USAG New York State Selection of Officials for State Championships

It seems that there was some confusion in my initial explanation of how the process of selecting officials to our State Championships would work and because of my own policy of staying out of the election our memberships requests were not honored. In order to clear up any confusion.  The process is as follows:

1. The ballots are put together by Ed Konopa, our USAG Officials’ Selection Chair in conjunction with the downstate and upstate SJD’s (next year the USAG CPE Coordinators will replace the SJD’s in this process). The USAG officials are listed in alphabetical order with their current rating. The ballot is divided into three columns allowing the membership to choose by level: one column for compulsory levels 4,5&6, one column for optional levels 7 & 8 and one column for optional levels 9&10.
   All USAG Professional Members (including all NYS officials) vote for the officials they want to judge the respective State Championships. Members can vote for as many officials as they want for each level designated on the ballot.
2. The ballots are mailed out by Ed Konopa to ALL USAG Professional Members in good standing. The USAG NYS Professional member’s mailing list is given to Ed by the State Committee Chair who requests the most current list from the USAG National Membership Office. ONLY USAG NYS members on this State membership list receive a ballot. The ballots are mailed with a self-addressed stamped envelope and are “tamper proof”.
3. 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. No ballots are opened upon receipt.
4. 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 then opened and tabulated and the results are sent to the State Committee Chair and State Judging Directors.
5. Judges Eligibility.  Judges that receive 50% or more of the total number of ballots received per competitive levels are eligible for selection to the specific State Championship. Example: 164 votes are received; the cut-off for selection is 82. Any official who received 82 or more votes per competitive level are eligible to judge on that State Championship. Officials can judge as many State Championships as they are “selected for”. If a State Championship can not be filled by those officials receiving the “62” or higher due to turn-backs, availability etc. additional officials would be selected in descending numerical order of votes they received with the approval of the State Committee Chair and Board.
6. Conference Calls. The upstate and downstate boards conduct a conference call independent of each other. These two groups make the initial selection of officials based upon the memberships’ votes for each of the State Championships. The State Chair plays no role in this process up to this point.
7. Entire NYS Board Conference Call. Once the upstate & downstate boards make their selections they send their selections to the State Committee 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 USAG Membership, the current official’s ratings and their availability. The State Chair exercises the right to select a Meet Referee for each State Championship. FYI: Meet Referees do not have to be the highest rated official. This is a very important point that some do not know.
8. The tabulation of votes is not posted but any official can request their score.

This is the voting process. It was established to give all of our professional membership a voice in the selection of our State Championship Officials. This voice includes our state officials. The State Committee Chair’s responsibility in this voting process is to ensure that the selection by the membership is followed. There will be No politics, no secrets, no favorites but just an honest straight forward selection of the Officials the Membership wants at the State Championship.

The State Committee Chairs knows that the gymnastics community wants a knowledgeable official who can rank the athletes and differentiate between the athletes on all competitive levels. The lower level gymnasts, parents and coaches deserve the best state officials at their championship as the upper level gymnasts, parents and coaches expect. There is no difference. The State Championship is not a time to give any official experience; it is not a learning atmosphere. The State Championships are about the athletes and this is what we must focus on. To quote a NYS Level 9 gymnast at the Regional Championship this past year, after a number of our officials were bumped, “don’t they” realize how important this competition is to us?”

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 nor maintaining your status as an official. I fully understand the process and have the utmost respect for your position within the gymnastics community.

There is flexibility in this process. The 50% number is not steadfast. Last year the New York State Board (not the chair) requested that two officials be taken off the 9 & 10 State Championship. The State Committee Chair understood the reasons and granted the request from the Downstate Board. We also made accommodations for last years Level 8 State Championship and because of a break in communication between the Level 7 State Meet Referee and downstate official was not put on this Championship. We dipped below the 50% for the Level 6 & 5 State Championships do to turn-backs and the Level 4 Team Cups were unchanged.

This year I will request any New York State Official that does not want to judge a State Championship to inform Ed Konopa so that their name can be stricken from the appropriate State Championship. If you know you do not want to judge or cannot judge a New York State Championship due to previous commitments please speak up NOW so you are not chosen and others can be selected. Turn backs for no real reason will lead to eliminating the official in the voting process for the specific level. Let's not start playing games. You either do or do not accept the responsibility of judging a State Championship that the gymnastics community has chosen you for. Declare what Championships you want to do NOW.