We had a great convention, renewed many old friendships, and enjoyed that special part of
volkssporting that makes us a big family of walkers. I always enjoy the opportunity to talk with so
many people from all across our great country. It gives me a good look at the great things that are
happening in volkssporting and a feel for what our problems are. Thanks to everyone for their
openness with me in discussing our sport and our future.
The end of the convention also marks an important milestone in the future of the AVA. We have a
new Council - Executive Council X - and their task is to plan for our future. That planning will
begin in mid-September when the Council will come to San Antonio for four days of extensive
training, detailed planning and a lot of hard work. We have asked the council members to arrive
here Wednesday night so that we can begin our work early Thursday morning. They will spend
the first day at the National Headquarters meeting the staff and experiencing what really goes on
at the National Headquarters. Through briefings and actual work time at each of the
Headquarters' departments, we hope to give these folks a quick, but comprehensive, look at what
we do here. We will spend the entire next day on the extensive training required to acquaint the
Council with their legal and fiscal responsibilities as members of the board of directors of a
national corporation. During this training, we will emphasize the important role each council
member has to ensure they balance their corporate responsibilities with the needs of our clubs and
the volkssporters.
On day three, Saturday, we will devote an extremely long day to the difficult task of long-range
planning. This important task will set the Association's agenda for at least the next two years. For
this effort to be productive, it is important that each council member knows the thoughts, ideas
and concerns of clubs and volkssporters. During the next few weeks, the National Headquarters
will be sending questionnaires to volkssporters - leaders, volunteers and other folks - to get some
of these thoughts and concerns. The council members also will be asking questions and seeking
information for this planning session. We will devote the final day to a formal Council meeting. At
this meeting, the council wilt make their first decisions as a new board.
The new Executive Council has a large task ahead of them. To be successful in their efforts, they
need the support of everyone involved in volkssporting. As I say each time a new EC is elected,
please remember that your council members are just ordinary volkssporters like you. You have
elected them to make some hard decisions, and they will do that for you. Remember also, we do
not remove their brains when we elect them to this difficult job, and we do not ask them to make
decisions in a vacuum. It is just that the issues look a lot different from the top than they do from
the bottom or the middle. You have elected a good team. Give them your support and talk to
them about volkssporting. They are going to do great things for you and for volkssporting in the
United States.
June Executive Council Meeting. The major action by the Executive Council in their June meeting
in Winston-Salem was to approve the Association budget for Fiscal Year 1997-98. The new
budget shows very little change from the previous year. The Council determined that was no need
to raise dues or fees for the coming year. With the continually rising cost of doing business,
reducing the dollar allocations in some areas was necessary, but they felt this would not affect our
programs. We enclose a copy of the budget with this mailing. We also enclose the report of the
June Executive Council meeting.
Biennial Membership Meeting. The membership did approve four constitutional amendments at the biennial membership meeting. The most significant change approved was the elimination of the requirement to form a state association. The constitution now permits the formation of a state organization when there at least six clubs in the state and 213 of the clubs vote to form a state organization. The other approved amendments changed the date that newly elected Executive Council members take office and established the requirements for a quorum at an Executive Council meeting. We will send a copy of the revised Constitution with the next CHECKPOINT. The membership also selected Bellevue, Washington, for the 2001 convention site and elected Ted Ballman as AVA President.
Membership Growth. In his address to the membership, Paul Pritchard, the outgoing president of
the National Park and Conservation Association, discussed six ways to promote membership
growth in your clubs. Paul left a copy of these six ideas with us, and we are pleased to include it
with this mailing.
IVV Leadership Changes. At the IVV Congress of Delegates meeting in May, AVA Past-President Lynn Clark was elected IVV Vice-President. This is the first time an American has been
elected a member of the IVV Managing Presidium. It is also the first time a woman has been
elected to this position. Congratulations to Lynn on this outstanding achievement. Another history
making event at this meeting was the election of a non-German as IVV President. Odd Ivar Ruud
from Norway was elected to replace Horst Volkmer. We enclose Odd Ivar's letter to all member
associations for you.
Volunteer Protection. After eleven years of battling between politicians, the President has signed
volunteer protection legislation. The new law will take effect in mid-September. included with this
CHECKPOINT is a fact sheet about the new legislation. Sorry for the poor quality, but ASAE
fared it to us and this is the best copy we could get. We expect to receive detailed information on
this important new law by September. We will send additional infomation to you when we receive
it.
1998 IVV Event Calendar. If your club would like its 1998 events listed in the 1998 IVV Event
Calendar, the National Headquarters must receive the approved sanction requests for those events
before September 1, 1997. We must send the event information to lVV on September 1. Any
sanction requests received after that time will not be included in the IVV book. We will be happy
to bill your club for the sanction fees, but remember if your club does not pay the fee before the
event, we will cancel the event.
lmportant Notes About YRE/Seasonal Events. We must receive Sanction Requests for 1998
YR/Seasonal Events in the National Headquarters by September 1. Many have already arrived.
Do not let the time get away from your club. We must get the new STARTING POINT ready for
printing and cannot accept sanction requests after September.
(Web master's Note: Submit your Seasonal events by September 1 no matter when they start, otherwise they will not be listed in Starting Point or other publications!)
If your club sends in a Renewal Sanction Request and marks it "no changes," that means to us
that there are no changes from the information in the 1997 STARTING POINT. We will not
check to ensure you made no changes and we wilt not send a proof sheet for your review. If you
made changes to your event during the year - after we published the 1997 book -- please ensure
you note those changes on your renewal request. Thanks.
Please remember that all participants at Year Round and Seasonal Events must sign insurance
waivers. We have had several convention travelers tell us about several Year Round and Seasonal
Events that do not have waivers available. If an accident occurs that results in a claim at one of
these events, the club could become liable for the damages.
All clubs should ensure that either IVV event/distance books or insert cards are available at all
YRE and Seasonal Events. This is an important service to our volkssporters, so please try to have
these available. The same applies to your regular events.
If your club has optional trails for your Year Round or Seasonal Events, please ensure your club
has a sign clearly saying that individuals may only receive one event credit even if they do both
trails. This continues to cause problems for many volkssporters. Please help us here. The best
solution is just to have one trail per event and use the optional trails for additional events.
Who Are Your Club Officers? We need some help here. It became obvious when we were
verifying credentialing forms for the membership meeting, that many clubs have not updated their
club officer lists for many years. While we know that most of our clubs are very good about
sending in the proper form every time they make a change in officers, we would appreciate it if
every club and state organization would complete a new AVA Form 201U and send it to us when
you can. We have included a copy of the form for your use.
New Fund Raiser for Marketing. At the Biennial Convention the National Executive Director
announced the kickoff of a four-year fund raising effort to provide dollars for the much needed
marketing campaign to promote volkssporting across the United States. We call the campaign,
geared toward the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of volkssporting in the United States,
A New Millennium for Walkers. We will restrict the funds raised through this campaign to
marketing efforts. Included in the list of activities being considered are the long awaited television
and radio spots for use at the local level, camera-ready newspaper advertisements, and new table
top exhibits for use by our clubs. We have included a flyer giving the details of this campaign in
this CHECKPOINT. We hope all of our clubs will consider donating at least $25.00 each year for
the next four years to support this effort.
First Meeting of EC X. The first meeting of the newly elected Executive Council will be in San Antonio, Sunday, September 21. This morning meeting will follow three days of extensive board training and strategic planning. We have not determined the exact location at this time, but will provide it in next month's CHECKPOINT. The Council invites all interested volkssporters to attend the meeting and meet their new Executive Council.
GLOBALS 1997: A list of Air Force GLOBAL events in September and October is provided. See link.
Previous issues of the AVA Checkpoint:
 AVA Homepage |  Events |
 Clubs |
 Membership |
 More Info |
 New Walker Program |
 Starting Point USA Year-Round Event Book |