New York State’s Selection Process for New York
State USAG State Championships
The process*
is as follows:
- The ballots are mailed out.
Ed Konopa mails out the ballots to ALL USAG Professional Members in
good standing. The NYS member’s mailing list is received by the State Chair
from the USAG National Membership Office and sent to Ed. ONLY those
members on this membership list received ballots. The ballots come with a
self-addressed envelope and are “tamper proof”.
- Returns. The ballots are
mailed back to Ed Konopa at BK Gymnastics on or before the deadline date.
NO ballots are accepted after the deadline date.
- Ballot Counting. Ed Konopa
oversees the counting and recording of the ballots. All NYS Board Members are
invited to attend and help with this process. The ballots are opened before
NYS Board Members and/or parents of BK Gymnastics. They are tabulated and the
results are sent to the State Chair and State Judging Directors.
- Judges Selection. Judges
that receive 50% of the total of the ballots cast are eligible for
selection. Example: This year 124 votes were cast. The cut-off for
selection was 62. This means any officials who received 62 or more votes were
eligible to judge or be an alternate on any or all of the State Championships
based upon their rating and availability. If a State Championship could not be
filled by those officials scoring 62 or higher, judges were then selected in
descending numerical order of votes they received.
- Conference Calls. The
upstate board conducts a conference call and the downstate board conducts a
conference call independent of each other. These two groups make the initial
selection of officials based upon the criteria for each of the State
Championships. The State Chair plays no role in this process up to this
point
- Entire NYS Board Conference
Call. Once the upstate & downstate boards make their selections they send
their selections to the State Chair for review. The State Chair then holds a
conference call with ALL NYS Board Members (voting and non-voting). It is at
this conference call that the final selections are made based upon the voting
by the NYS Membership, their official’s ratings and their availability.
The State Chair exercises the right to select a Meet Referee for each of the
State Championships. FYI: Meet Referees do not have to be the
highest rated official; example the Meet Referee for the Region 6 Level 9 & 10
Regional Championship. This is a very important point that some do not know.
*The selection process this
year followed the strict interpretation of 50% of the votes cast by the
membership. In the previous years this was not followed and officials receiving
as few as 6-8 votes were being considered for our State Championships.
The voting
process was established to give our professional membership a voice in the
selection of our State Championship Officials. This voice includes our state
officials. The right to vote for officials is a relatively new process. It was
part of a hard fought battle for the state’s membership’s rights. The State
Chair’s responsibility in this voting process is to ensure that the selection by
the membership is followed. We have over 500 members; only 25% voted.
So what does
this mean to officials not selected? It does not mean you are not a good
official. The majority of the officials chosen by the membership have the “time
in the seat” and longevity. As newer officials just starting out; you may not
have a rating that gives you the opportunity for greater exposure within our
gymnastics community. Do not be discouraged by the process because all of the
officials that are selected to judge our State Championships started out exactly
where you are now. It is an educational cycle.
It is not easy
becoming an official, being an official or maintaining your status as an
official. I fully understand the process and have the utmost respect for your
position within the gymnastics community. Unfortunately the State Championship
is not the place to learn. The coaches, parents and gymnasts expect the highest
quality officials at all of our State Championships.
The tabulation
of votes is not posted but any official can request their score.