Driving up Interstate 35 through Austin and back to school in Waco, Texas, I could not remember a time in my life when I felt so empowered. I experienced my first NCAA Convention this year in San Antonio, and I did not know what I was getting myself into at the beginning of the week. After five busy days of meetings, luncheons and banquets our committee’s task to make the student-athlete’s voice heard had never been more imminent.
Just a few short months ago, we gathered in Indianapolis to vote on legislative proposals that could directly impact student-athletes. Behind closed doors, we listened to every conferences opinion ensuring that the student-athlete voice was taken into account on each proposal. Although it can be quite a laborious endeavor to pick apart the rhetoric of these potential rules, we know our conferences rely on us to get to the heart of the matter for the well-being of student-athletes. With our work cut out for us, we hastily planned for the 105th annual NCAA Convention, which would prove to be much more than we could’ve expected.
The NCAA Convention is our committee’s time to perform on the big stage, in what could be considered the “championship” part of Division I SAAC’s season. The first days we finalized our positions on the proposals we had gathered feedback on since early October. We prepared to lead discussions with the groups at the top of the NCAA governance structure. The face-to-face interactions with faculty athletic representatives, athletic directors, NCAA staff, and presidents is extremely important, especially when it might be our only shot the entire year at voicing the opinions of the thousands of student-athletes to those who hold the vote.
Highlights of our meetings included dinner with the members of the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, lunch with the Legislative and Leadership Councils, breakfast with the Board of Directors, and a Q&A session with President Mark Emmert. Our discussions revolved around hot topics including recruiting, amateurism and agents, commercialism and the student-athlete voice. The resounding theme throughout our discussions and interactions with the administrators was one of increased appreciation for and eagerness to hear what we had to say.
From President Emmert’s State of the Association speech we heard, “The business that we’re in is supporting students and helping them be successful in all their endeavors.” President Emmert emphasized the important role that student-athletes can play in influencing those individuals who propose and vote on the legislation. This statement came to life when the Executive Board, for the first time, proposed the presence of several student-athletes at their future meetings to provide the student-athlete voice.
In our closing meeting there was a sense of looming opportunity, yet responsibility, for the upcoming months on our campuses and in our conferences. It has been said, “To whom much is given, much is required.” With the opportunities our committee has been afforded, our platform is wider and stronger than ever. We understand that now is our time to reach a broader base of student-athletes so that one-year from now we can say in full confidence that we are the representatives and voice of over 140,000 Division I student-athletes.
At the NCAA Convention, the National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) participated in a presentation about the importance of sports information directors. Eric McDowell, the sports information director (SID) and assistant athletic director at Union College in Schenectady, New York addressed National SAAC representatives from all three divisions in San Antonio, Texas.
Many questions arise with discussion about the media that encircles student-athletes. What is the best way to connect the success of student-athletes and their community? Not only are SID’s athletic departments’ statistic geniuses, and number one fans of their respective university, but they are also first on the scene at basketball and soccer games. They must be familiar with the most current communication technology (yes, that means the internet).
Twenty years ago, SIDs couldn’t predict they would be tweeting live plays via the Internet, or posting videos with commentary while the soccer game was actually happening. Nowadays, the SID is on the forefront of technology to present the latest scores and plays lightning-quick, so fans who are not at the game can stay in the know about their favorite college teams.
The SID is not only the media relations representative of the athletic department, but they can also be the student-athletes’ best friend. Whenever my grandparents check out our University of Portland sports media website they are always pleased to get to know my teammates on the posted roster. They also read the latest cross-country race recaps and scope out pictures of our coaches. We as student athletes can help the SID keep our team information up-to-date by sending in pictures from competition, updating our biographies, or reminding our coaches to communicate results as soon as possible. Then community members (and grandparents) can stay connected with our latest athletic accomplishments.
Accordingly, the SID is a key element to any athletic department. Not only are the statistics from last night's game posted the moment they happen, but they are also presented in multiple formats using the most current technology. The National SAACs from all three divisions were pleasantly reminded that the SID can also be the right hand man in communicating the latest SAAC community service project, or current legislation that the SAAC is working on for fellow student-athletes. We are thankful to Eric McDowell for reminding us of the many roles the SID plays in our athletic departments and look forward to taking his message back to our own conferences and campuses.
By Michelle Brutlag Hosick
NCAA.orgScott Krapf sometimes can’t believe how far he’s come – from a “lowly freshman” cross country and track student-athlete from a small Illinois town just four years ago to the chairmanship of the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in 2011. The Illinois State student-athlete is awed by it all and grateful for the opportunity he has to influence Division I athletics. “As I reflect, it goes back to the opportunities I’ve had, the people I’ve met and the experiences that have come through SAAC that fueled the fire to continue,” Krapf said. “It’s an experience that is life-changing and will be ingrained in my memories forever. I’m going to appreciate this.” Krapf’s humble gratitude belies a steely resolve to make the student-athlete voice heard over the next year on local, conference and national platforms. A long-distance runner, Krapf is accustomed to working with a team while still showcasing his individual talents, and his approach to promoting student-athlete well-being through the Division I governance structure will be no different. “It’s going to be critically important that everybody comes together from all the Councils and cabinets and committees. It’s crucial that we all have agendas that align. We need to make sure everyone’s opinions are heard,” Krapf said. “That’s the ultimate way student-athletes can be heard in the process.” Another goal for Krapf as he leads SAAC this year is fostering more complete student-athlete engagement. The SAAC has taken first steps into multi-media and social media platforms with educational videos and a presence on a variety of social platforms. “I really want to challenge the national and conference SAAC members to make sure we are reaching out to student-athletes at all levels, so when discussions happen with the leadership groups, I can confidently say this is how Division I student-athletes feel,” he said. Krapf will wrap up a master’s degree in sports administration this May, a year after completing a degree in recreation and park administration in just three years. He is in the process of applying for law schools and hopes that a juris doctorate will open doors in several different athletics administration areas. He came into college with the goal of earning a degree that would help him begin a sports program for inner-city kids, but his experience as a student-athlete taught him that he didn’t need to have a degree to start having an impact in the community. “One of the best parts of being a student-athlete is the ability to share our talents and skills with others. Getting involved with the community through SAAC has shaped me in the most important way,” he said. “I had the opportunity to give back to primarily young children who may not know or have a role model. That’s been the most impactful thing for me, being able to give back in that way.” When his eligibility expires after the upcoming outdoor track season, Krapf hopes he has reached a point where he can be content with and proud of all he’s accomplished as a student-athlete. He thinks he’s at least partway there now. He’s just not quite ready to let go of the mental discipline and physical preparation required of him every time he runs a race on a cross country course or 25 times around the outdoor track. However his career as a runner ends, he knows that what he’s learned in every race he ran, the relationships he built through his teammates and his fellow SAAC members, will inspire him as he launches his career in collegiate athletics administration. “It’s going to be important to continue to have the relationships with student-athletes who are able to pursue a dream like I was,” he said. “I want to be able to have an impact on their lives.” Krapf’s term as Division I SAAC chair lasts until January 2012.
Story retrieved from: NC
Emmert pledges changes in NCAA Convention speech
NCAA President Mark Emmert experienced his 100th day in office on Wednesday. On Thursday he explained what the next 100 days will be like.
In his first State of the Association speech, he told a packed ballroom of NCAA Convention delegates that by April he’ll work with NCAA presidential groups to propose rules that close glaring loopholes and begin to align behaviors “on the ground” with those that the Association espouses.Clearly referencing several high-profile controversies that have marked the early part of his tenure as NCAA president, Emmert told delegates that he will work with leadership to make sure they don’t become a recurring theme.
He said it’s wrong for parents to attempt to sell the athletics services of their children to a university and that rules are needed to stop that.
He also said that student-athletes must acknowledge that the collegiate experience is distinct from a professional career. “Student-athletes trading on their standing as star athletes for money or benefits is not acceptable, and we need to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he said.
“Student-athletes are students, not professionals, and we’re not going to pay them or allow other people to pay them to play. Behaviors that undermine the collegiate model wherever they occur are a threat to those basic values, and we can’t tolerate them. If we believe in those values, we need to be ready to defend them, and if we don’t, we have to be ready to accept the criticism that comes from not doing so.”
That “can-do” message resonated with an audience that had just evidenced the collegiate model at its best.
Eschewing the traditional podium-and-teleprompter approach of past Conventions, Emmert wore a wireless mic and “interviewed” student-athletes Ashley Karpinos of Kenyon, Robert Griffin of Baylor and Neely Spence of Shippensburg, all of whom either did achieve or still are achieving high marks inside and outside of athletics.
Karpinos (formerly Rowatt) was an accomplished swimmer at Kenyon and the 2003 NCAA Woman of the Year. She’s now a physician at Vanderbilt Medical Center and said that her athletics participation helped her constantly seek to improve.
“At Kenyon that meant constantly improving athletically and academically. Now as a doctor, I am in constant pursuit of improving my professional skills,” she said. “What I learned from athletics is to make goal-setting a habit.”Griffin, Baylor’s quarterback, graduated in December after just three years of school with a degree in political science. He’ll be a junior athletically next season and will work on a master’s. He has law school in his sights, too.
“I thought it would be great if I got two degrees out of my scholarship rather than have my parents pay for it,” said Griffin to a crowdful of laughter.
But delegates also appreciated Griffin’s life plan. Even though his NFL prospects are high, Griffin isn’t banking on them. “I have two plans,” he said. “Plan A is to go to law school after I finish my communications degree, and Plan B is to go to the NFL.
“If plan B works out, that’s fine, but if it doesn’t, I always have plan A.”
The third student-athlete highlight was Shippensburg runner Neely Spence, who just last month won the individual title at the Division II Women’s Cross Country Championships.
More than just a champion, though, Spence also received an NCAA Sportsmanship Award for her acts of kindness at her conference championships that enabled another runner to qualify for the national meet. “It was just the right thing to do,” Spence said before being interrupted by thunderous applause.
Emmert used those student-athlete stories to illustrate five values he believes are core to the Association. Karpinos, he said, represents the Association’s need to “be focused like a laser on the success of our student-athletes.”
Through Griffin, Emmert illustrated that student-athletes are not professionals during their collegiate days, even if some of them aspire to play professional sports.
“And what would it be like if we didn’t have Neely Spence’s story?” he said, pointing out the need for institutions to offer as many opportunities for student-athletes as they can through broad-based athletics offerings.
Value No. 4, Emmert said, “is that athletics is an integral part of what we know as American higher education.” Value No. 5 – the collegiate model – essentially is a combination of all of the others into an enterprise that all NCAA members must work to protect.
“While it is true that we need to have good media contracts and generate revenue and make sure we are using resources wisely, that’s not the business of athletics,” Emmert said. “The business that we’re in is what we just saw in those three student-athletes – supporting students and helping them be successful in all their endeavors.”
In the coming days, Emmert said he’ll begin working with the three divisional presidential bodies and by April have a package of proposals that makes “positive efforts to addressing these problems.”
“But I also want to be clear about this,” Emmert said. “Passing new rules alone doesn’t fix any of these problems. We need to work with our coaches, our ADs, our student leaders – all of those people who understand how these issues play out on the ground so that we don’t just change a rule but change behavior.”
Story retrieved from: NCAA.org
In conjunction with the release of two videos, Division I SAAC has also released a series of best practices for Campus and Conference SAACs. These best practices are aimed at keeping communication flowing between all levels of SAAC (campus, conference and national). Please leave a comment if you have further suggestions. Conference SAAC Best Practices - Relationship with DI SAAC representative
- Assure that good communication exists between DI rep and Conference SAAC liaison prior to and following your meeting
- Allow for the DI rep to attend in-person meetings to best collect feedback on legislative proposals
- Conference SAAC meeting and legislative proposals
- DI SAAC has found that conferences that have an in-person meeting during the months of Sept/Oct have the best success of receiving detailed student-athlete feedback on legislative proposals
- At the meeting, utilize materials provided from NCAA to best educate conference SAAC on proposals affecting student- athlete well-being
- If possible, allow for a compliance officer to attend meetings in order to better explain and provide examples of how proposed legislation would affect the student-athlete experience
- When filling out your conference’s position grid, make sure to add as many notes as to why the conference felt a certain way on each proposal
Campus SAAC Legislative Best Practices - Relationship with DI SAAC conference representative
- Make sure that your campus SAAC knows what the DI SAAC is and who your conferences representative is – they can prove to be incredibly helpful when it comes to education on legislation as well as other hot topics from a national perspective
- Utilize your campus’ conference SAAC representative as they will have knowledge of the proposals either from their interaction at an in-person conference SAAC meeting, or at the very least from email communication between DI SAAC and each campus representative
- Presenting Legislation
- Designate a certain campus SAAC meeting each fall to devote time to discussing legislative proposals.
- Attempt to get as much diversity as possible at that meeting (sport/ethnicity/gender)
- Utilize a compliance officer to come and present in order to provide clarification and examples for certain proposals that may prove to be confusing
- When providing feedback to your conference SAAC representative, please provide as much detailed feedback about why your institution felt strongly one way or the other.
The Division I SAAC would like to congratulate the Boston College SAAC for being awarded the fall 2010 Division I SAAC Award of Excellence. BC was selected from a pool of very qualified applicants. Please keep your eye out for the next submission period coming this spring!
Below are some of the accomplishments of the Boston College SAAC
Community Service
Student-Athlete Immersion Service Trip – During the last week of the winter break, a group of 22 student-athletes and 2 staff travelled to Poplarville, MS and New Orleans, LA to assist in the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. The group slept on the floor of a church and shared meals with other university groups from around the country. The group was charged with deconstructing a shelter, cleaning up an old warehouse site, and painting the interior of residents’ homes. The group also had the opportunity to spend time in with CNN Hero of the Year Award Winner, Liz McCartney and the SAAC at Tulane.
Food for Families – Monthly visit to Commonwealth Tenants Association to package food from food bank to deliver to needy families.
Franciscan Hospital for Children – Bi-monthly visits to local children’s hospital for children with a variety of mental, physical, and behavioral issues. Student-athletes visit different areas of the hospital and play cards, video games, and sports. Twice a year, at Christmas and Easter, the Lacrosse program visits to decorate holiday themed cookies.
HEAR Program – Help Educate through Athletic Responsibility. Groups for 5-10 students visit local schools to share their stories of success to encourage the pursuit of further education.
Massachusetts Hospital School – Multiple visits throughout the year to spend time with students from 8-21 years old in a residential/medical environment to play wheelchair football/basketball, video games, and ride horses.
Campus School – Student-athletes visit the Campus School several times throughout the year to assist in hosting their events, such as the prom, Valentine’s and Christmas parties. The Boston College Campus School educates students aged 3 to 21 with multiple disabilities, including complex healthcare needs.
Talent Show - The major project for SAAC is planned throughout the year. Last year, it was a Fashion Show and this year's board elected to put on a talent show instead to raise money for the St. Bernard Project in New Orleans, LA. Last year, the fashion show raised $3500 for the St. Columbkille School.
Can Drive - This year's student-athlete can drive collected over 3000 pounds of food that provided 1458 meals to needy families in the greater Boston area. The can drive is a competition among all athletic teams to collect the most cans by weight. This year Rowing took home the championship, collecting over 900 pounds of food.
Pinch Hit for Haiti - SAAC, spearheaded by our Baseball representatives worked with the Pinch Hit for Haiti organization to raise funds for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Athletic Departments from all of the country participated in Pinch Hit for Haiti and SAAC was no different, raising over $700.
Teamwork/Leadership
Adopt-a-Team – Each team is paired up and is charged with supporting the other as a whole at a game or match. Team’s can host dinner together or another event.
SAMI – Student-Athlete Mentor Initiative. New Program - Selected upperclassmen are paired with freshmen to assist in navigating and acclimating themselves to being a student-athlete
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Sacred Heart University - Recipient of the National SAAC Award of Excellence
The 2009-2010 Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) has a made a commitment to volunteer at the Dunbar School in Bridgeport. The hope is that their activity will help the school improve academic performance. The Dunbar school is a K-8 school located on the east side of the city and is a failing school- meaning that less than half of their students meet proficiency or higher. The SAAC activities are part of the MOTIVATE (Meaningful Opportunities to Inspire Vision and Achieving Total Excellence) project at the school that was initiated by behavior management specialist Derrick Lewis, an educator at Dunbar.
The mission of the MOTIVATE Project is to socially empower and impact students of urban communities. The MOTIVATE Project is designed to help students gain, maintain, and enhance their personal sense of responsibility, pride and worth as it pertains to academic success through mentoring, educating, and tutoring those students who struggle academically in basic academic areas.
SAAC sends 10-15 student-athletes every school day to assist with reading, math, and one-on-one tutoring. There are over 50 student-athletes volunteering this semester.
Throughout the year, SAAC is planning other projects with the Dunbar school. They are currently conducting a book drive for the school to help fill their library shelves. In the spring, the SAAC plans to host a field day at the schoolGeorge Washington University, Georgetown Univerisity, Howard University Recipients of the National SAAC Award of Excellence
These three institutions have teamed up to create an incredible program called the Grassroot Project.
The Grassroot Project is a non-profit, student run HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention program, using the role model status of Division I college students and the popular platform of sports to empower at-risk youths with the knowledge and skills to lead healthy lives.
The Grassroot Project provides important HIV/AIDS prevention messages and life skills training to at-risk youth in the community. The curriculum focuses on creating a fun, friendly and safe environment in which youth learn healthy life styles. The programs will allow the kids to share their feelings and beliefs, increase knowledge, and develop healthy attitudes and behaviors pertaining to HIV/AIDS through the use of interactive games and activities. By using the vehicle of sports to influence social change, student athletes will use the curriculum to combat the high rate of HIV/AIDS in D.C.
The program hopes to expand to the five other NCAA Division I institutions in the D.C. metropolitan area by spring of 2010. The Grassroot Program is part of Athletes United for Social Justice, a non-profit organization dedicated to using college athletes to empower youth through sports.
After a number of delays at Washington Reagan International Airport, I arrived in Indianapolis late on Friday night for the July National DI SAAC meeting. Despite the hotel’s best attempts to keep me out of my room (three sets of keys that did not work), I managed to catch a few hours of sleep before our Saturday morning meetings began.
As much as I love our raucous debates and our energetic brainstorming, it’s the amazing people that make this group so special. Getting to catch up with everyone at breakfast on Saturday, in addition to throughout the entire weekend, reminded me of why I love being a part of this committee.
We sailed through our meetings on Saturday. First, we had updates from our members who serve as liaisons to various NCAA cabinets and committees. Among several guest speakers was Jeremiah Carter, whowas kind enough to speak to the group about recruiting models. We also spent a good amount of time electing new SAAC liaisons to an assortment of NCAA cabinets and committees. Our liaisons are extremely important to what we do; these members are essential because they represent the voice of DI SAAC and, consequently, all Division I student-athletes when the cabinets and committees are writing legislation and formulating best practice recommendations. In addition to this, we also spent some time reviewing the first drafts of legislation that are relevant to student-athlete well being in the new legislative cycle. And, of course, we had yet another lively debate on commercialism!
Saturday night was a bittersweet evening for everyone on Division I SAAC. After dinner at Ram's Restaurant in downtown Indianapolis, the seven members leaving the committee after the July meeting had a chance to speak to the group about their time on the committee. There were memories shared, secrets revealed, tears, and a whole lot of laughter. And, at the request of Anne Morrison, we chose to close this emotional moment with the largest game of “zip-bomb” ever played.
We rolled out of bed Sunday morning for the last few hours of meetings. Andy Louthain came to speak to the committee in regard to academic reform. Following this, Matt Horn gave the group a presentation about an awesome community service opportunity with an organization called Samaritan's Feet. DI National SAAC will be participating in a shoe drive at our next meeting, which takes place in November, and a small group of us will be working on the possibility of coordinating a division-wide community service project for next year. Stay tuned! Once again, things became emotional when the seven members said their formal goodbyes, and a few new members expressed how excited they were to be a part of this special group. After an orientation for those elected to serve as cabinet and committee liaisons (a special thank you to Zack Solomon who will now be going to bat for us females), one by one, we departed for the airport and went our separate ways. There is much work to be done before our next meeting in November and even more before the NCAA Convention in January. As sad as it was to say goodbye to all of our fellow members who will no longer be part of the committee, it made me feel so lucky to have met these wonderful people and to have yet another year with this amazing group!
Hi, my name is Carolyn Boyd, I am a softball student-athlete from Stetson University, and I represent the student-athletes of the Atlantic Sun Conference. That is the 100th time I have said that this week! Going into my first NCAA Division I National SAAC meeting, I was told to “sit back and take everything in,” but anyone who knows me knows that’s a challenge. I’m the kid in class who asks the questions, and that didn’t change much in our National DI SAAC meetings. I had no idea what to expect or what I had gotten myself into, but I found myself surrounded by an incredible group of student-athletes who share the same passions that I do. It was one of the coolest feelings ever, and I’m still in awe about the whole experience.
Things started Friday morning and continued through Saturday and Sunday. Each day, National DI SAAC’ers who serve on NCAA Cabinets and Committees reported back to the group any important information that was discussed in their last meetings. Also, a handful of guest speakers paid us a visit as the weekend progressed. Here are some things I found interesting (and I hope you do too!):
· Qualifier vs. Non-qualifiers out of high school: Did you know that if a non-qualifier goes to a junior college before a Division I institution, he or she must meet different requirements than a qualifier does in order to be eligible?
· The Awards, Benefits, Expenses and Financial Aid Cabinet is working to exempt need-based aid from counting towards a team’s financial aid limit, which includes athletic scholarships as well as federal and academic financial aid rewards.
· There is a Title IX coordinator at every school (that’s something I didn’t know!).
· The NCAA just signed a new contract with Turner and CBS Sports for $775 million a year, but you want to know the cool thing about it? That money goes back into the NCAA to be divided amongst its member institutions. Ever heard of the Student Athlete Opportunity Fund?
· The Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) is meant to serve as a liaison between the institution and the athletic department. There’s one on every campus!
· Matt Horn (the Big South National SAAC rep) told us about an awesome service organization called Samaritan’s Feet. It is a humanitarian relief organization that puts shoes on the feet of children in 50 countries all over the world. Check it out at www.samaritansfeet.org .
We discussed so many issues, but from what I understand, it was nothing compared to what we will face in our next meeting in November!
We did get a break from Grand Ballroom IV on Friday afternoon, where we really got to dig in and use our hands—literally. All the NCAA SAACs (Divisions I, II and III) came together and did a community service project. We got the chance to get to know a larger group of NCAA athletes while we pulled weeds at the White River State Park (Indiana’s only urban state park!). Following the park clean up, we competed against the Division II and Division III in a friendly game of kickball.
My first National Division I SAAC experience was definitely eye-opening. It is extremely humbling to be part of such an amazing group of people that only come together for one purpose: to speak on behalf of all 160,000 NCAA Division I student-athletes. I can see this experience is going to change my life, and I’m ready to jump right in.
It is an amazing thing to go six months without seeing a group of people and still feel as though you saw them yesterday. Reconnecting may take a few minutes to catch up, but the old jokes, laughs and relationships are back in a flash. Arriving Thursday came with a lot of excitement. I received a text message from Patrick Jenkins with the great news that I would have transportation from the airport to the hotel and it would be in the company of four other SAAC’ers. A great start to a great week. It started with lunch, then dinner with everyone to catch up with, share stories and meet the newbies. We had great night and got a lot of rest for the day to come.
Meetings in the morning discussed topics that ranged from Awards Benefits and Expenses and Financial Aid (the longest committee name known to man) updates, to the most favorite Amateurism update. All activities were just getting us ready for the fun to come. We began our short trot to our community service activity to pull weeds, pull some more weeds, and sweat a lot in the process. But, it was all for a good cause in the end, and close to 100 of us managed to perform a day’s worth of work in one hour. After community service that afternoon came the real reason for July’s meeting: to compete in kickball. Although Division III was coming off a championship victory last year, we felt our chances to dethrone them were very high. Game One against DII was a hard fought defensive battle, but in the end our ability to manufacture runs with a get-on-base tag-up scheme proved very successful and resulted in victory. After the hard fought win, we had to face the defending champs. They had the advantage of sitting out and scouting our first performance and game planned very well. The first inning was far from mistake free and a deflating loss ensued. We tried our hardest but couldn’t overcome the 3-0 deficit of the first inning. We showed great promise for the next battle and hoped the new replacements were ready for success. After the game, we all engaged in a sportsman-like association wide pizza dinner. It was a great conclusion to an amazing day.
Day Two, on the other hand, was strictly business. We summed up the previous day's activities and got straight to it. We discussed legislation and TV contracts, enforcement and the basketball focus group, FARA and new legislation for the next cycle to finally conclude with the mother of them all, more Commercialism. After all that business, the committee attended our traditional farewell dinner. This is where we all go out to eat together and say our goodbyes to the departing members. This year, just as every other year, we had to say good bye to a great group of committee members. Dinner finished and the good bye speeches began with nothing but laughs, memories and a quite a few tears. Although chaos cut our night short out on the town, we ended the evening together again. The last day was very little business and a lot of goodbyes. We met in the morning to close up the weekend and say our last goodbyes. To end where I started, with the completion of another meeting and four months till our next, there will be no lost time once we all come together again.
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