The Road to a Stronger, More Focused
American Vaulting Association
1. Choose a Destination. Pick a Path.
Discuss and approve a five-year strategic plan for the AVA.
We are reminded of the importance of goal setting by the Cheshire Cat in Lewis Carroll’s children’s book,
Alice in Wonderland: “Would you tell me please,” said Alice, which way I ought to go from here?” “That
depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said Cheshire Cat. “I don’t much care where….” said
Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat. “…so long as I get somewhere,” Alice
added. “Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat. “If you only walk enough.”
Metrics/Milestones:
Start: March 2007
Draft to board for comments: August 10, 2007
Written comments, recommendations, additions to Sheri Benjamin: Sept. 10, 2007
Final draft to board for comments: Oct. 10, 2007
Board approval of Strategic Plan: Nov. 3, 2007
2. Align our Internal Structure to Our Five-Year Goals
Realign and augment executive board, board, committee leadership and committee
positions necessary to map to and accomplish the strategic plan.
The AVA Board has, more or less, had the same structure for most of its existence. In looking at what we
agree to accomplish in the Five-Year Plan, it’s important to match our forward-going internal and
administrative structure to have the infrastructure to meet those goals.
Metrics/Milestones
Start: Immediately
First Draft Leadership Plan: Oct. 10, 2007
Final Draft Leadership Plan, Board Approval: Nov. 3, 2007
Membership Approval Vote (if necessary): Annual Meeting, March 2008
3. Make Sure We’re Properly “Outfitted” for the Journey
Help continue to develop our present and incoming AVA leadership to take on the
important positions for which they volunteer.
Through a variety of non-profit leadership organizations such as BoardSource, The Center for Nonprofit
Excellence, etc., help the AVA’s volunteer organization learn and grow. Name a head of Human Capital to
help us recruit and retain the volunteers needed to help meet our plan.
Metrics/Milestones
Start: Immediately. Recruit a Board Resources Chair, who will in turn create a board resources committee,
dedicated to the development of the AVA leadership group and the recruitment of project and/or committee
volunteers, complete with job descriptions, expectations, metrics, etc.
Start working with chairs and VPs to create job descriptions for volunteer positions: Oct. 2007
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Complete: Yearly, but completed with new leadership members with two months of onboarding them into
critical positions.
4. Hold board members accountable for their key functional areas.
Ensure that each Board and Executive Board member understands his/her piece in the
AVA puzzle and is committed to getting the results needed to make the Five-Year
Strategic Plan a reality.
Board members must understand and make a commitment to the pieces of the strategic plan for which they
are ultimately responsible, which committees/team members/project volunteers they need to recruit to get
these results by the agreed upon time. They must be comfortable with accountability and a results-based
culture. Board members must work not only side-by-side, but hand-in-hand with other board members to
meet the overall objectives of the Strategic Plan. We must collectively do everything in our power to meet
our goals.
Metrics/Milestones:
Start: November board meeting, and quarterly after that.
5. Put in place and measure key metrics, so every board member,
committee chair and committee member understands, by project, what
result is expected, and by when.
Report on the most important key metrics at least quarterly throughout the five-year
plan, to keep everyone on track and on the same page.
Metrics/Milestones:
Start: November board meeting, and quarterly after that.
6. Get Results.
Results, not effort, will be the true measure of success over the next five years.
We’re all busy people, and we’re all volunteers. As board members, we are asking of each other a
commitment that surpasses even the commitments that we ask of others within the organization. Once a
Strategic Plan is vetted and agreed upon, we must do everything in our collective power to ensure that we
get the results we want. No matter the bumps in the road, our allegiance to the AVA and getting it to the
next level is our single-minded focus.
Metrics/Milestones:
Start: November board meeting, and quarterly after that.
7. Communicate and celebrate our achievements.
As we have a better understanding of both our long-term goals and the projects and
resources to which we will commit in order to reach these goals, it is important that we
remember to communicate and celebrate these achievements throughout our journey!
Metrics/Milestones:
Start: Annual Meeting 2008
Complete: On-going at Annual Conference and Meeting
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AVA Strategic Five-Year Business Plan
Release 1.0: Looking for Comments and Input
August 2007
In their seminal business book Built to Last, authors Jerry Porras and James (Jim) Collins
coined the term “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” (BHAGs). BHAGs are an organization’s
most ambitious, even outrageous, goals, but ones that, when set in stone, motivate people
and focus them toward concrete accomplishments.
By defining BHAGs for the AVA, as well as the resources needed to accomplish these
goals, the AVA will be in a better position to get to the next level.
For the sake of discussion, here are the proposed BHAGs for the AVA:

5,000 AVA members in five years (AVA fiscal year: Nov. 1)
o 1,300 members in 2007 (we’re almost at that number now)
o 1,750 members in 2008
o 2,500 members in 2009
o 3,000 members in 2010
o 4,000 members in 2011
o 5,000 members in 2012

Members across both a broad geography and demography
o By 2012 members in 75 percent of the states (38 states vs. 26 now,
fourteen regions vs. six presently)
o By 2012 members in the following demographics
 40 percent full members (mostly competitive vaulters and parents)
 60 percent associate members (1/3 therapeutic, 1/3 recreational,
1/3 alumni members)
 10 percent male vaulters

By 2012 have roughly six to twelve AVA events per region, per year. (It is
imagined that the legacy regions would have a dozen events; the nascent regions
would have six.) Events could include local and regional competitions,
recreational events, conferences and workshops like longeur workshops and Spirit
of Vaulting Conferences.

Increase the number of medal tests by 10X by 2012 from 2007 levels.
By building a much bigger and broader grassroots equestrian vaulting organization in the
US, the AVA will be in a better position to make many of its other dreams come true!
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This somewhat unconventional AVA Five-Year Business Plan is designed to get your
juices flowing, and perhaps, in a few cases, will even get the hair on the back of your
neck to stand up. It is by no means complete and, in fact, is missing a lot. Your job as a
board member? Read this draft, circulate it among whomever you wish in the
organization and get all feedback (comments, additions, disagreements, etc.) to Sheri
Benjamin by no later than Monday, Sept. 10. Draft 2.0 will be circulated by Oct. 10, and
the board will vote on the approval of the Strategic Plan at the November meeting.
Strategy: Recruit and actively engage the large number and
caliber of volunteers into the AVA over the next few years that
will allow us to meet our goals, starting with the most critical
positions first.
Background Thoughts: An organization is only as successful as its volunteer team, and
the AVA has been successful largely because of relatively few volunteers, at the AVA
level, doing the lion’s share of the work. In the corporate world, it is well known that the
most successful companies are those who win the game on finding and keeping great
talent, and that is the same case with non-profits. We at the AVA are only as strong as
our group of volunteers, and we must work diligently at recruiting, actively engaging and
recognizing this incredibly important group.
Tactic: Recruit and name an AVA Volunteer Resources Director, reporting directly to the
President.
Tactic: Up front, do a better job of identifying all the various job titles and job
descriptions for each volunteer project and position we need. Make sure each volunteer
job description includes necessary qualifications, period of time expected to serve in that
position or expected length of time of the project, and the result needed by what specific
date (if a project).
Tactic: Create training clinics and certification for at least one quarter of the most
difficult AVA jobs, whether they are board, committee or competition jobs.
Tactic: Pair volunteers according to their strengths and knowledge. For example, many
coaches, longeurs and judges have great knowledge, but aren’t great at writing documents
about that knowledge. Pair a writer with a knowledge source.
Tactic: Create more opportunities for the volunteers to interact with each other as part of
a team: conference calls, hospitality rooms, volunteer badges (so they know who’s who),
etc.
Tactic: Create a tiered volunteer recognition program, not recognizing just an AVA
Volunteer of the Year, but Regional Volunteers of the Year, as well as recognition for
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other important tiers, including amount of time in a job, special recognition for big
results, etc.
Volunteer Support Needed: Recruit and name an AVA Volunteer Director—likely
someone with a recruiting and human resources background—who can help us with the
administration and recruitment of our best resource—our volunteer teams.
Strategy: Better use technology to better develop a virtual
AVA community, grow the organization, and service our
members.
Tactic: Better identify and use technology to keep AVA board and regular members
abreast of happenings, and to communicate with each other.
Tactic: Use Web 2.0 (YouTube, LinkedIn, UConnect.tv, MySpace, FaceBook, blogs) to
create and sustain a robust virtual community among the members.
Tactic: Use YouTube, UConnect.tv and other video websites for online training for
vaulters, coaches, longeurs and judges.
Volunteer Support Needed: Technology Committee Chair (This Committee Chair
would be responsible for continuing to drag us into the 21st century with Web 2.0
initiatives such as social networking, webcasting, email marketing etc. This Chair would
probably be a self-described geek with some sort of IT background.). Technology
Committee Members: Members (both adults and teenage vaulters) who are willing to take
on specific technology projects.
Strategy: Build our membership numbers quickly by
publicizing our different membership types, and ensuring that
it’s easy to become a member of the AVA.
Tactic: Make it EASY to be a member of the AVA with online memberships and
renewals.
Tactic: Tap into our considerable alumni base by creating special marketing and viral
programs to create awareness of, and affinity for, the AVA within the alumni ranks.
Tactic: Create a Summer Camp Vaulting flier for summer camps that include vaulting,
encouraging kids to become AVA recreational vaulting members online, after trying
vaulting at camp.
Volunteer Support Needed: Alumni Marketing Coordinator and committee members,
Summer Camp Marketing Coordinator, Membership Online Marketing Coordinator.
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Strategy: Name the Number. Create a budget range it will
take to successfully meet our goals for our Five-Year Plan and
sign sponsorships for that amount
Tactic: Work with Executive Board and Board members to thoughtfully and realistically
build out budgets for agreed upon programs. Report quarterly on both results and
progress against the budget.
Tactic: Develop an AVA Sponsorship Program that works.
Volunteer Support Needed: AVA Budgeting Committee, reporting to the Treasurer;
AVA Sponsorship Program Committee Chair and Committee Members.
Strategy: Create a Multi-tiered Coaches Training and
Certification Program that encourages potential new coaches
to put a “toe in the water,” and midlevel and advanced coaches
to continue their training.
Tactic: Create a beginning level coaches training program for non-equestrian types who
might want to dip a toe in the water and try coaching.
Tactic: Work with the CHA on better publicizing and supporting their CHA vaulting
certification program, for the equestrian types.
Tactic: Establish a coaching “buddy system” for new clubs/coaches to have a mentor who
can help them on a regular basis at least by phone or email.
Tactic: Create a loaner surcingle and barrel program for new coaches who are creating
new clubs.
Volunteer Support Needed: Coaches Training Program Head, Coaches Training
Programs Committee Members, CHA Liaison, Buddy Program Coordinator, Loaner
program coordinator.
Strategy: Better support the Judges Program so that the
program gets more judges candidates who successfully
complete the program and become AVA judges.
Tactic: Provide more financial help for the best apprentice judges.
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Strategy: Re-focus on the equestrian side of our sport.
Background Thoughts: Though vaulting is obviously an equestrian sport, we have not
done a great job of proactively and consistently focusing on the equestrian community at
large to grow our support and bring us horses.
Tactic: Change the name of the AVA to encompass the word “equestrian.” The
American Vaulting Association (Pole vaulting? Gymnastics vaulting? ) becomes either
the American Equestrian Vaulting Association (AEVA) or the United States Equestrian
Vaulting Association (USEVA).
Recommended Completion Date: March 2008
Tactic: Create a beginning AVA longeur workshop in 2008 and deploy to each region.
Develop longeur certification program. Train and certify beginning longeurs. Give one
certification program per region each year starting in 2008.
Tactic: Re-emphasize our connection and teamwork with our equines by recognizing and
rewarding those vaulters who complete AVA’s Horsemanship Program. Names of those
passing the program will be recognized on the AVA website in a special “certification”
section.
Tactic: Create and publicize an advanced AVA Horsemanship program that recognizes
horsemanship at an advanced level. Names of those passing the program will be
recognized on the AVA website in a special “certification” section and will in Vaulting
World.
Tactic: Continue to recognize both our horses and longeurs through traditional AVA
awards (Horse of the Year, Osierlea Award, Trainer/Longeur of the Year).
Tactic: Build out regional recognition and awards system: Regional Horse of the Year (at
both the trot and canter), Horse retirement recognition, Rookie Horse of the Year, Horse
Extraordinare (for those horses who carry many different clubs).
Tactic: Better recognize AVA horse owners each year. Horse ownership is both a
privilege and a massive responsibility. By recognizing all horse owners as a pivotal part
of our sport, we will encourage more horse ownership in the AVA.
Tactic: Build out the Longeurs and Horses sections of the AVA members-only website to
better honor horses and longeurs, and to give them additional information and training.
Tactic: Showcase our horses in very public, high visibility events such as the Pasadena
Tournament of Roses Parade and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Tactic: Make better use of the Kentucky Horse Park to continue to showcase vaulting.
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Tactics: Better utilized the various equestrian magazines, websites and blog writers to get
vaulting’s key messages out to the equestrian world.
Volunteer Support Needed
Re-branding Chair, Re-branding Committee Members, Longeur Certification Chair,
Longeur Certification Committee Members, Awards Committee (continuing), Horse and
Longeurs Website Owner, Horse and Longeurs website content creators, Horse and
Longeur bloggers, AVA Horsemanship Program Chair, AVA Horsemanship Program
Committee, Equestrian magazine publicist and article writer, Equestrian website
publicist/coordinator, Equestrian website article writer, Equestrian website links
coordinator, Kentucky Horse Park Liaison.
Strategy: Better use the existing equestrian infrastructure to
grow our sport.
Tactic: Create and deploy a proactive equestrian camps program for 2008, where we
identify equestrian summer camps around the country, evangelize vaulting as part of their
upcoming curriculum, encourage the stable to become an AVA member and download
the Camps Manual, etc.
Tactic: Work more closely with Julie Goodnight at the world’s largest horseback riding
instructor certification system in North America, the Certified Horsemanship Association
(CHA, to help promote and refine their recreational vaulting instructor certification
program. The goal would be to have vaulting certification in at least five CHA training
sessions by 2008, 10 CHA training sessions per year by 2010, and 20 CHA training
sessions per year by 2012.
Tactic: More proactively work with the various youth equestrian sports to understand
how we can joint venture with them, co-sponsor side-by-side competitions, etc.
Tactic: More proactively work with all US equestrian publications and major equestrian
website to promote the benefits of our unique equestrian sport. (See Strategy above.)
Tactic: Create an AVA website linking policy, for equestrian publications, websites and
services. Publicize the linking policy, invite those eligible to link. Ensure reciprocal
links to the AVA website.
Volunteer Support Needed: Camps Committee and Chair, Youth Equestrian Sports
Committee and Chair, Equestrian Publicity Committee and Chair, Website Links
Coordinator.
Strategy: Create considerably more recognition/award
programs in the AVA, in addition to the traditional
competition and medals venues.
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Tactic: Create at least three levels of AVA recognized competition: I, II and III. Level I
would be barrel-only competitions and would be open to both associate and regular
members. Level II would be barrel, walk and trot. Level III would be the AVA
recognized competition already in existence. Judges for Level I competitions could be
gold and silver level vaulters. Judges for Level II competitions could be Apprentice
Judges. Level III competitions would be business as usual.
Tactic: Encourage more Vaulting Fun Days and other events that are not competitions, at
both the local and regional level. Recognize clubs and regions that do these types of
events.
Tactic: Build out an even more complete recognition and awards program for the “new
AVA.”
Volunteer Support Needed: Recognition and Awards Committee Members (add),
Committee to make recommendations on the viability of the Level I, II, III competition
system.
Strategy: Make use of targeted youth organizations, such as
the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts (and their associated
recognition programs, including merit badges), homeschoolers
throughout the US, to encourage these motivated young people
to try vaulting.
Volunteer Support Needed: National Scouting Liaison and committee members.
National Homeschoolers Liaison and committee members.
Strategy: Build vaulting’s visibility, especially in regions and
locales where vaulting is available to potential athletes.
There is a common thought within the AVA that “if only we had more publicity” vaulting
would grow. If you were to truly think about the cart and horse theory, there are a few
things that come to mind:
While it’s great to get nationwide publicity for vaulting, it is not very useful to do this if
the end result is that a parent or potential vaulter tries to find vaulting in their local area,
and is then disappointed when they cannot find a local or even regional source. Better,
then, to concentrate on areas where we already have vaulting programs, or are building
nascent programs at stables.
Tactic: AVA Fisherman’s Program. There is a Chinese proverb that says “Give a man a
fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.” The
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AVA’s proposed new “Fisherman’s Program” will be a publicity program designed to
teach clubs and regions how to do their own simple, yet highly effective publicity. This
program would consist of the following:
 A regional publicity coordinator who will act as a “publicity coach” for their
region’s clubs. The aim is to get half the regional “coaching jobs” filled by 2008,
and then add a coach to each new region within a year of that region coming on
board.
 Online and phone conference workshops (six per year) designed for coaches and
local club publicity volunteers, that will teach basic and proven publicity skills at
the club and regional level.
 More members-only website PR tools: press release templates for demos, local,
regional and national wins; vaulter bio templates, how-to tips on pitching the
media, etc.
 More recognition of clubs getting local publicity. The website will feature new
vaulting clips monthly in the Media Center section of the public website.
Tactic: National “Try Vaulting” Week. Starting in 2008, start a National Try Vaulting
Week. Provide clubs and regions with the templates they need to publicize this weeklong
event thru traditional print and broadcast media, public service announcements, etc.
Tactic: Better coordinate, nationwide, the number and types of demonstrations and
vaulting performances. Ensure that we have the right people performing at the right
equine expositions around the country. Augment the great work of the AVA’s Friendship
Team.
Volunteer Support Needed: National “Try Vaulting” Coordinator and committee
members. Publicity 101 for Clubs National Coordinator. National Vaulting
Performance/Demo Coordinator.
Strategy: Make better use of non-horse events/classes, etc., to
grow vaulting and vaulting clubs throughout the US at a
grassroots level.
Tactic: Increase barrel competitions exponentially. Recognize barrel competitions as
AVA Level I Recognized competitions.
Tactic: Bring back the Two-Phase class in a big way.
 Create an email campaign to coaches asking each of them to field more twophase teams at all levels if possible.
 Request that as many competitions as possible, both AVA recognized and not,
include the two-phase event.
 Change the name of the AVA National Championship event to be in line with
other team events.
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Strategy: Recruit boys from gymnastics and equestrian sports
to grow our male membership.
Tactic: A specific “boys from gymnastics” program is needed.
Tactic: A specific “boys from equestrian” program is needed.
Volunteer Support Needed: Coordinators for both of the above programs.
Strategy: Continue to focus on one of our Achilles heels,
insurance, so that vaulting will continue to be available,
affordable and insurable.
Tactics: Continue to understand and work with insurers so that they better understand the
risks and realities of our sport.
Volunteer Support Needed: Continuing of the Insurance Committee.
Now, your task, board members, and all interested parties, is to do the following:
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

Read this first round plan over again.
What’s missing?
What parts need a different focus?
Where can you help?
Who else do you know that can help?
Send comments to Sheri Benjamin at Sheri@benjaminsci.com or mail them to 21184
Michaels Dr., Saratoga, CA 95070 by Sept. 10. The second round version of this plan
will be available online (on the AVA’s member-only website) by October 10, 2007 for a
second round of comments.
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