Official Voice of the American Volkssport Association
January, 1997
NEW EVENT INSURANCE POLICY
ALL WALKERS MUST NOW SIGN WAIVERS
We have a new liability policy for our volkssporting events.
We worked very hard to bring the price of this insurance coverage down so that we would not
have to seek additional funds from our clubs. We were successful in this effort, but not without
some sacrifices on our part - and now on the part of the clubs.
The most significant sacrifice was on the requirement for participants to sign waivers before
participating in our events. We traditionally have not required our walkers to sign waivers. This
requirement has only existed for our other events - swims, bikes, etc. In order to save more than
$8,000 in annual premiums, we have agreed to require all participants to sign the waiver. While
this will create some inconvenience for our walkers, the trade off in dollars saved, we believe,
outweighs that inconvenience. Effective immediately, clubs must have all participants sign the
insurance waiver. This includes all regular and Year Round/Seasonal events. For walking events
only, they will not require the parents to sign the Minor Waiver and Release of Liability. Parents
or guardians should enter the names of miners on the Amateur Athletic Waiver and Release of
Liability, and sign for the minor. With this CHECKPOINT, we have included fresh, camera-ready
copies of the waiver form for the clubs to reproduce.
The other major change is that the insurance company will not issue additional insured certificates
that list "various events" as what they will cover. They require referencing the specific event
numbers (e.g., AT97/0001, AT97/0010 and AT97/0200) for the events to be covered by the
additional insured certificate.
We have also included a copy of the general certificate of insurance. Please note that this
certificate shows property owners as additional insureds under this policy. This may eliminate
some of the requirements for requesting certificates with specifically listed additional insureds.
NEW IVV RULES CONCERNING ISSUANCE OF EVENT STAMPS
On September 26,
1996, the IVV Managing Presidium approved a statement of clarification on the rules for issuing
IVV event stamps. They further clarified these rules in a letter dated November 7, 1996. This
policy directly affects volkssporting tours and the sanctioning of events in support of those tours.
We have provided this policy clarification for your information.
CLARIFICATION OF IVV POLICY
ON THE BESTOWAL OF IVV STAMPS APPROVED BY THE IVV MANAGING
PRESIDIUM ON SEPTEMBER 26, 1996
(Revised November 7, 1996)
Every national IVV member organization is responsible for the administration of 1VV Stamps
within its own country.
A country may not use its own national IVV Stamp with the national symbol of another country
(e.g., MEX).
A country may not use its own national IVV Stamp in a country that is an independent national
IVV member organization.
A national member organization may not, in another country where no independent IVV member
organization exists, use its own national IVV Stamp with symbols for this country.
In a country without a national IVV member organization but where an individual IVV club
exists, that club must issue the IVV stamp for events in that country.
In countries without a national IVV member organization or individual IVV club, no events will
be sanctioned.
So-called "Walks on Ships" for IVV credit are not authorized.
REASON FOR THIS CLARIFICATlON "We are facing an increasing competition for walkers in
a world of limited leisure time and growing number of recreational activities. More and more
countries are looking to (the) IVV. We have a "tool" that makes our kind of recreational sports
attractive: The IVV Stamps and the 1VV Awards system. The main challenge for the IVV in the
near future is to meet this competition and to maintain credibility as a serious organization. We
must assure that the basic ideology raid down in the IVV Law, rules and regulations means the
same throughout the federation. We need a strong organization on all levels. We need strong and
serious clubs as a foundation for future nation IVV member organizations. After all, the IVV
volkssport should remain an activity of choice for the masses and not an exclusive benefit for
people on a cruise.
CONVENTION REGISTRATION PACKETS
We have included five convention registration
packets with this mailing. Please make these available for your club members. If your club needs
more, please call the 800-830-WALK number and leave a message. We will send them to your club or to
specific individuals as necessary. Please ensure you leave your club's name or AVA number.
CONVENTION EXHIBIT BOOTHS
If a club wants a booth in the exhibit hall at the
convention, the club must complete an application for exhibit space. Clubs must pay a $100 fee to
obtain a booth. ii is cost prohibitive to send Exhibitor Packets to all clubs. If your club is interested in having a booth, please call the 800 number and leave a
message. We will send you a full packet of information and an application for exhibit space.
SUPPORT THE SILENT AUCTION
We again will have a Silent Auction at the Biennial
Convention. Everyone had great fun with this event at the last convention. We are now soliciting
donations of items to sell at the 1997 convention. We would love to have your club represented
through an interesting auction item. Starting getting your donations ready. We will provide you
with a shipping address in the next CHECKPOINT. If you do not want to worry about shipping
your donation or having someone bring it to the convention, we have a great offer for you.
Carolina Treasures... Gifts & Tours, located one block from the convention center. will prepare a
basket of goodies for your club's donation and hold it for pick up by the AVA. Carolina Treasures
will prepare your basket for any price from $15.00 up to as high as you want to go. If your club is
interested in this service, Carolina Treasures may be reached at (910) 631-9144.
1996 STAR CLUB AWARDS
We will recognize clubs that achieve 1996 Star Club status at the
1997 Biennial Convention in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. We have included the application
form and instructions for submitting the application with this issue. Your club must postmark all
applications by April 30, 1997. This deadline is a change from the information in the last
CHECKPOINT.
1996 PUBLICITY AWARDS
We also will recognize our clubs' publicity efforts at the 1997
Biennial Convention. We have included details of this program in this issue. Send all entries to
VA National Headquarters. They must be postmarked by April 30, 1997.
SOME THOUGHTS TO CONSIDER I REVISITED
In the October issue of CHECKPOINT,
we published a letter from a volkssporter who made some comments concerning Year-Round and
Seasonal events. We removed the writer's name from the letter because we did not consider the
name to be important. We thought the importance of the letter was the opportunity it gave us to
make some improvements to our events. In this issue, we have included a response to this letter.
WHAT ARE FREQUENT WALKER COUPONS?
We received a call some weeks ago from a
club that had found some "frequent walker coupons" in their YRE registration book. They wanted
to know what they were and how did they get their money or their credit for participation fees for
these coupons. Unfortunately, we had to tell the club that they were not coupons issued by the
AVA, and we could not help them. We do know that some clubs issue or sell "frequent user
coupons" to their members as a membership benefit. This is a wonderful membership benefit, and
we applaud the clubs for being innovative in their efforts to support volkssporters. We do ask,
however, that if your club is using this program, that you ensure two things are done. Please put
your club's name on the coupons, and please ensure that the volkssporters who get these coupons
understand they can only use them at your club's events. Thank you for your help with this
potential problem.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL Meeting
Do not forget that the next Executive Council meeting is on
February 28 and March 1 in Louisville, Kentucky. The Council will hold the meeting at the
Ramada Plaza Hotel at 1921 Bishop Lane in Louisville. We have a special $50.00 room rate for
the Executive Council. If any of your club members would like to attend and would like to stay at
the Ramada Plaza Hotel using this special rate, they must make the reservations through the
National headquarters. We must send a rooming list to the hotel by February 5, so we must Rave
any room requests before that day. Please ask anyone who wants a reservation to call the National
Headquarters when possible but by February 4. The rate is good for Friday and Saturday night
only.
STILL NO BOOK COVERS
The Specialties Department still does not have any book covers for
the IVV achievement award books. We received our much awaited order in early January, but the
quality of the books was so poor that we returned them to the supplier and requested they return
our money. We will keep you posted on this saga while we seek a new supplier.
YOU WANT IT WHEN?
Individuals and clubs frequently ask us to ship specialty items the same
day we receive the order. We wish we could do that, but normally it is just not possible. Please
remember that each of our departments is a one-person department. We receive many specialty
orders each day. That one person must process the order, invoice the order, pull the stock from
the shelf, pack the box and process the box for shipment. Besides those activities, this one person
must take bids on items to be ordered, make the orders, receive and inventory the items and place them on the shelves. This does not count taking care of all the
Volkssports Associate membership administration. We turn around orders as quickly as possible,
but that is rarely done on the day we receive the order. Please try to order well before the date
you need the material. It will really help us.
STARTING POINT HAS ARRIVED
The 1997 edition of STARTING POINT has arrived from
the printer, and we are filling orders as fast as we can package the books and get them on their
way. We would like to remind the clubs that if they order ten or more copies of the book, they
can purchase them for $7.00 a copy plus normal specialties shipping and handling fees. You can
order the books on a standard Specialties Order Form. Online order form
COMPUTERS SHIPPED
The National Headquarters has shipped computers to those clubs that
won the drawing for the old computers we had on hand. If your club won, you should receive
your computer soon. if you do not receive it in a couple of weeks, please call us.
VANCOUVER IML BROCHURE
These were accidentally left out of our last mailing. We have
included a copy in this mailing. If you have club members who want to register, please make a
copy of the brochure and housing form for them. Thank you for helping us promote this event. Online brochure
