A Letter From the President

by Scott Van Arsdale
12/13/2006

I want to thank the Nomination Committee for nominating me for President. It was a big surprise and a larger honor! Thanks to everybody who voted in the elections as well. Thanks too to the Board, event organizers and everybody who has helped to make the WAA and the atlatl community what it is today. As I’m getting up-to-speed in my new role, I’m getting an idea of how much work people are doing, every minute of which is volunteered. Anyway, I look forward to working with The Board and members to ensure the WAA remains a quality organization. 
 
In a way, I’m an outsider. Although I’ve been a WAA member for about a decade, I haven’t held a position on the Board until now. Some of the points I’m about to mention may have already been discussed and perhaps dismissed. I’m sorry if it causes you to roll your eyes and mutter to yourself “been there, done that”. I don’t have a personal agenda or pet ideas that I want to see implemented. I do feel that we have a responsibility to our fellow members and ourselves to keep our eyes open for reasonable ways to keep interest in the atlatl and the WAA alive, and perhaps allow it to thrive. Maybe the following will start/restart a dialogue that ultimately assists with that goal.
 
 
Perhaps I’m silly to even try to discuss atlatling through a sociological perspective, given that our Vice President is a pro at such. To start from square one, is an atlatl organization really necessary? Like a number of WAA members, I was a flintknapper who discovered the atlatl because knap-ins I attended had atlatl events too (actually, I purchased a Bill Tate atlatl and darts before I ever attended a knap-in but didn’t get hooked until the knap-ins). The knapping community exists without much organization at all, apart from a few loosely organized local groups. There have been attempts to organize the knapping community; to my knowledge they didn’t get very far. I’d guess that part, if not most of the reason for this failure is that knappers tend to be independent type individuals who either don’t see a need for organizing and/or flat out resist doing so. There are many similarities between flintknapping and altlatling beyond the aforementioned sharing of participants, and there surely are differences. Perhaps the biggest difference is that flintknapping is mainly an art form, while using an atlatl beyond one’s initial curiosity phase is much more of a sport than knapping. A knapper can conceivably ply the trade indefinitely, without ever gathering with other knappers, and be continually awarded by creating nice objects. An atlaltlist can throw darts in the backyard until an accurate expert, but without a way to channel that skill, either through competition, experimentation/study, demonstration or hunting, is apt to become bored with throwing. That is why I believe the ISAC (supplemented by the variety of local competitions), is the single most important feature offered by the WAA. Apart from being a main reason to have events, it provides a measure of similarity for all atlatl events and gives each competitor a measure of their ability compared to other atlaltlists worldwide. A pretty good inducement for the competition minded to practice throwing, buy or make and experiment with equipment. For sure there are other important benefits to having the organization, including the flow/exchange of information through THE ATLATL and other means, as well as the great opportunities to socialize with others in the atlatl community. It might be important to note that similar benefits are available in the knapping community without the presence of an organization. That doesn’t make them unimportant. Perhaps they are/can be made better through the organization. Perhaps there are ways we can develop new benefits or strengthen existing ones.  Furthermore, the WAA has been around long enough to ensure that tradition plays a role, especially amongst long-time members.
 
What does all this mean to us today? I don’t know! For one thing, I have no doubt that the tendency to resist organizing (and authority?) seen in the knapping community also exists in the atlatl community and has factored in some of the unpleasantness that occurred when the WAA considered/implemented changes to the ISAC rules on at least two occasions in the past. It is probably a reason why certain individual atlatlists resist competing in the ISAC as well - it requires too much conformity! We should tread softly when (if) entertaining changes to the ISAC, and remember that not every member is interested in the ISAC. Furthermore, there are active atlatlists who are not members of the WAA. While it seems impossible to make everybody happy, maybe we can learn some things from that group that could be used to make the WAA more attractive or help us educate non-members on the role of the WAA and benefits of membership if ignorance is a factor.
 
I feel the most tangible, in your face, look what you get for your money benefit provided by the WAA is THE ATLATL newsletter. Hats off to Margie, Leni, and all of the members who have helped/help to make it such a great thing. I’ve heard discussion on adding color to it, as well as creating an electronic version. I’d guess the former would be nice and the latter largely ignored, because the paper version is too good! But maybe an e-version would be worthwhile. Maybe.
 
Is the WAA just fine the way it is now? Could things be done to improve the organization to make it better for current members and attract new ones? Are we better off remaining a small, somewhat close-knit community or do we want to swell the ranks at the possible expense of the benefits of being a small organization? I’m glad I don’t have to answer those questions by myself! Regardless, we face some challenges just maintaining current membership levels (372 individual and family memberships at last notice), and more challenges if we want to increase that membership.
 
Of course, there will always be attrition regardless of the quality and benefits provided by the WAA. Death, life changes, waning interest (burnout), lack of free time, competing hobbies, etc. will whittle away membership. So to maintain current membership levels we have to attract new members. To grow we have to attract even more new members.
 
As far as competitions go, I don’t think the ISAC itself needs any changes at all, apart from possibly lessening the throwing distances for children. Along those lines, maybe we should split the youth division so the little folks have their own category, and the older youth theirs. Taken even further, perhaps the youth category(ies) should be split by sex as well. Negatives include increased award costs and increased burdens on organizers and record keepers. I’m not seeing many youth competing at the events I attend, so maybe there isn’t enough demand for change. Maybe the changes would result in more youth participation. Once again, I don’t know!
 
Given the fact that a girl is currently leading the youth division, perhaps a split by sex isn’t needed. John Whittaker has evaluated ISAC statistics, and Doug Bassett is currently analyzing historical ISAC results. I’m sure their results will be useful in determining if these or similar changes would be good.
 
One thing that might attract and keep new ISAC competitors is recognition for milestones. When I started competing in the ISAC the skill level between a beginner with a little practice under the belt and a champion wasn’t that great. Now it’s enormous. Perhaps little things like awarding lapel pins, medallions or certificates, along with mention in THE ATLATL when the minimum cut is reached (40 youth, 50 women, 70 men) - plus whenever a competitor passes another decade milestone beyond the minimum qualifier - would entice less accomplished throwers to stick with it and not become too concerned when confronted by the abilities of top competitors. I envision a pin similar to the WAA pin available previously with ISAC and the pertinent milestone (70,80, whatever) somewhere on the face. The cost for such depends on the number ordered, but is generally well under $5 per pin. It may be possible to pay for such with some fund raising scheme and avoid a hit to the treasury. Competitors who achieved the milestones before the pins become available could be allowed to purchase them if so inclined.  Anyway, the scheme would give a little positive reinforcement and recognition for achievements and hopefully prevent some feelings of anonymity while competitors improve skills. A means to deliver the pins would be needed, but could be as simple as providing Board members or organizers with a supply to bring to events. 
 
Two other points regarding ISAC scores: In most sports, you can watch the sports news or read the newspaper to follow results. With the ISAC, you often have to wait weeks until scores are updated on the WAA website or longer for the next issue of The ATLATL to show up. I was very disappointed that Community Zero wasn’t used more for event re-caps, but I hope whatever form of replacement we have for the CZ site becomes the place to go for recent event news. Another ISAC related idea- have a press release sent to the local media of all adult TOP TEN finishers, unless the competitor specifically asks that this not be done. There could be a release for youth Top Ten winners with parent’s permission too.  Apart from recognition for the winner, it would, hopefully, lead to feature stories in the press and cheap exposure for atlatling.
 
Should the ISAC be the only competition sanctioned by the WAA? Until a few months ago I would have thought so. Lately, Doug Bassett has been on a distance throwing kick. While I’m not interested in competing in distance competition myself, Doug draws a crowd when he demonstrates his distance throws. I think the spectator appeal easily trumps that of accuracy events. I’m sure Doug will be asking us to add a distance competition to our repertoire. If there are enough volunteers to cover the administration logistics, and a comprehensive set of safety rules are developed and implemented, I think it could spice up the events (those with enough space, anyway) and hopefully attract more interest in the atlatl.
 
 
Adding depth to atlatl events is one thing, adding atlatl events is another. With travel costs skyrocketing, it’s harder to attend the events. The only reasonable solution I can think of is to have more events in more geographic areas. There was much discussion on this point on Community Zero under the “Grassroots” discussions (until they degenerated into a carping session). Anyway, one of the main points focused on how and why the atlatl took hold along the NY/PA border. There is no reason why that can’t occur in multiple locations, resulting in more atlaltlists and WAA members. I don’t have a magic plan to make that happen, but I would like to see a section on the WAA website with suggestions on organizing events, with tips provided by experienced event holders. Perhaps that would entice more people to organize events in new locations. New locations, more exposure, more interest equals more members.
 
Is the way the WAA does business the best way? I’m not advocating change, but here are some thoughts. The ISAC brilliantly allows competition for the championship anywhere in the world where somebody cares to organize an event, yet if anybody wants to really participate in the WAA’s governance, they must travel to the annual meeting, which is held somewhere in the USA. The USA is big enough so that meeting attendance can be a big commitment for American members. I can envision members from elsewhere feeling a bit left-out. I don’t know if this is really a problem, but I’ve often wondered about it. Perhaps there is a creative way to give members from distant locations a stronger voice without undermining the traditional purpose of the annual meeting. We only have a few members from outside of the US, so maybe this is a non-issue, or is our US-focused approach deterring potential members? Maybe we could use a more developed process for submitting ideas/proposals/resolutions to the Board. I’ve heard that many interesting ideas have been brought forth at annual meetings, but such ideas weren’t well fleshed-out with pros vs. cons, costs, effort required and other details needed for a thorough discussion and vote. Maybe we can spell out what kinds of information we need to seriously consider any proposal, and list them on the website, and encourage members to submit their ideas to the Board via regular or e-mail. If members know the Board will consider and respond to such, regardless if the member is from India or Indiana, feelings of geographic isolation can be minimized and Board members can be spared some lengthy discussions at meeting time. One last international matter: there are no December ISACs allowed. I understand the reason for that is to allow the record keeper(s) time to tally the season’s results. That rule may not be fair to competitors in the southern hemisphere though. It’s the equivalent of banning June ISAC’s above the equator. As of now we don’t have any members from the southern hemisphere, but if and when we do...
 
Now, last and least: Terms for new officers and Board members start at the conclusion of the annual meeting. Given that the annual meeting can be any month except December, it is conceivable that someone elected at a November meeting, with their term expiring at a January meeting, would have a year of their term rendered down to a month. An extreme and unlikely scenario, but possible. With the tentative ‘08 annual meeting date in April, some will not be serving for the specified time in the bi-laws. In fact, my term will be affected thus. After reading through this you may think that is a good thing :-), but maybe we should have the terms start on January 1 after the election.
 
I know “maybe” and “perhaps” had considerable mention above. That’s because I’m not under any illusions that I have the answers. I do know that I want to be involved in atlatling as long as I am physically able to attend events. I hope many of the good friends I’ve made through atlatling do the same. With the quality of the people who are involved, and the amount of interest and passion for atlatling that exists, I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect that the atlalt community will be around for a long time.  
 
Scott Van Arsdale 
November 2006