From owner-announce@list.footbag.org Sun Mar 3 11:18:29 2002 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by llic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) id LAA25740 for announce-outgoing@list.footbag.org; Sun, 3 Mar 2002 11:18:29 -0800 Message-ID: <20020303172555.97550.qmail@web20303.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [12.234.114.118] by web20303.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Sun, 03 Mar 2002 09:25:55 PST Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2002 09:25:55 -0800 (PST) From: Julie Symons Subject: [announce] 2002 IFPA World Footbag Championships - dates are final! To: announce@footbag.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: owner-announce@list.footbag.org Hello Kickers! The dates for the 2002 IFPA World Footbag Championships have been finalized. They are August 5 - August 11, 2002. Finals weekend, including Freestyle Semis, will be in the city of San Francisco. So book your travel now. You can fly into any one of the Bay Area airports, but SFO will be your best bet (Oakland and San Jose airports are about 30 miles away from SFO). So, pick your music, design your routine, and practice, practice, practice. Or just shred, shred, shred, and spike. We'll announce the host hotel and many more details as soon as we can. If you have any questions in the meantime, please feel free to ask Lisa McDaniel (bigmac@footbag.org) or me (julie@footbag.org). The latest information is also available at http://www.footbag.org/ in the upcoming events section. Cheers, Julie From owner-announce@list.footbag.org Mon Mar 4 09:39:12 2002 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by llic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) id JAA29990 for announce-outgoing@list.footbag.org; Mon, 4 Mar 2002 09:39:12 -0800 Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Sun, 3 Mar 2002 13:13:57 -0800 Received: from 152.163.207.176 by lw15fd.law15.hotmail.msn.com with HTTP; Sun, 03 Mar 2002 21:13:57 GMT X-Originating-IP: [152.163.207.176] From: "Ethan Husted" To: announce@footbag.org Subject: [announce] Results: Colorado Shred Symposium (CSS3) Date: Sun, 03 Mar 2002 14:13:57 -0700 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 03 Mar 2002 21:13:57.0790 (UTC) FILETIME=[551063E0:01C1C2F8] Sender: owner-announce@list.footbag.org The Third Annual Colorado Shred Symposium My personal thanks goes out to everyone who either supported and/or attended this year's event. Thanx for helping make this by far the best Symposium yet. Here's a run down of how it turned out. Results Open 35 Second 30 Contact Shred (Uniques times Add Ratio plus Adds) The Average of Two Days 1st Lon Smith 170.337 2nd Peter Irish 158.239 3rd James Risden 149.603 4th Sunil Jani 147.535 5th Rick Reese 141.913 6th Yacine Merzouk 137.964 7th Daryl Genz 137.162 8th Dave Holton 134.6 9th Chad Devlahovich 133.49 10th Greg Nelson 132.068 Shred Intermediate 1st Gabriel Gaudette 73.635 2nd Shannon Andersen 59.2 3rd Tim Werner 58.15 4th Kyle Corff 57.12 5th Casey Jones 54.7 6th Carolyn Bourgoin 52.15 7th John Bridge 51.26 8th Ryan Burt 49.375 9th Jeremy Mirken 48.5 10th Mike Kitterer 47.18 Open Big Three Trick 1st Sunil Jani Blurriest- Flurry- Pixie Paradon Intermediate Big Three Trick 1st Jeremy Mirken Smear- Double Pixie- Atom Smasher Open Sick One Trick 1st Spencer Behm Fairy Ducking Double Leg Over (Alpine Flog) Intermediate Sick One Trick 1st Ryan Burt Pixie Symposium Whirl Most Rippin' Run 1st Lon Smith 2nd Peter Irish 3rd Sam Colclough Here's a list of people Brad and I would like to thank for their involvement. Rick Reese Footbag.org Flipsider.com Revolution Footbags World Footbag Association Sven Jorgensen Into the Wind The Wizard's Chest Richard Abshire/Abshire Footbags Chad Devlahovich Dan Klokow Guys at Blurry World Mike Wilson Shay Wright Amy Feren Landon Chappell Jane Jones Shred Zone (Yacine Merzouk) Jon Schneider Ernest Crvich (The Master of Cream) and all local stylers in the Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins area. Also a grand shout out to my school, the University of Colorado at Boulder, who provided a great deal of support to the Symposium. Thanx ASSG, Rep Council, CU Police Department, and Vice Chancelor of Student Affairs, and Linda Loose. And a very special thanks to my partner in crime, the co-director of Symposium, Brad Kaplan. Thanx for helping make this event as smooth and professional as it was. You do good work my friend. Red Husted Brad Kaplan The Third Annual Colorado Shred Symposium From owner-announce@list.footbag.org Mon Mar 4 09:41:46 2002 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by llic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) id JAA30132 for announce-outgoing@list.footbag.org; Mon, 4 Mar 2002 09:41:46 -0800 Received: from footbagcomp (phu0D122.nextra.cz [213.210.135.122]) by mail2.pvt.net (Postfix) with SMTP id EC78F1E2ADD for ; Mon, 4 Mar 2002 09:51:46 +0100 (CET) Message-ID: <001f01c1c359$a017bb20$7a87d2d5@footbagcomp> From: "Jan Struz" To: Subject: [announce] Todexon 2002 online registration Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2002 09:50:24 +0100 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-2" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6600 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600 Sender: owner-announce@list.footbag.org Yo, Greetings all ya footbaggers around the world, I'm proud to announce that on Friday 22nd of March 2002 the third part of the oldest contest in Prague will take place. I would like to invite everyone interested in this contest that will overtake the border of freestyle in Europe. It will be a great pleasure for us to meet all of you again for a massive shred and party. Last two years this event took place in the underground downtown club Luxor, this year we are moving the location to another main club in Prague known as Akropolis. As the contest grows every year the task for higher quality made us choose this place which is one of the oldest and most known clubs in Prague. Todexon will be directly followed by the most crowded party of these days called Hip Hop Foundation featuring battles in Djing, breakdance vs. footbag !!, graffiti, MCing and mainly concerts by top eastern hiphop crews. Come and CZECH it out! You may now register online here http://www.footbag.org/events/show/1011874270 Thanks, Jan Struz Massive Production and Czech Footbag Association From owner-announce@list.footbag.org Wed Mar 27 08:55:30 2002 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by llic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) id IAA22759 for announce-outgoing@list.footbag.org; Wed, 27 Mar 2002 08:55:30 -0800 Received: from I (brat.footbag.org [209.125.90.60]) by llic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3/Debian 8.9.3-21) with ESMTP id IAA22756 for ; Wed, 27 Mar 2002 08:55:29 -0800 Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Sender: brat@209.125.90.2 Message-Id: Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 08:55:27 -0800 To: announce@footbag.org From: Steve Goldberg Subject: [announce] The Biggest News Yet in Footbag Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Sender: owner-announce@list.footbag.org Footbag friends, family, and aficionados: It's with intense pride that I announce another major milestone in the development of the sport of footbag. I know this message is long, but if you are even somewhat interested, you may skim through by looking at the section headers and just reading 1-2 paragraphs per section. If you're really not interested, don't complain -- just hit delete now! :-) BACKGROUND: As many of you know, last year we announced the new IFPA (International Footbag Players' Association), a membership-based international governing body for the sport of footbag. The ultimate goals of the IFPA are: (1) to provide consistency in footbag competition around the world, (2) to educate the public about footbag on a global scale, (3) to provide centralized assistance to players and footbag event organizers (of various forms, see below), and (4) to obtain recognition of the sport of footbag by the Olympics (some time in the distant future). In short, IFPA hopes to be the International Governing Body (IGB) of the sport of footbag, with players overseeing the administration of the sport through periodic elections and committee participation. The above-stated Olympic goal may cause many people to shrug their shoulders. But, to make a long story short, the founders of the IFPA spent almost 9 years working on creating this organization, and came to find in the process that the best way to demonstrate that footbag is a true, global sport, is for it to pass the muster of Olympic recognition. (Note: "recognition" by the Olympics does not assume inclusion in actual Winter/Summer Olympic Games competitions themselves.) At this point, many of you are asking, "What benefits do I get by joining IFPA?" Well, I ask in response that you simply wait a bit longer (patience is a virtue -- it's been almost 9 years, a few more weeks can't hurt :-)) We are very close to articulating IFPA member benefits; but if I tried to include all that here, this e-mail would become longer than it already is. That said, you can infer a lot about the benefits IFPA brings the sport (and you) by reading this message. When we announced IFPA last summer (it officially launched with Worlds 2001), we were hoping for sanctioning from the U.S. government as a public charity under IRS article 501(c)(3) of the tax code. Designing our non-profit corporation so that we would suit the U.S. Government's strict requirements for charitable status (as an international amateur sports organization) was a significant task. We would have loved to be able to announce this all together last summer, but unfortunately the IRS moves very slowly, and we were left in limbo for much longer than we had anticipated. THE BIG NEWS: So, what happened this month? Well, after just under 9 years of work by a group of dedicated individuals (listed at the end of this message), the IFPA was just granted 501(c)(3) "public charity" status as an "international amateur sports organization" by the U.S. Government. (!!) This is a very big deal for at least four major reasons (I could go on and on, but I will stick to 4 reasons): (1) The U.S. Government's requirements for this particular category of tax exemption for a sports organization are *incredibly* difficult to meet. Most requests are ultimately rejected, unless the organization has lawyers who can expertly craft the wording and deal with the follow-up questions. But we did it ourselves, with help from our friends, for almost no hard costs. For now, through this complex application process, we've been able to show the government that our sport deserves this status, and we are being given an opportunity to prove it during a 4-year period (the clock started in July, 2001). (Among the many requirements is that we demonstrate a membership that is global, not just a few people in California. This is one of many reasons that we hope everyone on this list will support us by joining right away. http://www.footbag.org/ifpa/join ) (2) 501(c)(3) status is the absolute best financial benefit the U.S. Government will give a sports organization. With this certification, most if not all of IFPA's operations are *tax-free*, and not only that, we are seen as "charitable" and therefore all donations towards our non-profit purposes are *tax-deductible*! This opens up a world of potential donations -- including from large foundations that donate annually to various causes. But what's more relevant, as the sport is still largely funded by fellow players (with donations, booster clubs, etc.), most if not all of those moneys will now be tax-deductible! So, if you donate money to IFPA for a specific purpose, and if that purpose is within the guidelines (which we'll help you understand), you can deduct it from your taxes just like a donation to any charity. This also goes for products, equipment, services, etc. Suddenly, those of us pouring money into the sport can get a tax break as a result! (3) A wide range of products and services within the U.S. are offered at discount -- even free in many cases -- to 501(c)(3) non-profit groups. Leveraging our charitable status, the IFPA can qualify for benefits and use of facilities that we never had a chance to use before. See below for some ideas of how we can pass this on to players and organizers. (4) Sponsors and other benefactors are much more likely to help us out with events (especially Worlds) if they can get a tax deduction in the U.S. (and California). Basically, 501(c)(3) status opens doors to funding for our sport from large and small benefactors alike. In fact, if we can demonstrate a large membership in IFPA, we are more likely to attract corporate donations to help us further the goals of the organized sport around the world. WHAT THIS REALLY MEANS TO YOU: When you think of IFPA, don't think of it as being some big organization that's centrally controlled by one or two people. In fact, please think the exact opposite -- think of it as an umbrella (with financial resources and all of the benefits of public charitable status above) that *YOU* can take advantage of to help promote footbag in your area. And yes, I mean everywhere (not just North America). IFPA is essentially a tool that you now have in your pocket, especially if you are an organizer (or would-be organizer) of footbag events (whether competitive or not). The basic rule of thumb is -- if you contribute to the IFPA's goals (by helping drive membership, by serving on committees for various projects, by subscribing to the IFPA's rule book and event guidelines, etc.) you will get back whatever the IFPA (and your fellow players and organizers who are also participating) can give you. (But, again, for more detail about what IFPA can do for you, wait for that next long e-mail.) Here are just a few ideas we have about how IFPA can help tournament organizers and clubs who request sanctioning, given our new charitable status: IFPA can (and hopes to): - create a central fund (through donations and sponsorships) that can be managed and allocated as needed to events or clubs that meet given criteria (to be spelled out when we actually have money to give away :-)) - negotiate deals on bulk purchases (for example: uniforms, t-shirts, program printing, banners, etc.) and coordinate these on behalf of clubs and sanctioned events (for example, your entire club could order uniforms through the IFPA uniform program, once we have people to help do the leg-work, and your club simply pays IFPA the "hard costs" and you get to take advantage of IFPA's bulk discounts and possibly other discounts as a result of our charitable status) - be a central point of contact for event insurance (especially in North America, but hopefully globally with support from local organizations) so that we can have a very inexpensive event insurance alternative (this is something the WFA used to offer; we'd like to revisit it in hopes that our charitable status will improve our ability to manage the program and costs) - be the official business entity for any and all official business needed by your club or sanctioned event -- in other words, if you want to take advantage of our charitable status, or if you simply need a formal business through which all of your major transactions occur, IFPA can potentially be that business (on a case by case basis) to funnel money through (to get tax advantages if you are strictly adhering to IFPA's accounting requirements) - provide benefits for member organizations (such as large sanctioned clubs or associations) including discounted (or hopefully free) web hosting and disk space on the IFPA's dedicated internet server (which is what most people think of as footbag.org) and related services For example, think of the World Championships this year and last. It is only coincidence that the event is in the San Francisco area. No matter where Worlds goes, it will be the IFPA World Footbag Championships, and any organizing club that puts on Worlds will have the right to use IFPA's charitable status to solicit donations, sponsorships, etc., and to use IFPA's bank account to manage the finances of the event. Understand, this in no way means people have carte-blanche -- the IFPA is a formal corporation and must adhere strictly to accounting rules. But while IFPA is managed by a team of elected and appointed directors (see below), it is the players' organization. And you should not misunderstand its value to footbag event organizers. Again, IFPA's value to players (if not inferred from the long e-mail above) will be articulated in a later mailing. WHO MADE THIS HAPPEN? Well, a lot of people have helped with the development of the sport of footbag to get it to this point. Far more than I would possibly have time to mention here. But I'll do my best to list the people below who have contributed the most in the last few years to the formation of the IFPA itself, and to its attaining 501(c)(3) status, paving the way to what I hope will be a completely self-supporting organization. Clearly, the IFPA would never have even had a chance without the World Footbag Association, and specifically Bruce Guettich. He and the WFA have created a complimentary organization for the players without which would make the IFPA's charter entirely unattainable. The WFA provides a single, consistent, public face to footbag... A point of contact (with a voice on the other end of the phone) for all things footbag-related. The WFA provides most of the promotional aspects of footbag that are simply not within the purview of the IFPA -- such as grass-roots touring teams, school demonstrations and PE classes, and more. In addition, WFA already has a sophisticated catalog of products that are available to footbag players, and which are now offered to IFPA members at reduced prices as well. Think of IFPA and WFA as sister organizations that each focus on a different set of services and functions for players of footbag around the world. Next, the founding members of the IFPA. Obviously from my long, rambling e-mails, I'm one of the people who's driven the creation of this organization, but I'm in *no* way acting alone. In fact, I'd say far too little credit goes to the rest of the core founding members, so I want to emphasize here that they have done in many cases *much* more work than me in making this a reality. With much help and vision from Jim Curtis, I created the footbag.org website at the very start of this project, as a core component of what we all envisioned as a global information service for footbag fans and players. Footbag WorldWide is the on-line face of IFPA to the public (and players). Julie Symons has worked diligently for the last 9 years to first create the corporation, then to do both the California and Federal income taxes *every* year since (that's a lot of work by itself!), to manage the bank account since we bankrolled the '94 and '95 World Championships, up through today as we are still unwinding from the 2001 Worlds and preparing to take on the 2002 Worlds, etc. Julie is *the* person who has contributed the most to IFPA's creation (and I bow to her now :-)). The other core founders, Brent Welch and david Butcher, have provided incredible insight and direction, helped fill out many forms, wrote justifications and other background information for our applications and corporate documentation, helped draft, edit, and finalize our bylaws and articles of incorporation, and have each written a large amount of IFPA software (often overlooked but representing hundreds of hours of work!). Julie's mom (Nancy Symons) really helped us out in the early phases of incorporating and dealing with tons of paperwork. Recently, Tina Lewis has been providing invaluable assistance in interpreting legal requirements, helping us get better organized, driving some of the processes to get us fully up and running, and of course agreeing to take on the job of IFPA secretary. And nobody can thank Eric Cote enough for his wonderful graphic design help -- he created the IFPA logo (which I think is awesome), designed the IFPA T-shirt, created and implemented most of the graphic design of footbag.org (the website of IFPA), as well as the online edition of the IFC rulebook, and much more. Finally, of course, are all of the people who contributed in one way or another directly or indirectly to IFPA (whether they know it or not). They include: Johnny Stalberger, Arthur Coddington, Chris Ott, Dan Roddick, Ray Ferris, Lisa McDaniel, Constance and ET Constable, Jody Welch, Vince Bradley, PT Lovern, Derrick Fogle, Edmund La Macchia, Allan Haggett, Yves Archambault, Scott Davidson, Jan Zimmermann, Chris Eddicott, Justin Sexton, Jan Struz, Martin Cote, Casey Jones, Juliet Pendray, Sam Conlon, Eric Cokee, Matthew Quint, Yacine Merzouk, Derric Scalf, Tricia George, Eric Wulff, Scot Hansen, Becca English-Ross, Brian Kimball, Stan Sagalovskiy, James Holkko, The First Family (including Sunil :-)), Cory Current, and I'm sure I'm leaving out a lot more. (Whew.) I personally want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed, whether directly or indirectly, and especially those who will contribute now that we have a framework in place and a better context in which more people can step up to the plate and help out. WHO IS IFPA TODAY? Well, we are about to begin our formal membership drive. Until now, we've only had a few people join aside from the original membership of around 150 people who signed up at the 2001 Worlds (the inaugural event). Our first annual elections were concluded before the new year, and our final appointed directors have just been named and approved by the elected board (per the by-laws of the corporation). So, as of today, we have around 175 members in 6 countries, and our board of directors for 2002 is: Executive Director: Steve Goldberg (USA) Treasurer: Julie Symons (USA) Secretary: Tina Lewis (USA) Membership Director: Derrick Fogle (USA) Communication Editor: Allan Haggett (CANADA) Rules Director: david Butcher (USA) Education Director: Scott Davidson (USA) Marketing Director: Chris Ott (USA) Assoc. Mktg. Director: Lisa McDaniel (USA) Sanctioning Director: Chard Cook (CANADA) Statisticians: John Leys (USA) & Vince Bradley (USA) WHAT NEXT? I'd love it if you joined us now. :-) The first step is easy. Membership is only $10 (US) and a T-shirt is only $10 extra. So, $20 gets you a one-year membership w/T-shirt. You can pay online or via check or (int'l) money order with a mail-in certificate by going to http://www.footbag.org/ifpa/join Your membership dues will go to help us get started with all of the great ideas we have (some of which are above). Without income, we cannot provide very much. So, your first reason to join (more in a later message) is to support the IFPA by simply sending in $10 (or $20 if you want a T-shirt). It's not so much to ask. :-) If you're interested in volunteering, or if something above inspired you to want to take advantage of the benefits of being under the IFPA umbrella, let us know how you want to hook yourself in. Some things will have to wait until we get enough critical mass, but other things may be just waiting for *you* to make them happen. Thanks for reading this far. I'm very excited for the future of our sport, and I hope you all share in my hope for the continued global development of footbag. Steve