Building drawbridges for tomorrow.

Gaines, Rodney P.

A bridge is a roadway that allows everyone to travel over to reach his/her destination. In my speech right before getting nominated as VAHPERD President --elect, I touched on the importance of bridging the gap in communication, relationships, affiliation with other groups, teamwork, board and membership, and diversity. After close to a year and a half into this position of leadership, I feel that our leadership is moving in that direction. Ironically, though, a drawbridge is pulled up and down from time to time to let certain large ships pass through in a particular basin of water. What represents our large ships? First and foremost, we have many large organizations that for many years have operated perhaps in lakes. A ship in a lake remains limited because it is unable to go out into the channel to explore the horizon, and it can't crossover into other bodies of waters. This remains true with the many organizations that take up the charge to service this country in health, physical education, recreation, dance, strength training, and sports medicine.

What is great about a drawbridge is its ability to allow travel from one body of water to another, and it also allows ships to cross over into bodies of water when operating. This is what the VAHPERD Leadership team, Board, Executive Committee, and the Representative Assembly (RA) have been working on in early 2013. We have begun to work on drawbridges, which now allow us to travel into the depths of larger waters, and we have begun to communicate and affiliate with larger affiliations. Unfortunately, our initial Leadership Development Conference (LDC) meeting was cancelled due to a major snowstorm that swept through Virginia, but during the weekend of April 5th and 6th, 2013 we were able to hold our Leadership training for the RA, approve our budget, and also approve our newly adopted bylaws. Our Past-President Charlotte Kelso began the charge of revising our bylaws and constitution, and we are proud to say that we have a new set of bylaws and constitution to govern our organization. We are planning the final stages of becoming a nonprofit entity, but at the same time we move forward in building drawbridges for tomorrow. In the last several months we have held several goto meetings, allowing the VAHPERD board and RA to communicate freely regarding the welfare of VAHPERD, and the leadership likes the idea of embracing technology and having goto meetings.

During our meetings the leadership has talked about the importance of adding a treasurer/bookkeeper to the organization to help manage our growing organization, and the Board on Friday, April 5th successfully approved the addition of a treasurer to the organization. We will be looking to hire a treasurer to assist with the matters of financial management and bookkeeping. This is definitely a drawbridge for tomorrow; adding a treasurer will allow our Executive Director to concentrate on other matters of the organization to grow VAHPERD membership and increase member benefit. We are excited about the future of the newly added position, and we are finalizing the operating codes and job description of the position.

As we build drawbridges for tomorrow, we have to stop and look at diversity. During our conversations we talked about the possibility of adding two minority awards: one for a professional and one for a student. This is definitely a drawbridge that shows VAHPERD's commitment and open arms to all people and all programs of study. We are in the process of developing criteria for the possible addition of minority awards that maybe added to our Annual Convention in November in Virginia Beach. The awards will hopefully showcase the accomplishments of two members in our organization that are considered to be in a protected class, and we would like to help them in their professional growth.

Last, but not least, we are excited about a few other drawbridges that are being built. For several years we have held a preconference to help teachers in the association to gain knowledge to seek strength and conditioning certification. This year we are working with the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) to bring back the NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) symposium to help coaches gain knowledge and abilities towards strength and conditioning. This drawbridge allows VAHPERD, AAHPERD, and NSCA to move back and forth in each other's body of waters to benefit from the strong currents of knowledge and utilize the benefits that each organization offers. We have also invited NSCA President Steve Fleck and he has accepted to speak at our conference. Another structured conference within the conference is the Sport Management Symposium which was held for the first time in Roanoke, VA on the last day of the conference, and we are planning to hold the Sport Leadership Symposium again on that Sunday which speaks to the membership interested in coaching, athletic management, and athletic law. Second, we are in talks with having the NSCA exhibit at our organization. Last, we are excited to announce that Dr. Janet Rankin, Current President of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), has agreed to be a keynote speaker at our Annual Conference in Virginia Beach in November. Yet, this is another drawbridge that will allow VAHPERD, AAHPERD, and ACSM to communicate talks regarding teaching, childhood obesity, exercise science, diversity, etc.

During our LDC a few weeks ago we also had an opportunity to meet with the American Heart Association, and both organizations are looking at ways to raise more funds to benefit society. We are also happy to announce that Dr. Courtney McBath, Bishop of Calvary Revival Church in Norfolk, VA will be addressing us as we open our conference at the Founders Inn in VA Beach. As the word says in the Good Book, physical training is of value but spiritual training is of more value. Bishop McBath has grown a church from a few members to 10,000 members over the last twenty years, and he will be speaking to our association about leadership and health.

As we continue to march through the 2013 season let's smile as we have begun to lower our drawbridges, providing roads for the future and opportunities for ships to move into larger seas. I am excited about all that our VAHPERD leadership has accomplished, and we look forward to the bright shining future. We encourage you to make a proposal to present your research and ideas at the conference by May 15th, and we also encourage you to submit an article to our journal. As Seneca once stated, "Ships look good in the harbor but that is not what ships were built for." I encourage you to do something that challenges your intellect by presenting at this year's conference, and consider writing an article. You can always partner with others to present or write an article. Let down your drawbridge, and I challenge you to crossover into new academic promises.

Dr. Rodney P. Gaines