From: "Victor Zee" To: "MAF" Subject: MAF E-News April 24, 2007 (Fwd: NJ Div IEC meeting of 4/22/07) Date: Tuesday, April 24, 2007 5:08 PM Dear Fencers, Quick intro for those who do not know Gene. Dr. Gene Packer, one of the most valuable MAF board members, the head coach of Fair Lawn Fencing Team and a dear Friend who shares the same passion of the sport if not more. Gene had represented MAF at the NJ Division Interim Executive Committee (IEC) meeting on April 22. The below is what Gene had reported back to us all. As Gene had stated below, this is important for all of us, more so for MAF members and/or USFA members. Since I do not have the capabilities to run a forum for our club, I suggest to e-mail Gene GENEPACKER2@aol.com and copy me at info@mafencing.orgwith any questions you have. We will do our best to answer them. Sincerely, Victor Zee Modified Academy of Fencing ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: GENEPACKER2@aol.com Date: Apr 23, 2007 4:23 AM Subject: NJ Div IEC meeting of 4/22/07 To: maf.fencing@gmail.com, victorz@optonline.net Cc: vparagano@patmedia.net Victor and the MAF: I attended this meeting of the NJ Division Interim Executive Committee and endured more than 3 hours of bickering, nitpicking, and other assorted nonsense, but there were a couple of gems in all the debris. You might want to forward this to our members, since there are things here that affect us all, as a club and as individual fencers. First, there is a recommendation to proceed to try to secure its own USFA Section for New Jersey. This is parallel to the efforts to subdivide the NJ Division, but a separate issue. This will be of benefit in any case if it is successful, since no current sectional championships are ever held in NJ. Normally, our fencers have to travel to places like Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore to compete in a sectional championship. I have been appointed to the Nominating Committee of the NJ Division. This committee has the responsibility of selecting nominees for division officers and for delegates to the USFA Congress. We have agreed to have Congress Representatives selected as follows: Each of the 16 top clubs (by USFA membership) will select one USFA Congress Representative. The other clubs (like us!) will each select an alternate for representative, who will serve if a regular rep fails to attend. Ideally, the representative should be someone who will attend the Summer National Championships. Think who might want to go from the MAF and nominate accordingly. There will be a web forum next month on the proposed split of the NJ Division. All USFA members will receive a post card with web address info to allow participation in the ongoing debate and commentary. A final recommendation will be made by the committee exploring this proposition by June 30, after which the IEC will forward those recommendations to the Division membership. While no decision has yet been made about procedure, the IEC is leaning toward a general election by the membership to decide on the final direction to take after the committee's report. There will be extensive discussion of this next month on the web forum. We are encouraged as members (club members and/or USFA members) to express our views in this forum, which will be monitored by the committee and form part of the basis for its recommendations. There is a new policy for paying referees, and this allows officials to earn more money at large competitions. Any club members who would like to officiate are encouraged to get involved with the process of qualification, since more officials are always needed, and the pay scale could exceed $200 for a single day of officiation at competitions. Those of our members interested in competition are encouraged to attend more tournaments. They have held competitions at many clubs in the immediate area, including Rising Stars in Wayne, the NJ Fencing Alliance in Maplewood, and the Cobra Fencing Club in Jersey City. If you want good competition, the fencing I have seen at those locations is among the best, and fencers are coming from great distances to join these tournaments. (I have seen fencers from Canada, Florida, Illinois, and the far west.) Attendance at these tournaments not only improves the quality of your own fencing, but it helps support the Division in its efforts to provide these competitions. Gene