Minutes of the ISTA Board of Directors Meeting on October 1, 2022
ROLL CALL
Southern Zone: Dennis Baker - ex, Lauren Dunn - ex, John Kravanek, Frank Payne
Central Zone: Steve Carver, Mike Dennis, Bill Maiden, Kevin Wunder - ex
Northern Zone: Charlie Bickle, Patrick Haskins - ex, Bill Huhn, Stan Systo
Others: Joan Davis, ISTA Secretary
SECRETARY’S REPORT – Bill Huhn made a motion to waive the reading of the minutes and accept the minutes as presented by email from the Secretary. Charlie Bickle seconded the motion. Motion carried
TREASURER’S REPORT – Frank Payne gave the Treasurer’s report in the absence of a Board Treasurer. Charlie Bickel made a motion to approve the Treasurer’s report; John Kravanek seconded the motion. Motion carried.
OLD BUSINESS
Daily Fee for Big 50’s – At the previous meeting in June, the Board decided the daily fee for shoot year 2023 would be a flat $3.00 daily fee, however, the fee for Big 50’s was never discussed. The board clarified the daily fee for Big 50’s would be a flat $1.50 per shooter.
Handicap on Wednesday of State Shoot –The Board decided on Wednesday of the State Shoot, the order of the events would be changed from Doubles-Singles-Handicap to Doubles-Handicap-Singles. The reason for this change is so the Handicap scores can be entered while another event is being shot instead of shooting Handicap last and shooters having to wait to hear if they would be in a shoot off.
NEW BUSINESS
Classification at State Shoot – Frank Payne stated in last year’s program book it stated Classification was open at 7:00 AM. This was something that was missed in the program when we changed the shoot start time back to 9:00AM. Mike Dennis suggested opening for Classification & Squadding to open at 7:30 AM. Everyone agreed.
Miss & Out Sponsored by Dennis Baker – It was missed last year in the program to scratch the Miss & Out sponsored by Dennis Baker and put his sponsorship money into the three events that day. He was not at this meeting to definitely decide what he wanted to do so this item was tabled until Dennis could make that decision.
Porta Potties at State Shoot – Frank reported he had a lot of people report to him the porta potties at last year’s state shoot were not pumped often enough. The pumpers only came twice this past year and in previous years came three times. Since no one from Brittany was present, this issue will be tabled until the next meeting.
Upgrade Portable Radios – The current radios are useless if you are down the trap line either way. It was mentioned if you keep the radios on constant charge, the batteries go bad & those radios are on the charge constantly. Mike Dennis mentioned their club just purchased new radios. He said he would ask the person who researched radios before their purchase to see if anything would work better for the State Shoot and report at the next meeting.
Ways to Improve Squadding at State Shoot – Frank said we should probably table this issue to talk about it when Michelle is in attendance. He said there seems to be too empty spots on squads. There always seems to be one or two squads still shooting when the rest of the line is finished. People want to shoot on a certain bank but maybe not as many flights should be open. Mike Dennis mentioned we need to force people to fill empty slots when they are squadding. It was mentioned we need a good squad hustler to go down the line looking at squads and finding one and two member squads & combine them with other small squads. Frank asked who our squad hustler is, and someone said it is Susie. This issue will be put on the next agenda to talk with Michelle about it.
New Treasurer – Frank asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to be the Treasurer. Mike Dennis said he would go through the list of duties Ned provided to Frank. He said he would look at the list to see if some of the items can be assigned to other people and he would let the Board know before the next meeting if he would be interested in doing it. Joan said she would take over the program if she received the digital copy to be able to make changes. Scheduling shoot dates for Southern Zone, as well as the other zones, was discussed. Clubs are going to send their shoot dates to a designated person in each zone to be approved & then will be sent to Joan.
Criteria for State Team – Christy Baine of Diamond Indoor Trap talked to Bill Maiden regarding criteria for the State Team. She was upset that none of her club kids were making the State Team because they shoot the AIM Championship targets but do not stay and shoot the State Shoot and she was wondering if the AIM Championship targets could also count for the State Team instead of just the State Shoot Championship targets. It was agreed that to make the State Team, shooters have to shoot the Championship targets at the Illinois State Shoot.
Champion of Champion IL Shooters – Joan was approached by a couple of shooters who had a complaint about IL State Shoot Singles Category winners not showing up to shoot the Champion of Champions shoot at the Grand and not letting anyone know so the Runner-ups could shoot. There was some discussion and it was decided that the people handing out trophies & Bill Duncan that day will let the winners know they are eligible to shoot in the Champion of Champions at the Grand and get phone numbers of both the Category winners & runner ups so Bill can follow up with them closer to the Grand to make sure they are going to attend and if not, he’ll contact the runner-up to see if they would like to shoot.
Hall of Fame Nominees – This was tabled due to too many board members absent.
ATA DELEGATE REPORT – Bill Duncan reported during the ATA Delegate Meeting, Mexico was voted to be added as part of the ATA. They are in the Southwestern Zone. In the rule book it said, you are not an official member until you get your plastic card. There were apparently some issues with kids signing up as sub-juniors and before they received their card, they had a birthday which put them in the Junior category because they were not members until they received their card. They changed the rule that when you sign up as an ATA member, you are immediately an ATA member. Preliminary week of the Grand was only down 5% and Grand Week was only down 1%. Classified shooters overall were down 7%. If you are trying to be an All American, you get your points by going to Satellite Grands or state shoots. There are 14 other golden shoots that are neither of those two but are large enough to receive points if the Championship events have more than 450 shooters. The Executive Committee has decided when you get your championship points if there are 450 shooters, it will go back retroactively to the preliminary events leading up to the Championship targets and you will get points for those as well. From attendance at state shoots across the country in 2021 vs. 2022, attendance was down in 2022 by 16%. Bill suggested possibly something that might help is lowering the target requirements for the Open & Sub-Veterans down to the same targets as the other Categories and increasing the Sub-Juniors to the same number of targets as the other Categories – 1500 for Singles; 1500 for Handicap & 1000 for Doubles. This needs a vote and was tabled until the December meeting when more board members would be in attendance. Bill also suggested if there are several clubs across the state having shoots on the same day to encourage those clubs to put together a Lewis that would include the other shoots and make it a bigger pot of money to be able to win.
Mike Dennis asked Bill Duncan to take an issue back to the EC. He said the Dixie Satellite Grand is losing their shorts. All clubs who have a Satellite Grand pay $21,000 to have it. For that $21,000, they get the program and the Championship trophies from ATA. Missouri pays $0 to have the Fall Handicap which is now giving out points. Either make everyone hosting a Satellite Grand not pay anything or have places like Missouri & others who have these large shoots that are now giving points, pay like the Satellite Grand clubs have to. The focus is being lost. ATA is focusing on the All American Shooter and not the average ATA Shooter. By focusing on these big shoots for the point chasers, they are killing the small clubs.
Bill gave one more number. A couple of years ago there were 72,000 members in the ATA. Currently there are 62,000, which is counting all the kids & their numbers have relatively remained the same.
NEXT MEETING DATE – December 10, 2022, at 11:00 AM at Bass Pro Shop, Peoria, IL.
ADJOURNMENT -- Motion to adjourn was made by Mike Dennis; Bill Huhn seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
Joan Maiden
ISTA Secretary