Jim Chadwick sent the following email to event producers on June 17th:

Dear USASF Event Producer Member,

Thank you for being a member of the USASF. We deeply appreciate your participation and support. Importantly, we want to invite you to attend any of our 6 summer regional meetings. The meeting schedule is listed below. To register, please contact your USASF Regional Director or go on-line to register and view the agenda.

June 21 – Charlotte, NC.

July 13 – White Plains, NY.

August 2 – Cincinnati, OH.

August 9 – Dallas, TX.

August 16 – Orlando, FL.

September 15 – Anaheim, CA.

Here is a quick update of the key actions underway at this time.

Worlds, 2009 – While many have told us the 2008 Worlds was the most successful yet, we are carefully gathering input from everyone in an effort to make the Worlds, 2009 even more successful. Key areas of attention are streamlining the registration paperwork, better utilization of the venues, improved control of the number of teams in specific divisions, especially in finals, more convenient transportation between venues, and better customer service .

As impressive as it was to host 30 countries with teams at the Worlds in 2008, we expect a dramatic increase to about 50 in 2009 with the International Cheer Union (ICU) competition for national teams occurring the Friday (April 24) before the Worlds (April 25-26), all at Disney in Orlando. Think about it, many Olympic sports do not have teams from 50 countries competing. We have come a long way and I believe this is just the beginning of the history we are making together.

Rules – We are planning on moving to an every other year rules cycle. The rules updates we make this year and announce in March 2009 would be for the 2010-11 year. This means everyone will have plenty of time to make any necessary adjustments. Of course, we will reserve the right to make rules changes whenever necessary to address urgent safety or other issues but these should be the exception.

Financials – We expect the USASF to be able to make a sizable repayment on Varsity’s start up loan in 2008 and to begin to provide significant scholarships to member athletes in 2009 as well as to continue to repay the loan. From losing over $500,000 in 2005 to only losing about $140,000 in 2007 then actually being in the black in 2008 is a milestone in the history of the USASF and a testament to what we all can do together when we put our minds to it. Once the audit is complete, we will post the financials on the website.

Athlete Credentialing – Athletes will no longer need to be credentialed to compete at the Worlds. Membership will be required but athlete credentialing will be optional. We are working with our insurance underwriters to make sure we will be able to continue to offer member athletes and credentialed member coaches the $1,000,000 catastrophic injury insurance.

Enhanced website – We are hoping to introduce new functionality to the enhanced <IASFWorlds.org> website to strengthen your event visibility plus offer a new credentialing educational and testing program on-line in September to make it more convenient for members to become credentialed and for prospective members to join.

Best regards,

Jim Chadwick