URGENT - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

For all District Reps to send to all clubs and Meet Directors right away - Please do not delay.

October 1, 2009

To All Coaches and Meet Directors,

Please read through the following information as it is very important to the immediate season as well as the remainder of the Compulsory competition year.

First:  Meet Directors, please be reminded that you should not "assume" the athlete's USAG numbers and the coaches USAG Professional numbers are all current because they were in a District Qualifying meet and therefore the prior Meet Director has already checked for you.  If for example none of the Meet Directors before your competition really did not check and you assume this and an athlete or coach does compete or is on the competition floor at your competition, you will be solely liable.  You will not be able to blame the prior Meet Director.  So, Meet Directors, we all must do our jobs and check each and every athlete and coach entered into our competitions.  Remember, a Professional Membership, Safety Certification or Background Check could have expired since last verified.  You must be thorough.  Please plan to take the time to be completely and absolutely thorough.

Second:  Coaches, please make sure you are providing all of the needed and required information for each of your qualified athletes and coaching staff going on to the next competition.  This means, for example, you need to bring with you to the District Championships all of the required information on all of your athletes and coaches going on to the next competition, North or South State Championships, etc.  If it does not accompany your Official Texas Entry Form and Check, the Meet Director you are asking for admission into their meet does not have to accept your entries and therefore you could technically be left out of the competition or be charged the $25.00 Late Fee per each athlete you are trying to enter.  Bring your completed Entry Form and USAG information for the next Championship meet with you, and remember, you will need to pay the Entry Fees for North/South or State at the time they qualify.  Please do not be inconsiderate and ask the Meet Director to take their valuable time from their jobs running the competition to copy your information for you.

Third:  Coaches, please remember this year we have a Level 4 Placement Division and for this division there is a North and South Texas State Championships Meet which is their culminating final competition of the regular Texas USAG Compulsory competition season.  So, this means there is an added competition for the Level 4's but it is placement only.  You must therefore qualify into the North or South Level 4 Placement Texas State Championships only by competing in the Placement division in the District Championships.  This is very important for everyone to remember.  Therefore coaches, you must first make sure if you want to try to have your athletes to qualify to the North or South Championships you must change them from Achievement to Placement on your Entry Forms and because the Level 4 & 6 District Championship Entry Forms were already due and the Final Schedules are to be placed on the Texas web site this weekend, everyone needs to act right away.  In an informal survey at some of the District competitions, many of the coaches already planned on doing this because this is the first year and it will be easier to qualify for the North and South Championships.  You cannot qualify into the Level 4 Placement North or South Texas State Championships by competing in the District Championships as an Achievement athlete.  There are no exceptions. 

Fourth:  Meet Directors please do not forget to provide the necessary support staff to help maintain a well run competition.  This means event timers, scorers, flashers, etc.  It is not the responsibility of the judges to do all of these things as well as judge.  It is the total responsibility of the Meet Director to provide the correctly needed support staff to facilitate a well run competition.

Fifth:  Meet Directors please remember the judges are to judge at a professional rate of judging (time per athlete) as per the approved schedules the Competition Chairs in the North and the South are required to approve for all Texas State sponsored USAG competitions.  Every Meet Director must complete the necessary schedule forms and submit them for approval.  The judges are then required to meet the standard of judging time per athlete as per the approved schedule.  As a Meet Director, you cannot randomly go to the judges and arbitrarily ask them to "speed up" when in fact they are on time as the approved schedule provides.  We are fortunate that in Texas the judges are fairly fast, but it is not their responsibility to speed through every score so that you can save time.

We are getting to the "Championship" part of the 2009 Compulsory season.  It is the Texas State USAG Committee's wishes to help every competition in our state to be run the best possible way and to always provide a very even and level playing field for all of the athletes and their coaches and parents.  We wish everyone the best of success as we get into the highest part of the Compulsory season.  The Texas State USAG Committee are always here to provide a good understanding of all of the rules and policies governing our competitions and to communicate by education to everyone a very good and positive competitive environment.

On a final note, Meet Directors, if you have not submitted your District Championship numbers per age group information to the State Chairman, please do so immediately so that the % of a % can be calculated and dispersed to everyone.

Good luck to everyone for the remainder of the season.

Scott Crouse                                                                    Lisa England
North Texas Competition Chairman                            South Texas Competition Chairman
USAG Texas State Committee                                         USAG Texas State Committee