US Speedskating/Board of Directors News

[mtnme]

Let's hope the reality lives up to the plan. To paraphrase a skater advocate: "These changes would never have come about if the athletes hadn't stood up to USS".


U.S. Speedskating poised to turn page on its troubles in big way

After scandals and factions, interim president forges deals for televised trials, new structure.

By Michael C. Lewis

| Special to The Tribune
First Published May 14 2013 11:18 pm • Last Updated May 15 2013 04:59 pm

"...In just two months, though, Plant has engineered what could wind up being one of the most impressive turnarounds in Olympic sport history.

Not only will speedskaters enjoy more than 13 hours of broadcast coverage on NBC and NBC Sports Network during 11 days of their Olympic trials in December and January — more than any other winter Olympic sport — but the federation will also overhaul its governance structure to afford athletes greater freedom and avoid meddling by its volunteer board, something widely viewed as one of the biggest problems in the past.

"No good corporate board can operate that way," Plant said.

The board will shrink from 14 to 10 members, and will include four independent members for the first time. Its new structure will ensure that board members do not overstep their bounds and attempt to influence day-to-day operations, Plant said.

U.S. Speedskating also will adopt a new and "much more balanced" athlete agreement that will, among other things, allow skaters greater latitude in finding their own personal sponsors, a long-standing issue for many skaters. The federation also will alter the way skaters earn financial support — many viewed the existing system as often unfair — with all of the changes having emerged from working groups within the federation that included athletes.

"We’re going to transform the organization," Plant said."


GOOD ARTICLE. READ THE REST HERE:


www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/56311196-77/speedskating-olympic-track-trials.html.csp

[Laura (Lori)]

I want nothing more than to be wrong in my skepticism - all the best to USS in these 'sweeping' changes. I'm a lifelong Braves fan (from back in the Hank Aaron days), so I really want Plant to succeed!

USS should serve the skaters, NOT vice-versa. In this 'New World Order', if the skaters and their basic financial needs (a stipend - food, rent, etc...) are your first priority, you won't have any problem with us. Somebody tell me why this can't happen out of the USS largesse. Really, I want to know. Can we have an audit?

Read it all:
skateleft.com/2013/05/22/a-chain-of-historic-events/

[Laura (Lori)]

Does anyone have a list of the Short Track skaters who made Cat 1 this spring?

[been there]

I want to share with you this e-mail that I received from Steve Penland regarding the USS annual business meeting. It gave me a few thoughts.

From Steven Penland US Speedskating Region 4 Representative:

I apologize if you are on this list and you have since left speed skating but the data base for USS is being updated and I only have access to this older list of names. I had created a Facebook account for keeping in touch with Region 4 and was awaiting the new list of members in the region but was told to hold off until after the board meeting.

As many of you know the reorganization of USS has been underway and a major step toward a new governance model has been undertaken with the passage of the new bylaws drafted by a committee formed of USOC and USS members. The bylaws were passed on Saturday May 18th. The new bylaws can be seen on the USS web site but of particular importance to the Membership Program and Development Committee (MPDC) is the fact that moving forward there will be only four standing committees: Nominating & Governance Committee, Audit Committee, Ethics Committee, and the Judicial Committee.

A staff member hired to do development work will eventually take over the responsibilities of the MPDC. Until that time some of the committee members have volunteered to help with what is called the “transition phase” to modify the MPDC rules to fit the new governance format. The MPDC rules for membership cannot be called the “MPDC Rules for Membership” because the MPDC is no longer a standing committee with standing rules. The MPDC has been dissolved as a committee but several of the members are now part of a task force working on re-structuring the membership rules to fit within the new bylaws.

Our last official act as a committee was to approve the full membership of the Bay State Speedskating Club. Congratulations on your new status. Happy skating!

Beyond this news there is little to report because of the many unanswered questions regarding Regional Representation and former MPDC rules. I will continue to keep region 4 members informed until the task force is dissolved and the transition of rules complete.
Steven Penland
[e-mail]


First, Steve describes a person like me in his opening paragraph. Then it occurred to me from reading his e-mail, that USS is the only charity that I know that maintains a tidy mailing list. In real life, my experience is that I can never leave a charity’s mailing list. So USS has me wondering, where is the love? Or, do I have the wrong assumption that USS is a charity and wants to raise funds. Since USS does not have a standing committee with rules as to what is a member, how can they edit a mailing list?

Second, since USS desires to maintain a ship-shape mailing list. I had to ask myself the basic business question of who is their customer. Normal businesses want to stay in contact with their customers. Think about the cost associated with sending an electronic message and how USS wants to save that micron of a cent expense from hitting the wrong target market. I swear every upgrade that my PC downloads contains advertising. The first thought that entered my mind as to their customer is the famous quote from the Star Wars movie series, Luke I am your father. This thought started me thinking with the idea that USS has only one customer and not the goal of many. Our American culture teaches us that more is better.

As I continued to read Steve’s e-mail, I was asking myself why Darth Vader (the original one and not Stewie Griffin) entered my mind first. Think about it, the basic agenda of the USS business meeting contained the subject of organizing a troubled organization. Good business sense is to eliminate unneeded services. My head bounces as if I am a bobble head doll when I hear such talk. I thought those actions should be good things. Then I thought about who is Steve Penland. He is a good guy unless he drank the Kool-aid. Look, he is doing his job. He is informing the people he represents.

Steve is an adult skater that came into the sport with his two children. His children stopped skating and Steve can’t skate as much as he would like because of an accident. From what I remember, Steve is a high school visual arts teacher. Steve stayed involved in the sport because of his love of photography. He is not your typical board member. It is your politically savvy ones that tend to survive a management restructuring. The politically savvy leave when the questions they are asked catch up to the answers they gave. They leave when they say they need to spend more time with their family.

As I see it from his e-mail. By eliminating his committee, USS eliminated one of the only people without a hidden agenda and was doing his job. It might be a good thing to replace the Membership Program and Development Committee with a single person. But this is an organization that wants the tidiest mailing list possible and may have only a single customer. I might be wrong but it looks like the construction of the Death Star is nearly completed. May the Force be with you! I had to use that quote to complete my analogy.

Thanks for the latest posts. Since I possess some Pavlov dog traits when it comes to food pellets, I noticed a trend at USS. They pump out a public relations spin touting medals won when there is a need for damage control. Now under the new committee structure, is damage control the responsibility of the Ethics Committee or the Judicial Committee?

To all the folks that say things are changing at USS. I want to point out a fact in Jared Hopkins article titled US Speedskating revamps bylaws. Near the end of the article, Mr. Hopkins quotes Mr. Fred Benjamin regarding how hard everyone worked to create the new bylaws. I think a salute to Mr. Benjamin for being a survivor is appropriate.

[Laura (Lori)]

Here is another article about the by-law changes - it contains much of the same info as the one that Mtnme posted above:

Mike Plant streamlines the leadership of U.S. Speedskating
Board to rule sport, sub-committees eliminated
By Gary D’Amato of the Journal Sentinel May 22, 2013

"I met with all the staff," Plant said. "I said, 'Look, hold your heads up. You're the guys driving this organization and guess what? We're going to transform it, but now you're going to own it. You are accountable and responsible. There are no more layers to get approval from and that means you have to do it in a transparent, efficient and methodical way. You can't blame anyone for inhibiting your ability to get things done. We're not going to have the meddling of 15 different individuals on 15 consecutive days telling you how you should do your job.'

www.jsonline.com/sports/etc/mike-plant-streamlines-the-leadership-of-us-speedskating-b9916723z1-208603891.html

---------------------

Here are the nuts and bolts from both this article AND the one that Mtnme posted about the changes (as I understand them):

1) The board was downsized from 14 members to 10 and for the first time will include four independent directors who have no ties to speedskating. Its new structure will ensure that board members do not overstep their bounds and attempt to influence day-to-day operations. ETA: Directors cannot have worked for the federation within the last three years.
2) There will be no more 'insiders' involved who don't have a level of skill or professionalism to bring to the table.
3) The new bylaws, approved unanimously by the board, did away with 13 subcommittees and turned over the important decision-making to executive director Mark Greenwald and his staff.
4) U.S. Speedskating also will adopt a new and "much more balanced" athlete agreement that will, among other things, allow skaters greater latitude in finding their own personal sponsors, a long-standing issue for many skaters. The federation also will alter the way skaters earn financial support — many viewed the existing system as often unfair — with all of the changes having emerged from working groups within the federation that included athletes. (If you will recall, an athlete agreement which was considered 'punitive' was one catalyst of the boycott.)

The article also quotes Plant as saying that he described many of the complaints against USS to be 'frivolous'. "Not to be a roadblock for someone who has a serious and legitimate issue," he said, "but the frivolous claims and code of conduct complaints, people were dropping them on us like flies."

If I'm not mistaken, the athletes seemed to be of one accord in those early days with regard to the initial grievance against USS. If you're David fighting against Goliath, rightly or wrongly, you're inclined to use every rock in your bag, even the smallest ones.

As Mtnme said in her post above, if the skaters hadn't pushed back last August, it would have been 'business as usual' at USS, and none of these issues would have been addressed in the manner that they were last weekend.

You can't please all the people all the time, of course - but maybe in this instance, it could be said that there is a move in the right direction. We report, you decide...

[mtnme]

@been there. Great post. Had to laugh at the 'death star' analogy! Where are Han Solo and Luke Skywalker when you need 'em?

Now I realize that Mike Plant was brought on to save this 'circling the drain' entity, but some of his 'tude is definitely showing.


"Plant brought a wealth of experience and credibility to the organization. And with about 100 members attending the federation's two-day meeting, he laid down the law.

"Before I started the meeting I said, 'Look, just so you understand, you are observers here. You are not participants. The only way you can participate is if you raise your hand and I recognize you,'" Plant said.


Now I understand that this unruly organization needs an iron fist at times...but sometimes one is better served with an iron fist in a velvet glove. I have a hard time with the rather bullying and disrespectful aspect of those last lines. Those 100 members I will be willing to bet are former skaters, current skaters and their parents. You bet your @ss they're participants! And they should all be recognized as such. Without them, USS has no reason to be. That has always been the real crux of the entire problem. This attitude that the skaters, their parents, the sacrifice and money they all spend to participate in this sport is all for the benefit of USS, and NOT the other way around as it should be, is beyond offensive. When USS starts paying them a salary, then they can (arguably) bully them like employees. And like an employee, what if the skaters en masse had finally had enough and walked out and started their own 'company'(NGB). Buh-by USS. The only thing standing between that and the existence of USS is the USOC. (Who no doubt will continue to support USS until they have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they just plain and simply can't be fixed.) The board may have had a large slew of committees slashed out of existence and board members pared down to 10, but if it's the same ten pulling the same garbage they always have, then it's just SOSDD. As Been There pointed out, the politically savvy always survive to sc3w up another day.

We'll have to wait and see if these 'sweeping changes' really make a difference. (I doubt it) As a career person myself, my experience has been that when this sort of thing happens, it just means the offenders who got their hands slapped learn how to get more sneaky and apply more subterfuge about how they continue to get their own little, personal, agenda's met. Nothing changes, it's just not obvious where the travesties are coming from while the sneak attacks get more prolific. The skaters won't know which way to turn, as they get hit from every direction.

And talking about getting hit from every direction:
The article also quotes Plant as saying that he described many of the complaints against USS to be 'frivolous'. "Not to be a roadblock for someone who has a serious and legitimate issue," he said, "but the frivolous claims and code of conduct complaints, people were dropping them on us like flies."

Let's talk about who's being 'frivolous' or more accurately, just downright retaliatory. USS brought charges against an APTE skater for some supposed offense that happened A YEAR before the skaters filed a grievance. Apparently it didn't have enough merit to warrant any action at the time, but once the grievance was filed, NOW it's actionable. Don't tell me this organization doesn't retaliate against any skater or parent that stands up to them, we've seen otherwise.

And don't even get me started on how this plays out when it comes to team 'selection'. These arbitrary, discretionary picks are just plain bull until these grievances are settled, as USS is - and has - used those fluid little rules to nail any dissension in the ranks while rewarding their pets...and it has been going on for years!

I mean seriously, why even bother to have competitions for National Team, World, World Cup or Olympic Teams if the results just don't stand and have little meaning. I understand the discretionary picks need to have talented, up and coming skaters get international competition experience at World Cups, but they should be off limits for World Team and Olympic Team. You either placed high enough to make the team on that day or you didn't. That's the real world and real life. You or I certainly wouldn't be given a 'bye' on something we didn't deliver on the day we were supposed to. Lack of performance when necessary or demanded has consequences, usually dire ones. Ask any doctor who scr3wed up in the E.R. Like I said, that's the 'real world'.

Given USS's abuse of discretionary picks and retaliatory nature for choosing Olympic and World teams, they just plain and simply need to be pulled out of the bylaws. Period.



"Plant competed as a speedskater at the 1980 Winter Olympics and recently finished a 10-year term on the United States Olympic Committee board of directors. He also was chef de mission for the U.S. delegation at the 2010 Vancouver Games."

...Which says to me he's probably just one more cog in this outdated and unfair wheel. I can practically hear him say, "This is how it was when I was skating, so now it's our turn on the gravy train to get the perks and money off of your backs. So suck it up, buttercup".

As I've said before "yeah, we used to enslave minorities, stone people to death and not give women the right to vote. Doesn't make it right. Never has. Never will."

There are A LOT of people making a huge amount of money off the Olympics and Olympic athletes. They're going to fight tooth and nail to continue the status quo and not give up one sliver of that pie to the athletes who make it all possible.

[Laura (Lori)]

Whoa... down girl!!!

There's certainly much to chew on here regarding the specifics, but for the most part I'm just going deal in the generalities.

Certainly there will be people who aren't happy with everything that the Board decided. You'll never get everyone to agree. But based on my recollection of the original grievance, it DOES seem that many of the points of concern are now being addressed. Whether they follow through in a way that 'saves' the organization and regains the trust of the public and the skaters certainly remains to be seen - but I think we would be wise to take a few steps back and allow them the chance to implement these changes before we make hasty judgments.

We don't know everything that's going on - as a matter of fact, we know very little. We hear the opinions of many different people who are on many different sides of the many different disputes at issue here. As I told gasp in my response to her on the other thread, I'm not comfortable with making public assumptions about other people's motives (in this case, Mike Plant) based solely on "he said, she said".

The challenges that have arisen between USS and the skaters, and between the skaters themselves, seem to be like an onion - with so many different layers that it's difficult for those of us on the outside looking in to grasp it all. 'Enemies' on one issue may be in complete agreement with each other on another. The problem is, there are just so d*mn many issues...

I believe it was Joyce who referred to 'baby steps'. These proposed changes can't happen overnight. I know that I've stated in the past that USS was 'fair game' here, but after the recent Board meeting I would prefer that we take an attitude of cautious optimism - at least in the short term.

Keep watching. Keep listening. Keep talking. Keep thinking. Keep asking questions. Keep making constructive suggestions. But let's give 'em a fighting chance for success, 'cause if they don't succeed, everybody loses.

[mtnme]

Hey, where USS is concerned, I'm a cynic. I admit it!
This is of course, just my opinion, not the forums, and not Lori's.

My challenge: USS - prove me wrong - P-L-E-A-S-E-!!! I'm begging you!!!

Lori, We've both been told on numerous occasions that we'd be eating crow about one opinion, scenario or another over the years. ( I believe I ordered mine with a lovely buerre blanc sauce and a glass of chardonnay. You ordered yours with either a glass of merlot or a cabernet...I don't remember, LOL)

We've yet to dine on this apparently distasteful dish...and I'll be more than happy to eat this noisy black bird should Mike Plant prove me wrong, and I hope he does! (Who knows? Maybe crow is actually quite tasty!)


But I think what everyone on the forum stands behind and agrees on is the welfare of the skaters. All the skaters.
A board that has the same members in positions of authority that they've always had breeds an amount of distrust. If Mike Plant actually cracks down on them to stop meddling in the day to day operations of the administration, and that has positive results and the administration takes care of the skaters, as you've said before, they'll get no complaint from us.

[been there]

I hope you understand that I try to have fun when I submit information to this forum. That quote from Star Wars really was the first thing that entered my mind when I was reading Steve Penland’s e-mail. When I read the jsonline article about the changes happening within USS, it had me thinking of a quote from Don Sutton, the MLB hall of fame baseball pitcher. A reporter asked Mr. Sutton if he doctored his pitches with a foreign substance. He said, no because Vaseline is made in the United States of America. Everybody is telling the truth but in the context of what.

Several months ago, a friend told me what was happening at the club level in this sport. The beauty of this sport is the people found at the club level, a guy such as Steve Penland. I thought of these following song lyrics because the clubs are the innocent bystanders to the grievances and they are down on their luck. For me the waitress represents the IOC. The reference to gambling in Havana is the skaters that filed the grievances.

I went home with the waitress, the way I always do
How was I to know, she was with the Russians, too?
I was gambling in Havana, I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money, dad, get me out of this

I'm the innocent bystander
Somehow I got stuck between the rock and a hard place
And I'm down on my luck; yes I'm down on my luck
Well I'm down on my luck
All right, send lawyers, guns and money

WARREN ZEVON

Years ago, Warren Zevon wrote this song and it describes the current state of USS. When I read Joyce’s post regarding Mike Plant’s budget revenue projects for the next two years. I thought of the quote often used by Popeye’s good friend Wimpy J. Wellington. He said, I‘ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. Why because of all the times somebody from USS told me that low membership numbers before the Olympics is normal. Then after the Olympics your club will have all these new members and money.

I try not to have bouts of coprolalia. Instead, I prefer to end with a word most people have to think about.

[Buddy]

Ahh, Warren Zevon... his sense of humor and ability with a lyric would be just right for a song about speedskating and USS. Too bad he's not still around to be inspired to try. As it is, he left us with a song about another ice sport, hockey, to enjoy. Doesn't really relate at all to speedskating, other than to provide a welcome bit of humor and laughter, which you speedskater guys always seem to need. Enjoy - www.elyrics.net/read/w/warren-zevon-lyrics/hit-somebody-(the-hockey-song)-lyrics.html

[Laura (Lori)]

Okay, how many of you looked up coprolalia in the dictionary? *raises hand*

@been there: You said, "I hope you understand that I try to have fun when I submit information to this forum." Yes, I do understand that, and I want you to know that it's appreciated. Though I hope you'll forgive the admission that I usually have to read your postings more than once, and have sometimes have to look up references before I 'get them' (such as Mr. Selfridge - I had no idea who that was).

BUT, when I check in to see if there are any new postings, I'm always happy to see one from you - 'cause it's always going to be interesting and thought-provoking reading.

And you're right. It seems that the clubs are taking a beating right now, which leads to a question: Are the clubs generally self-supporting, or do they get financial assistance from USS?

------------------

On another note, I edited my post upthread to add one more part of the proposed Board changes that I missed the first time around - and it directly addresses Mtnme's concerns when she stated, "The board may have had a large slew of committees slashed out of existence and board members pared down to 10, but if it's the same ten pulling the same garbage they always have, then it's just SOSDD."

Here's what I added (and I think this could be pretty significant): Directors cannot have worked for the federation within the last three years.

[osaycanusoc]

I take that to mean that they could not have been paid employees. I interpret it to mean that if you have served on the board or committees in the last 3 years that you can still run for the board and be a director this next election. I do NOT think they have eliminated the of the same ones always being in charge. In fact, I wonder if they opened the gates to making it worse. They finally put in term limits and this current term is supposed to be Fred Benjamin's last one. Now that they have replaced those bylaws that spelled that out, I wonder, does that mean Fred can run again under these new bylaws? Scary stuff, talking about the same ten pulling the same garbage if that is the case.

[Laura (Lori)]

Okay, osay, thanks - it's all so confusing!

Maybe you can answer another question: Upthread I asked if anyone has the list of new Cat 1 skaters. I asked the same question on our Facebook Page, and heard that maybe there are changes afoot with Cat 1 - do you know whether new Cat 1 skaters have been or will be named?

[osaycanusoc]

I have been pondering the leadership questions concerning the board myself, particularly when it comes to the leaders of the leaders - Mike Plant and Mark Greenwald. This section from an article on a proven business leader got my attention. Oh, if only Meg Whitman were available to run USS. We always seem to hear "we need to run it like a business" and then that gets equated with "making tough decisions in a way that it is OK to be an a**h***", even towards your customers: the athletes, members, and those fans and future fans (the ones your sponsors want to gain the attention of). I don't know what kind of caveman business school the people who run USS over the years and presently have gone to, but this approach seems more out of touch by the decade.

"Blunt, folksy and persistent, Meg Whitman is the leader that Hewlett-Packard desperately needs. She’s decisive without being abrasive, persuasive without being slick. She’s a team builder who knows that turnarounds call for repairing hundreds of small failings rather than betting everything on a miracle cure that might be a mirage."

www.forbes.com/sites/georgeanders/2013/05/22/meg-whitman-jolts-hp-as-its-reluctant-savior/

Read the article. USS needs a reluctant savior like this one. Plant may be decisive but seems abrasive, and, a bit too slick. He doesn't seem interested in addressing the hundreds of small failings, instead, betting everything on a miracle cure (new board bylaws) and media spin job that attempts to pump up those bylaws as an attractive mirage to the media, the USOC, sponsors, athletes, members and fans. Not saying the bylaws are bad or unneeded, just wondering if we have the leadership to finish the execution of solving the problem. The devil is going to be in the details and the execution. Is the current staff skilled enough and large enough to do the job? Can the current leadership hold them accountable and provide the leadership needed for the staff to do the job?

Or, will all the spin and hype about putting the athletes, members, and fans first turn out to be just fodder for the spin machine designed to buy time and patch things up enough to keep things from requiring additional USOC intervention and clean up?

[mtnme]

I have a feeling it's just more spin to try to clean up their image enough to attract sponsors. Doubt they make any significant changes that will benefit the athletes, other than the new athlete agreement which isn't quite so draconian. I'd be curious to see what board members survived 'the purge'. Bet it's the same guys who have been rotating in and out and around positions for decades...in other words, same old, same old...

USS hasn't proven themselves to me yet.  A tough row to hoe, I admit.


On a more humorous note, I DID receive a final reminder e mail from USS to all non-citizen athlete members of USS for the 2013-2014 Season to get in my required paperwork by the due date...LOL.

Gee, didn't realize I WAS a skater and that I WASN'T a U.S. Citizen...or that I even WAS a member of USS...