HFDS Club elections - 2010 April meeting!

[ChingLizard]

It was announced at the February club meeting that most of the club's Board of Directors are ready to step down.

It was noted that there are 5 BOD positions in HFDS. Currently, Ed Morgan is the only BOD member actually elected to his position, with 3 of the remaining 4 positions being held by volunteer-appointees, including the office of President being held by Stimpy. One position, that of Director of Promotions was vacated when Larry Kruse resigned that position to take up the membership position vacated by Jack Camp and that position has never been filled.

We've therefore decided to hold an election at the April meeting. All currently active club members will be allowed to hold an office and to vote in this election.

The five positions open for election are as follows:

President - the official spokesperson of the club to entities such as HPARD.

Director of Membership - management of membership and renewals.

Director of Promotions - promotes the club activities and presence.

Director of Finance - keeps the HFDS books.

Director of Compliance - also "Master-At-Arms" primarily conducts the club meetings.


The Houston Flying Disc Society has a long and prominent history as far as local disc golf clubs go. There are many others much more qualified to describe it than I am, but the success of our club is recognized around the nation and our model of league-play is emulated all over the nation. We are well known for our charitable contributions through such venues as the annual Ice Bowl competition where we've been ranked top in the nation many years.

If you are interested in holding one of the offices, then I'd encourage you to make it know here and to drum up some support from the masses reading this message board and to bring your support to the April club meeting which will be Tuesday, April 6th, 2010.

The club is looking for a handful of new leaders willing to step up and take it to a whole new level. Bring your leadership and ideas to the plate at the April club meeting!

[DPdiscer]

Conrad, are you stepping down as finance officer? Say it aint so Joe!

[tarazarr]

The Story of Stone Soup

Once upon a time, somewhere in post-war Eastern Europe, there was a great famine in which people jealously hoarded whatever food they could find, hiding it even from their friends and neighbors. One day a wandering soldier came into a village and began asking questions as if he planned to stay for the night.
"There's not a bite to eat in the whole province," he was told. "Better keep moving on."
"Oh, I have everything I need," he said. "In fact, I was thinking of making some stone soup to share with all of you." He pulled an iron cauldron from his wagon, filled it with water, and built a fire under it. Then, with great ceremony, he drew an ordinary-looking stone from a velvet bag and dropped it into the water.
By now, hearing the rumor of food, most of the villagers had come to the square or watched from their windows. As the soldier sniffed the "broth" and licked his lips in anticipation, hunger began to overcome their skepticism.
"Ahh," the soldier said to himself rather loudly, "I do like a tasty stone soup. Of course, stone soup with cabbage -- that's hard to beat."
Soon a villager approached hesitantly, holding a cabbage he'd retrieved from its hiding place, and added it to the pot. "Capital!" cried the soldier. "You know, I once had stone soup with cabbage and a bit of salt beef as well, and it was fit for a king."
The village butcher managed to find some salt beef . . . and so it went, through potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and so on, until there was indeed a delicious meal for all. The villagers offered the soldier a great deal of money for the magic stone, but he refused to sell and traveled on the next day. The moral is that by working together, with everyone contributing what they can, a greater good is achieved.

[tarazarr]

Many of you may remember when I first showed up on this message board the post I made about a new course in houston almost ready. The idea (and I'm sure the thread can be researched and linked was based on this book)

When Doug Rogers and myself began dreaming the dream of Windwood DGC we knew we were taking on a task bigger than the two of us. My close friend (Chadman) asked me one day how in the world were we going to be able to accomplish this task, and I told him the story of Stone Soup. I said to Chad "Watch brother....If we pull out the big black cauldron and light the fire underneath it, the community will come....." And they did.

From Novice to Pro...they came and they contributed, it's been incredibly heart warming, inspiring and humbling...and we feast together as a "community"

I attened last months HFDS meeting as a vistor.. (thank you) and I saw an incredible amount of talent at the table, all very successful in what they have each accomplished and contributed to this community and to this sport. Many of these leaders are looking to step down and from Larry's post, pass the torch and and support a new group of leaders looking to take this society to a brand new level.

I have ideas I will share and if "the community and current HFDS membership" can see my vision and support a new direction and focus I will put my name in the ring for consideration.

[tarazarr]

Originally Posted by ChingLizard

It was announced at the February club meeting that most of the club's Board of Directors are ready to step down.


The club is looking for a handful of new leaders willing to step up and take it to a whole new level. Bring your leadership and ideas to the plate at the April club meeting!

To acheive a new level, it requires new ideas, new goals and a new focus. Setting and achieving new goals will mean re-examing all the old and adjusting. This can be a very hard thing to do. I belive many of the members of HFDS are very emotionally attached to the societies current focus, so embracing change can be a very difficult.

As I bring my ideas forward I ask every member currently holding a leadership position, to ask themselves the question.. "why did I step up to lead years ago, what were my goals back then, is what we, HFDS are currently doing, what we are currently focusing on as our major goals, moving Houston forward in the race to to remain at the forfront of this ever evoling and changing sport? Or are we slowly falling behind this changing sport?

It is my opinion, that the 4th largest city in America, is falling behind the level of play that is changing very quickly.

I belive this city's players are very hungry and they are showing in record numbers they are willing to give up the most precious of all resources (their time and labor) to build courses that are only attempting to keep up with the higher level of play.

Dont get me wrong. Windwood is not a "Great" course it is not a "Championship" caliber course. It is a good course, but the absolute mind boggling support we recieved for a "good" course tells me it's time to set the ship (Houston) on a new heading with a new focus and unite all these successful, hard working passionate, people I saw at the table on a new goal that I believe will be overwhelmingly supported by a very, very large group of passionate disc golfers from this 4th largest city in America.

[Sportsministryguy]

Scott,
I can't wait to hear more! I also agree that Houston is ready to explode for disc golf. That energy needs to be focused on a common goal to get us all moving TOGETHER and in the same direction.

[tarazarr]

I can't wait to share them either. I just spent some time going back over and re-reading the thread which I refered to below... http://hfds.org/vbull/showthread.php?t=39

An intersting read for sure... (now that we know how the story ended) all of it posted before I ever met Doug, however Windwood was the alternate site I had in mind where I stated it would be tons of work.. Which it absolutely proved to be..

Windwood would have never happened without Doug Rogers and I think we made a pretty good team complimenting each others abilities, passion and drive quite well.

There are so many talents in the local disc golf pool already. But the is a pool of resources out there that have gone completely untapped 10 times the amount of what's historically been called into play in the past, that are available in achieving a tightly focused goal.

So what are my ideas? What would be my goals? How would I propose to achieve them? They may be very controversial, they may upset some, if so, I mean no disrespect, and I truly mean that, but they are my ideas and I stand behind them.

My first proposal, I believe, will prove to be the most controversial of all. Texas State Disc Golf Championship Tournemant. I know this is the most prestigous event all year for Houston disc golf. There is really no delicate way to say this, I think the tournamnet should be put "on tour" for a 3 year period. Why? Several reasons....
1. The prestige of this tournament should be shared with the organizations and courses that have proven themselves dedicated to keeping up with the level of play. It is called Texas States..
2. The local resources that have focused on this tournament should IMO be refocused on Houston and Houston courses and Houston disc golfers. Those who are currently in control of this tournament should have control of who gets it next, but I think if it were sent on tour and HFDS were not responsible for organizing or raising funds for this tournament for a specific perios of time, what could we do with all that effort and resources. We could refocus our efforts on building at home.
3. Give this city 3 years of renewing it's focus at home... uniting all the HFDS leagues, commando minis and birdshot minis on one focused goal of building a truely modern Championship course/complex and not only would Texas States return home, but Worlds could very realistically be brought here and Houston could very well be in the running for years to come.

To qoute a famous movie line... "If you build it, they will come"

I believe we've rested too long on what those who came before have done and it's time to not only catch up.. but to lead the way...again

more to come.....

[DPdiscer]

I'm sure I have heard the explanation before on why the Texas State Championship stays in Houston, but over time I have forgotten it. Could I please hear it one more time?

[tarazarr]

Chuck.. My thinking is simple, it doesnt matter why it's stayed here, what matters is what has been the cost.. Year long around the clock focus on rasing money for it, organizing it putting it on and watching all the efforts and funds pack up and leave town Monday morning after the tournament.

Consider the possibilities....If one piece of property were located and secured to build upon. Then you take every HFDS league, Every Commando Mini, and even yes your Birdshot minis (not your monthly tourney) and get the word out. This is what we are uniting to do. To build a modern Championship 72 hole Minimum complex right here in Houston. Do you think the local disc golfer is going to come out in droves to support these minis and leagues?
Hell yes!!!!
Why?...Because rather than seeing everything they worked for and supported all year pack up and leave town on the Monday morning after TSDGC, they are left with a championship caliber complex to play all year every day all year...

I predict HFDS membership would soar to new levels, mini participation would max out weekly and leagues would fill.

what always was....is waining...support is dwindling...volunteers are getting harder to come by...and why? Theres very little benefit to the average disc golfer being realized from all the TSDGC effort going on..

If HFDS truely wants to reach a new level, it truely needs to put the ship on a new bearing and your average local golfers need a reason to want to be involved.

[ChingLizard]

Originally Posted by DPdiscer

I'm sure I have heard the explanation before on why the Texas State Championship stays in Houston, but over time I have forgotten it. Could I please hear it one more time?

Over the years, there have been many other entities/cities that have coveted the tournament name of "Texas State Disc Golf Championship." Some sought to wrest it from us (Houstonians) whether we wanted to give it up or not. There have been some number of battles fought over the concept of rotating the tournament around the state - some got fairly bitter.

There are others who can speak with much more passion about the topic than I can...hopefully, they will chime in when they feel comfortable to do so.

I think that there is a general feeling by some of the "founders" of the tournament that we've always worked very hard to hold the highest quality tournament possible in every detail: such as we've always had iced down water jugs every 2-3 holes out on the courses, and we always strive to have one of the largest payouts in the nation, etc.

I also think that many of the folks that have been involved in the tournament have felt that we've never gotten the level of recognition that their efforts deserved. We are the largest tournament in the state, probably the largest purse in the state, and we usually have great ammenities. The atmosphere of an event hosting all 3 courses at a single location is very rare too. The founders know that we hold one of the top events in the country and they have worked very hard to see it grow to that. Remember that it has only completely filled the last two years.

I think another important misperception on your part might be that even though "the club" owns Texas States, that has only been a recent thing. In the past, the entities running Texas States were totally and completely separate from HFDS. Many HFDS members and officers staffed States, but they weren't the primary organizers. The primary organizers have been: Don Wilchek, Dan Lamont, and Dave Nesbitt. I was TD for 4 years and Neal has been instrumental in the last 2-3 of them, but he has almost always done all of the artwork for States even though he wasn't a TD. Other folks have had major involvement for a single year or sometimes two, such as Jim Hudson, Andi Young, John Edwards, and Conrad Joe.

It has only been in the last few years that we've even held the States meeting in conjunction with the club meeting. They always used to be separate. So I think it is a little inaccurate that you have an impression that HFDS is solely focused on Texas States. In reality, that rarely even gets discussed at a typical monthly club meeting.

Leagues are probably the single largest focus of the club as it creates a fair, competitive and affordable way for disc golf enthusiasts to enjoy their passion. Thanks to Jack Camp, we were using a "ratings" based league system before even the PDGA adopted the ratings system.

My focus with the Commando Mini is primarily on Texas States though. It is the reason why I began running it. As long as I can stand doing it, I will probably always continue to run the Commando as a small fund-raiser for States. It is a way that many of Houston's competitive disc golfers can make a small, almost painless way contribution to States on a local level. I am very surprised at how much it all adds up to each year. Although I am one of the temporary officers of HFDS, I'm not representative of how the other folks feel...their focus is definitely NOT on States. I think Scott just happen to attend a club meeting during the last two months leading up to it, so it probably seemed like that to him.

I hope that my comments have clarified things a bit. The reason why the Texas States tournament doesn't move to any other city besides Houston is because one of the founders "owns" the name (legally registered) and doesn't want it to leave Houston - ever.