After attending the USATF annual meeting, USATF activist Becca Gillespy Peter wrote about her experience on Facebook, including what it cost to attend the meeting and her take on some of the events that took place in Anaheim, Calif. over the week. 



The cost of attending the Annual Meeting...

Expenses for me to attend the Annual Meeting this year: 
On-time registration: $175
Airfare from Seattle to Santa Ana: $317
Ferry fare from Lopez Island (my home) to Anacortes: ~$25 
Gas between Anacortes and Seattle: ~$20
Hotel and food at the Annual Meeting: ~$550
Transportation between the airport and the hotel: $54
Total: ~$1,141

Of that, I will get the $175 registration fee reimbursed by my Association for being a delegate.

Things I got for free: 
Childcare for six days courtesy of my husband and father-in-law.
Lodging at my parents’ house in Seattle (the ferries don’t run early enough or late enough to go straight from home to the airport)
Ticket to the Jesse Owens Awards Banquet courtesy of an athlete who decided not to go (first time I have ever attended, $75 value)
This is probably the most money I have spent to attend the Annual Meeting. Finding a roommate is always hard for me, but I could have tried harder there, that would have saved ~$200.

I use the profits from Pole Vault Power to fund the trip. I consider attending the Annual Meeting the most important business trip I make all year.

I am not posting this because I want money or I want anyone else to pay for my trip. I am posting this because this is what it takes to attend the Annual Meeting for most people, most of the time (elite athletes usually get their trip paid for). This is what it takes to have a vote, to have a voice.

And it means that there are many people in this sport who are disenfranchised. Most committees do not post minutes or communicate any useful information to their members in between meetings. If you're not on one of those committees then you really won't get the info.

I don't have any easy solutions for that, but I am open to new ideas.

I got to place one vote at the Annual Meeting, the result of a lot of hard work within my Association. So when I voted for Bob Hersh to continue as our representative on the IAAF, that wasn't a vote I placed casually. It meant a lot to me. We worked SO HARD just to have the ability to place the vote. And about 389 of my fellow delegates probably felt the same way. Even those who get their trips paid for had to make sacrifices to their training schedule, take time off work, arrange childcare, be away from their spouses, etc.

The board disregarding our votes hurts. And when I look at the composition of the Board, I see a lot of people who have zero experience with IAAF politics. And while I don't want to say I know more about IAAF politics than they do... I listen and I pay attention. I do my best to understand the situation. I ask questions and I talk to people who know more than me. I think the Board got this one wrong.

While none of this is Max's fault, he was hired to deal with sponsorships, not understand IAAF politics. So I think he's only thinking about how it will make them look good to be this progressive NGB that puts forward a young (for the IAAF) minority female candidate, I don't think he spent much time thinking about what the backlash will be when Bob's longtime friends in the IAAF vote against Stephanie because they are pissed, what the consequences are to USATF when we have NO ONE on the IAAF Council, or best case scenario (I guess) is that she does get elected to the Council, but doesn't have any respect because she is the newbie that stabbed their friend in the back. He doesn't get a vote in any of this, but he does generally get to sit in on executive sessions and tell the Board how he thinks this will affect their bottom line. He somehow thinks this will mean more $$ for USATF.

I am dismayed at the thought of a USATF Board of Directors with no Willie Banks and no Bob Hersh. Curt Clausen is an outstanding addition to the board, but it's clear that his lone voice to represent their constituents is not enough.

Life goes on. I am younger than almost everyone else and will outlive most of them. We will keep trying to make this sport a better place, building on the foundation of those who came before us, those who brought us out of the amateur era, those who paved the way for women's track and field, those who wrestled control away from the AAU... Sometimes we'll get it right and sometimes we won't, all I can do is encourage everyone to resist the urge to run away from the sport and USATF, and instead, dig in your heels and fight harder.