USAP Board Meeting
December 14, 2013
Telephonic
Board Members Present - Rob Stull, Blair Driggs, Monica Rowland, Tom Shepard.
Barry Matchett. Jim Ruddock
Also present- John Hemlock, Pentathlon Board of Trustees, John Amabile- Director of
Communiations.
Absent: Vaho Iagorashvili
Elite Athlete Performance – Rob Stull, Janusz Peicek - Rob and Janusz gave an update
on our performances at World Championships (Youth, Junior and Senior), the Champion
of Champions and the South American Championships.
Recruitment – Rob Stull gave a detailed explanation of USAP Pentathlon recruiting
which is run by Genadijus Sokolovas, our high performance director.
“Dr G” has a robust program whereby swim teams visiting the OTC are exposed through
demos run by our athletes. In addition, Dr. G targets the US Swimming Navy Seal fitness
program athletes. We have to date had 12 athletes attend the OTC for camps from this
program with 100% retention thus far. Our number one recruit is Julie Stupp. She is a
remarkable athlete who we are trying to bring into the program full-time. She finaled at
US Swimming Olympic trials (200 freestyle) and US Track and Field Nationals (800
meters). She runs a 4:25 mile and swims 2:01. Better than nearly any man in the world.
Several board members have expressed an interest in recruiting locally in their regions.
We will focus on the areas where we have regional events to support these efforts.
Coaching – Rob Stull gave an overview of our current coaching.
In March, we added an additional coach (Jim Moody) and now have three OTC coaches
(Janusz, G) and a part-time OTC riding coach (Tracy) at our training center with
numerous regional coaches. We have instituted a coach certification program and have to
date held four clinics and certified over 20 coaches. We will be losing Jim Moody in
January (he is returning to full-time training) and will replace him with Adam Maciek
and a series of visiting coaches. These include Paul Henschel (German), Michael Marx
and Omar El Geziery. Our riding program continues to be coordinated by Richard Lamb.
It should be noted that Michael Cintas’ suspension from the USEF has been lifted.
Regional Competitions – Rob Stull
This year we had six successful regional events-- Roswell, COS, Minn., San Fran, Austin,
and Ocala. We are planning 12 regional competitions in 2014, a 100% increase and we
will appoint a new Youth committee provide input. We have purchased additional hit/
miss targets and pistols to send to organizers in 2014. The success of the regional
program is a key piece of the resurgence of the sport in the USA.
World Cup 2013. Rob Stull
The LOC of the 2013 Palm Springs World Cup has closed down, settling with any
remaining vendors.
Team Selection – Rob Stull, Janusz
Rob and Janusz gave a detailed explanation of 2014 Selection System for Seniors,
Juniors, and Youth. They have all been published on our website.
2014 Calendar – Our 2014 calendar is posted and is the largest and most aggressive
calendar we have ever undertaken with over 60 events nationally and globally. .
International Team Funding.
Funding models were discussed for World Cups, World Championships, Development
Funding, and Youth Competitions, as well as Operation Gold and UIPM Funding
requirements.
2014 High Performance Plan (HPP) and 2014 Funding Levels – Staff prepared and
presented our 2014 HPP. This plan was very well received and in fact has been used as a
model for other NGB’s. We asked for a modest increase in funding (12%) and were told
that our plan received a Sport Performance endorsement for full funding. Unfortunately
in November the USOC informed all summer NGB’s that 2014 funding would be either
reduced or in the case of exceptionally well performing summer NGB’s, frozen at current
levels. This is due to the creation of a reserve fund of performance dollars due to the
unexpected exorbitant costs of the Sochi games. Following Sochi, remaining dollars will
be used to fund unfunded programs requested by performing NGB’s. I am delighted that
we are placed in the same group as swimming and gymnastics and are frozen at 2013
levels regarding support. We received a grant for the purchase of additional pistols and
received an additional OTC bed (as requested) as well as an additional meal card
increasing our ability to support athletes to 15 in Colorado Springs.
USOC Compliance – We must approve Safe Sport and Diversity and Inclusion policies
to remain in-compliance with the USOC (see documents previously sent). Blair Driggs
and Rob Stull met with Rick Adams and Benita Mosely in November and were delighted
to hear that the USOC is supporting our growth and initiatives and again holds USAP as a
model to be emulated. It should be noted the USOC assigned us 28 benchmarks for 2013.
We achieved 28 for 28 – 100%
Financial - The USOC has frozen 2014 funding to 2013 levels. All debts/vendors have
been paid; we have no outstanding debt, financial exposure or obligations. Blair Driggs
reviewed financial reports and controls during his visit and provided audit committee
updates.
Legal – John Helmick, Blair and Barry have assisted in settling any past LOC disputes as
well as addressing any governance issues.
Communications – Rob and John Amabile gave an overview of our digital
communication network as well as funding tied to our media and content agreements.
We utilize our website www.usapentathlon.org as a central repository with digital spokes,
consisting of e-blasts (our Pentathlon News Flash) and social media primarily facebook,
feeding into the hub. John Amabile, our director of communications, has continued to do
an exemplary job. Currently, John is writing most of the feature articles while I serve as
editor. To give you an idea of the volume, we published 43 feature articles during the
month of May. Our digital media agreement (DMA) with the USOC has replaced the
2008-2012 content agreement. The DMA is a tiered structure consisting of four levels of
viewership (eyeballs), each with various revenues attached. Initially we were put into tier
4 (a $25k payment). We lobbied for tier 3 which has a $50K payment and they reluctantly
placed us in that tier with the warning that if we did not reach our numbers (50,000
unique visitors a year) we would have to repay the money. I am happy to report that after
only 6 months John has exceeded the 50,000 unique visitor benchmark. We surpassed
100,000 unique visitors in 127 countries this year. Unfortunately tier 2 is 250K visitors
and that mark is out of reach. John has also driven our face book page to over 1500
“likes” and created partnerships with numerous pentathlon organizations world-wide. We
have plans for embedded video partnerships with large organizations (the US Army and
NGB’s) which will drive our numbers. Our only limitation has often been problems with
the USOC controlled servers. During Nationals John was in COS and had sessions with
many athletes, working on bios and getting headshots and action shots. We are often
complimented on our communications and the strides we have made.
UIPM / UIPM Congress – Rob Stull
The USOC has notably singled out USAP as a model for IR development given our 3
USAP members with UIPM relationships. The UIPM Congress in Cyprus awarded USAP
the WC Final for 2014, the 2015 World Cup and the 2016 WC Final – all to be held in
Sarasota- Bradenton. It was a big success. The Congress also passed certain rule changes
to include testing the ladder system in fencing and adjusting the points as well as
approving certain pistol types. This item will be discussed at length separately.
Sarasota – Rob Stull
The city of Sarasota-Bradenton was awarded the previously mentioned events. They have
signed the $200,000 guarantee and appointed former Congresswoman and Florida
Secretary of State Katherine Harris as LOC chair. We look forward to a great event in
Sarasota June 6, 7, 8 2014.
Adjurnment
Upon motion duly made by Blair Driggs and seconded by Jim Ruddock the meeting was
adjourned.