USAWA

by Al Myers

I have been getting some sanction requests as of recent where the proper protocol of sanctioning meets has not been followed.  Nothing that has been a major problem – but I want to take time today to OUTLINE the proper procedures in applying for a meet sanction.  I am bound by the USAWA Rules and Bylaws to grant USAWA meet sanctions according to certain guidelines, which must be followed. The following are the most important stipulations from the USAWA Rulebook and the USAWA Bylaws:

VIII. The Competition

3.  To be an official sanctioned USAWA event, an application for meet sanction must be completed and returned with the sanction fee to the USAWA Secretary for approval by the executive board.
4.  All sanction requests must be sent in for approval at least 30 days prior to the scheduled event.
5. All sanctioned competitions must have a Meet Director.   A single person or multiple people may be assigned the Meet Director. This position is stated on the sanction application. The Meet Director will be the contact for the USAWA Secretary.
8.  The Meet Director is responsible for verifying that all competitors are current USAWA members, and must submit new member applications along with the membership dues to the USAWA secretary.
11.  The Meet Director will select the lifts for the meet as outlined in the sanction application.  The lifts may be official lifts of the USAWA or exhibition lifts.  Exhibition lifts are not eligible for records, but may be used in scoring for the competition.

BYLAW ARTICLE 18 – SANCTIONS

A.   All USAWA Competitions and/or events must be sanctioned.
B.  The sanction fee is $30 and must be sent to the Secretary/Treasurer for approval.
C.  The sanction request form must be completely filled out and signed by the contact individual for the competition/event.
D.  Sanctioned USAWA competitions and/or events must not be sanctioned with any other organization (with the exception of the IAWA).  Violation of this will result in loss of USAWA sanction.

It is very important that when a sanction form is sent to me for approval, that ALL the necessary information be present.  This is the checklist:

• Sanction Form filled out, signed, and dated
• Entry Form or list of events, date of competition, time schedule, and location
• Announcement for the website
• Include the Sanction Fee of $30

It is also not a wise thing to announce a meet in other avenues before your sanction request has been approved. That is getting the “cart in front of the horse”.   There are several reasons why a sanction request might be denied – and all for good reasons.  An example would be if you picked a meet date that fell on the same day as one of our USAWA Championships, or our National Championships.  It has been the policy of the USAWA not to have local meets interfere with these big meets.  Another reason a sanction request might be denied is that you want to have the meet before “the 30 day window” of time (See rule VIII.4 above).  This time period was put in the Rulebook for this reason – to give adequate time for ANYONE to make arrangements to attend the meet.   We are trying to run an upstanding organization, and having meets “pop up” on short notice looks bad, and doesn’t give our meet schedule any credibility.  I will stick to this rule, and will deny sanctions for meets under the 30 day notice.  Like the old saying goes, “your lack of planning DOES NOT constitute an emergency on my part!” (OK – maybe that’s MY ole saying).

A sanction is official once the meet/event has been put on the USAWA website’s schedule of events.  If you want to put on a meet, don’t hesitate to contact me prior to sending in the sanction request.  I will do my best to help you with this process.  If these Sanction Rules are followed, I won’t have to be the “bad guy” by turning down sanction requests;  but it’s my job to follow and enforce the rules and bylaws set forth by the USAWA.