Page 5 Fall 1991
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Letters Message
From The Chairman Most
of the 3,000 plus members
of the IJA have no idea how the Board of Directors functions. As
long as there is an annual festival, quarterly issues of Juggler's
World, a Clubs & Affiliates Newsletter and a Roster, most
members seem satisfied with what their membership dues buy.
As
the newly-elected Chairman of the Board, I want to keep the
membership informed of board activities and get more people involved
in helping the IJA grow and improve.
As
IJA Affiliate Director for the past two years, I have had the
pleasure of hearing from hundreds of members with suggestions,
complaints and commendations. I replied to each letter, not always
in the way people hoped, but nonetheless they were addressed at the
appropriate level.
I
pledge to continue to address the needs of our members. I am excited
to have such an excellent group of devoted people serving on the
Board of Directors with me, and invite you to contact them with your
comments and concerns. Please feel free to contact me as well!
The
continued success and growth of the IJA is the number one priority
of this board, and we will address your concerns keeping that in
mind. I look forward to hearing from you and reporting to you at
regular intervals.
Other
members of the 1991-92 board
are: -
Carter Andrews; Championships Director; Nashville,
TN -
Cathi Bouton; Grants Director; Fairbanks,
AK -
Sandy Brown; Membership Director; Fort Leavenworth, KS -
Rich Chamberlin; Archives Director; Kenmore, NY -
Jek Kelly; Affiliate Director; Omaha,
NE -
Paul Kyprie; Marketing Director; Ann Arbor, MI -
Chris Majka; Publications Director; Halifax, N.S. CANADA -
Steven Salberg; Video Director; Dover, NJ -
Norm Schneiderman; Administrative Director; Halifax, N.S. CANADA -
Mike Vondruska; Education Director; Bensenville,
IL Championships
Director Wants Input
. In
St Louis we
adopted the Kapell method of awarding medals to competitors, based
on defined standards of excellence. The idea is to encourage
diversity and avoid the absurdity of declaring a winner when
comparing the achievements of jugglers with vastly different styles.
The
Championships Committee approaches its task this year with healthy
respect for the traditions of the competitions, as well as a
willingness to consider any reasonable changes.
I
encourage anyone who feels strongly about championships to call or
write me with your thoughts. This Juggler's World
"Letters" forum is a particularly good place for the
membership to debate the goals and methods of IJA championships. Festival
& Championships Once
again this year's convention was lots of fun. It was unfortunate that
the jugglers and vendors were shifted between three gyms and the main
gym was closed for a
good portion of the convention, though.
My memory may be fooling me, but I seem to remember that Juggler's World used to report on the business of the IJA directors. The reason I mention this is that most jugglers in St. Louis were quite surprised to hear of the changes in the championships rules. A paragraph listing what is being considered would keep the general membership informed. Juggler's World does say it is published "to communicate with members..."
A
questionnaire was passed around in LA. asking for suggestions
concerning the championships. I find it hard to belieye that the
overwhelming majority of people suggested changing to the current
(hopefully not for long) system of medals. Why does the IJA feel it
needs to reinvent the wheel when it could loosely base its judging
methods on old proven systems like gymnastics, baton twirling, etc?
I really doubt the new system will push jugglers to their limits, but suspect it will cause jugglers to be conservative and make the championships boring. Ignatov.and Gatto both dropped during the public show, so I guess they wouldn't have earned a gold medal. If two of the world's greatest can't be flawless, who can? Ron Wirgart Blacksburg, Virginia
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