When Lisa Tate was chairman of the USHPA Planning Committee she
put the following into the strategic plan:

More competitions at the local and regional level need to be
fostered and encouraged. This will require examination of USHGA’s current
competition structure with evaluation and modification to focus on growth of the
sports.


Action: Competition Committee to work with Membership and Development Committee
to develop programs to increase the number of Sanctioned competitions, focusing
on Regional and National Level. This includes a comprehensive review of the
USHGA Competition System and how it can be revised to meet the long term goals
of the Association.

These are code words for a rewriting of the NTSS ranking system
along the lines that Lisa outlined in an email to me in 2004 before she was on
the Planning Committee or USHPA President. She wasn't able then to do more than
outline what her ideas were. Unfortunately, her ideas were very sketchy and
there was no clear path to their implementation. Perhaps that's why she left it
up to someone else to come up with a plan.


But we (the Competition Committee) had already been working on goals similar to
the ones that she mentioned at the time in 2004. We wanted to encourage more
participation in competitions. I had already changed the USHPA Competition
Rulebook to give guaranteed NTSS points to meets that didn't have all the top
pilots (to encourage other pilots to attend) and to change the purpose of the
NTSS system (so that it wasn't just focused on the National Team Selection).


In addition, I implemented the Sport and Single Surface classes which we
introduced for the first time in competition in 2006. Of course, now there are
no Sport or Single Surface competitions.


I suggested to Lisa that we could up even further the amount of guaranteed
points to encourage newer meets that don't have a proven track record. She
rejected that possibility. Again this was long before her current position.


As far as Lisa is concerned the USHPA competition system is broken. You've got
to wonder why paragliding competition is doing the best it has ever done then,
no thanks to Jim Zeiset who did nothing to encourage its growth. So it appears
that if there are no hang gliding competitions next year, well, she told you so,
and now she is proven right. Thanks for that Lisa.


In fact Lisa wrote that the current competition committee chairman (well Jim and
now Dennis) are just there sort of as place holders as the whole rotten system
falls down around their heads.


I get the feeling that Lisa is out there pulling down the whole system. She is
the responsible person and it is because of her very direct actions that we now
have this failure of leadership.


It apparently matters who we have in leadership positions in the USHPA. I used
to think that the worst actors were just incompetent. I didn't really think that
they were malicious. I don't think that any more.


If you want to attend a USHPA sanctioned hang gliding competition next year (or
any high level hang gliding competition next year), I suggest that you contact a
meet organizer and express your interest and ask them to organize a competition.
I hope that we can get the Florida Ridge, Highland Aerosports, Dan Berecki, Dave
Glovers and others to please send in applications for USHPA sanctioning and
let's get this situation turned around. I contacted them a few days ago.


You don't have to be the Competition Committee Chairman to jaw bone folks into
putting on meets (but it does help).


More here: http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4751