November Board meeting, it was determined that USA Archery would follow World Archery guidelines related to what classes were offered at National events. This eliminated the traditional categories and the Barebow division at all events except the U.S. National Field Championships. This change has been fully implemented for the upcoming U.S. National Target Championships.
However, due to a strong increase in Barebow participation during the U.S. National Indoor Championships, the elimination of this division within that event has been put under review, and barebow will be a part of the U.S. National Indoor Championships for 2015. In the meantime, USA Archery staff will be working on a more comprehensive policy related to when and how divisions are added and removed from competitions.
A new policy was approved that addressed instances where athletes were unable to attend a required USAT event due to required military service, death in the immediate family or serious injury preventing the athlete from competing. Click here to review this complete policy.
The Board of Directors is slated to meet again in person in
November of 2014 and will perform conference calls between now and then to conduct
additional business between the two meetings.
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