Events Committee
Alabama Sports Festival Committee Conference
January 16, 2001
Submitted by Robert Morrow, BHA Events Chairman
The Alabama Sports Festival's Sports Committee had a Conference Tuesday January 16, 2001. The members of the committee in attendance were Tom Healey, Marc Riker, Robert Morrow, Victor Quick, Van Normand, Elvis Pate, Larry McAfee, and Curtis Jordan.
Curtis Jordan has three possible locations for the event venue. The most desirable of the three is on the campus of the University of South Alabama. A letter is being prepared to send to the University's Administration.
The date for the 2001 Archery/Bowhunting event was decided by the committee to be on Saturday June 30, 2001. On-Site Registration will begin at 11:00am. Mandatory Rules meeting for all competitors will be at 12:15pm. And the Competition will begin at 1:00pm and will consist of 30 targets
The committee discussed having a shooting clinic before the event. McPherson Archery was suggested as a possibility for holding the clinic. There was also discussions about having people on site to help with archery equipment.
The matter of the cost and reimbursement of the kill zones for the targets will have to be decided by the BHA State Board. Although any and all reimbursements from the Alabama Sports Festival will have to be approved by the CEO of the Alabama Sports Festival prior to incurring the expense.
The Team Competition will be reinstated for 2001. A team will consist of three shooters in different division. A point system will award points based of where the shooter finish within their division. First place will receive 10 points, Second place will receive 9 points ... tenth place will receive 1 point. The team with the high cumulative score will win the Governor's Cup. Individual members of each team are also eligible for individual awards.
It was suggested that each BHA Chapter get some type of archery equipment or accessory from their locate archery shop or outdoors store to bring to the event to be given away as door prizes or awards. In return, each donating shop or store will be advertised at the event.
The committee agreed that every BHA Chapter needs to promote the Alabama Sports Festival's Archery/Bowhunting event to their members. Also persons from the Panhandle of Florida and Mississippi can compete in the Alabama Sports Festival.
A rough drift of the Archery/Bowhunting page that will appear in the Alabama Sports Festival handbook was review by the committee. A few changes were made to last year's page in order to updated it with the changes made for the 2001 competition.
This was by far the best and most productive conference held to date. Of the Eight committee members, Five were BHA members. This shows that BHA is dedicated to promoting bowhunting and help people develop their shooting skills with archery equipment in our great state of Alabama.
Teleconference with the Alabama Sport Festival Committee
November 13, 2000
Summitted by: Robert Morrow, BHA Events Chairman
In recent years, this event has suffered from poor attendance, which made the Alabama Sports Festival believe there wasn't enough interest or support to continue this event in 2001. At the October BHA State Board meeting in Clanton, AL, Larry McAfee (BHA Editor), Elvis Pate (President of the Tuscaloosa Bowhunters), and Robert Morrow (President of the Winston Bowhunters and BHA Events Chairman) met with Tom Healey (Director of Sports Operations) about the future of the Archery/Bowhunting event. They discussed possible ways to improve the participation in the event, the reinstitution of the Team Championship, and talked about possible people that could and would help turn this event around. Tom Healey told then that he was very encouraged by the support they showed and felt that the event could be saved.
November 13, 2000 was the first meeting of the Alabama Sports Festival Archery/Bowhunting Committee via teleconference. Some of the Committee members were unable to be reached. But the ones that participated in the meeting were: Jeff Mattingly, President of the Lower Alabama BHA Chapter, Victor Quick, passed BHA State Officer and member of the Cullman County BHA Chapter, Van Normand of Mobile, and Robert Morrow, President of the Winston Bowhunters BHA Chapter and BHA Events Chairman and Tom Healey, Director of Sports Operations.
The meeting started off with a review of the 2000 event. The decision was made not to have the 2001 event on an indoor firearm range. This created a host of problems last year. The budget for the 2001 event will have to be approved by the Alabama Sports Festival CEO before the event, but no firm numbers were given. The 2000 handbook, which contain all the rules and information about the event, was discussed. Everyone felt that the wording of the 2000 handbook was clear and easy the follow. The promotion of the 2000 was discussed. This was an area that needed to be improved greatly. Some of the ways the committee felt the promotion of the 2001 event could be improved was by: Publishing ads in the BHA Magazine, ads on the BHA Web Site, word of mouth at local (BHA, ASA, IBO) clubs around the State, and sending the information to outdoor stores, schools, TV stations, and newspaper around the State. Robert Morrow informed the Committee about what was discussed at the October meeting with Elvis Pate, Larry McAfee, and Tom Healey. Robert talked about using the BHA State targets and waiting until after the event for reimbursement from the Alabama Sport Festival for the targets used. Also, Robert asked Tom Healey if the Alabama Sports Festival would have a problem if BHA got sponsors for the event to give awards to the winner and have drawings for door prizes. Tom Healey said that the Alabama Sports Festival didn't have a problem with that and that they would provide the trophy for the Team Championship. The reinstitution of the Team Championship was discussed. Victor Quick suggested having a points system based on what place a person finishes instead of the score. The point system isn't worked out yet and will be discussed more at the next meeting. Also Victor suggested that each person of the three (3) member team most compete in different classes. The committee then discussed the venue for the 2001 event. Since the Sports Festival is be held in Mobile, a venue close to Mobile would be prudent. Jeff Mattingly said that Lower Alabama's range was about 22 miles from Mobile and that Blakely (sp?) Park was about 11 miles. Jeff said that he would contact the Park Officials. The date of the event was then discussed. Van, Victor, and Robert thought the have the event on Saturday would be better than have it on Sunday as it was last year. Jeff stated that 90% of his club would have to work on Saturday and wouldn't be able the make the event. Van, Victor, And Robert stated that if the event was held on Sunday a lot of people wouldn't be able to make the event because of church. A tentative date for the event was set for Saturday June 30, 2000. Jeff then withdrew from the committee stating that he would not be able to attend. Robert suggested that he stay in the committee since he could still help. But Jeff declined and hung up. This left a dark cloud over the rest of the meeting. Jeff had help with this event in years past and the Committee member felt that he had acted selfishly and childish with his withdrawal from the committee instead of helping in any way he could. Robert information the committee that he was still committed to keep the Archery/Bowhunting event alive with or without Jeff's help. Robert then stated that he knew of a contact in the Mobile area that could talk with the Park Officials. Van stated that he would also help get the word out in the Mobile about the event. Van stated that he would volunteer to go out to schools and help Shop Teachers teach their students how the build a bow to compete in the event. He also suggested having these students compete against each other for an award. Robert informed the Committee that the Tuscaloosa Bowhunters does something similar to this at their shoots. Victor suggested contacting 4-H about getting them involved. Tom Healey said that he liked the idea and would contact Van Normand, Elvis Pate, and the 4-H about this. With no other business to attend to, the meeting was ended.
