INTRODUCTION

The USAG Washington Handbook is intended to clarify those areas left to state discretion by the USAG Rules and Policies and to clarify local procedures to implement the rules. This handbook will be updated by the USAG Board and the USAG State Director, but make sure your handbook is updated according to the recent minutes. Nothing herein is intended to change any policy outlined in USAG Rules and Policies. No deviation from the Handbook is allowed without the prior approval of the USAGWA Board.

STATE BOARD MEMBERS

State Chair: Patti Gable
Address: Northwest Aerials, 12440 128th Lane NE, Kirkland, WA 98034
Phone: 425-773-5608/425-823-2665
Fax: 425-820-5050
Email: usagwashington@aol.com

East Representative: Michelle Lawhorn
Address: 2121 W. Lincoln Ave,Yakima, WA 98902
Phone: 509.453.8126
Fax: 509.577.7797
Email: michellelawhorn@qwest.net

North Representatives: Lynda Cottrill
Address: Cascade Elite Gymnastics, 23101 56th Ave. W, Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043
Phone: 425.672.6887
Fax: 425.672.2785
Email: lyndaceg@aol.com

Linda Young
Address: Northshore Gymnastics, 19460 144th Ave. NE, Woodinville, WA 98072
Phone: 425.402.6602
Fax: 425.483.9621
Email: younggym64@hotmail.com

Seattle Representative: Jeff Lutz
Address: Gymnastics Express, 4520 B St. NW Building C #3, Auburn, WA 98001
Phone: 253.520.1973
Email: Lutzgym@cs.com

South Representative: Lisa Semon
Address: Enumclaw Gymnastics, Inc., 2251 Cole St., Enumclaw, WA. 98022
Phone: 360.802.9020
Fax: 360.802.9010
Email: CoachLisa@myegc.com

Compulsory Representative: Jen Huffman
Address: Northshore Gymnastics, 19460 144th Ave NE, Woodinville, WA 98072
Phone: 425.402.6602
Fax: 425.483.9624
Email: jenhuffman@yahoo.com

Optional Representative: John Carney
Address: Gymnastics East, 13425 SE 30th St #2, Bellevue, WA 98005
Phone: 425.644.8117
Fax: 425.644.1791
Email: gymdemon1@aol.com

Member at Large: Laurel Tindall
Address: Falcons, 3307 3rd Ave W, Seattle, WA 98119
Phone:206.281.2883
Fax: 206.281.2266
Email: ltindall@spu.edu

OTHER USAG WA PERSONNEL:
State Judging Director
Nola Ayres
Bellingham, WA
Phone:360.527.1469
Fax: 360.734.0274
Emal: nbanola@aol.com

Winter/Spring Judges Assigner
Barb MacAfee
Spokane, WA
Phone: 509.893.0918
Fax: 509.893.0918
Email: bmacafee@comcast.net

Fall Judges Assigner
Jan Urfer
Phone:360-457-3698 (home), and 360-460-3939 (cell)
Email: janu@tfon.com

Web Site Director
Lee Bjella
Everett, WA
Phone: 425.258.3681
Email: lbjella@hotmail.com

State Clinic Director
Colleen Long
425-282-5010
Email: longstarz@yahoo.com

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DUTIES OF THE BOARD

North, South, Seattle, East Representatives description:

A USAG professional member in good standing who will work on a consistent basis for the next two years educating, organizing, and promoting your section membership for the betterment of gymnastics. You will be aiding the entire Washington State Board in promoting the relationship and unity between all the membership to include; judges, club owners, and coaches in your area.

North, South, Seattle, East Representatives responsibilities:

• You must reside, or coach at a club in the area you represent.
• You will need to attend all Washington State Board meetings, representing your area.
• You will be in charge of educating your area through workshops/clinics, be a resource to your constituents at all times and a mediator between all communities (judging, coaching, club owners).
• You will need to be organized and follow through with projects delegated to you from the Washington State Chair.
• Must have access to e-mail and respond to all communications (e-mail or other) in a timely fashion.
• Will work directly with other sectional representatives, state chair, state judging director and sectional judging representative.
• Must attend and help with the Washington State clinic/banquet and chair a clinic committee.
• Must be a team player. Show loyalty and integrity on all interactions with the board as well as interactions with your constituents.
• You are the boards liason for all sectional and state meets held in your section.
• You should work for state unity and the betterment of gymnastics in your state.
• You must have a positive professional attitude at all times and uphold to the ethical standard of USAG.

Optional Representative and Compulsory Representative Description:

(One vote for optional representative and one vote for compulsory representative.)

A USAG professional member in good standing who will work on a consistent basis for the next two years educating, organizing, and promoting the Washington State membership. You will be aiding the entire Washington State Board in promoting the relationship between optional coaches, club owners, and Washington State judges and educating these groups on changes.

Representative Responsibilities:

• You will need to attend all Washington State Board meetings.
• Required to have or be willing to build a solid expertise on the optional rules/compulsory text, guidelines, and routines.
• You will need to be in charge of educating the state with changes in code/text, a resource to your constituents, a mediator between all optional/compulsory communities (judging, coaching, club owners).
• A person who will take responsibility for his/her commitment as well as be willing to delegate tasks expected of them throughout the entire two years.
• You will need to be organized and follow through with projects delegated to you from the Washington State Chair.
• Must have access to e-mail and respond to all communications (e-mail or other) in a timely fashion.
• Will work directly with sectional representatives, state chair, and state judging director, and sectional judging representatives.
• Must attend and help with the Washington State clinic/banquet and chair a clinic committee.
• Will promote and begin state education workshops/clinics with all Washington State Optional/Complusory Members.
• You should work for state unity and the betterment of gymnastics in our State, bringing together the judges, coaches and club owners.
• Must have a positive and professional attitude at all times and uphold the ethical standards of USAG.
• An understanding that this task will take time and sacrifice.

Judge/Coach Liason and Secretary:

A USAG professional member in good standing who will work on a consistent basis for the next two years educating, organizing, and promoting the Washington State membership. You will be aiding the state chair in all of his/her responsibilities. Your main objective will be to focus on the task of bringing together the judging and coaching communities. You will be an educator (clinician, spokesperson, and advocate) as well as finding additional resources in and out of our state to educate all of the members. You will be the official notetaker providing official minutes from all meetings and e-mail votes of the board.

Responsibilities:

• You will need to attend all Washington State Board meetings.
• Required to have a solid expertise on compulsory as well as optional rules, guidelines, and routines.
• You will need to be in charge of educating the judges and coaches on changes, troubleshooting, and to be a resource to your constituents at all times, a mediator between two communities.
• A person who will take responsibility for his/her commitment as well as be willing to delegate tasks expected of them throughout the entire two years.
• You will need to be organized and follow through with projects delegated to you from the Washington State Chair.
• Must have access to e-mail and respond to all communications (e-mail or other) in a timely fashion.
• Must attend and help with the Washington State clinic/banquet and chair a clinic committee.
• Will promote and begin state education workshops/clinics with all state coaches/judges in conjunction with the compulsory/optional representatives.
• Must be a team player. Show loyalty and integrity on all interactions with the board as well as interactions with your constituents.
• Must have a positive, professional attitude and uphold the ethical standards of USAG.
• Must have a good relationship with judging & coaching community with the intentions of representing all groups and work for unity between the judges, coaches and club owners.
• Must be a rated USAG judge and an active coach.

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ELECTION PROCEDURES

The election of the USAG Washington Board is done in May or June every 2 year (even years). The voting committee is comprised of a State Chairman, North Representative, South Representative, East Representative, Seattle Representative, Judge/Coach Liason/secretary, Optional Representative, and Compulsory Representative. Each position represents one vote. The State Chairman may appoint committee positions that are non-voting and serve in an advisory capacity only.

In a voting year nomination requests will be sent to all professional members. Any nomination not filled out completely or containing false information will be disqualified.

Election ballots will be sent to all professional members. If only one person is nominated for a particular position the State Chair will cast the deciding vote on those positions and no election ballots will be sent.

COMMITTEE MEETING DATES

The SAC will meet 3 times per year, and at any other time deemed necessary by the State Chair. State Committee Meetings are closed unless otherwise stated. Should a Professional Member have a specific reason to address the board accommodations will be made.

Members are encouraged to contact the appropriate Committee members to discuss any questions, concerns or problems that may arise.

Every effort will be made to post the Committee Meeting Agenda on the USAGWA Website prior to each meeting to allow for member input.

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WEBSITE

USAG Washington will contract and maintain a website. The website will be the main source of information concerning competitive gymnastics in Washington State. Every effort will be made to keep the website up to date.

STATE CLINIC

Each year USAG Washington will sponsor a State Clinic. According to interest the clinic may offer Coaches Accreditation, CPR and First Aide, Safety Courses as well as specific education for the following disciplines: pre-school, recreation, pre-competitive, competitive, cheerleading, judging as well as round table discussion on various topics.

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RECOGNITION BANQUET

Each year USAG Washington will host an Awards Banquet during the State Clinic to honor the athletes, coaches and judges from our state for their accomplishments. The awards banquet will also serve to honor any Hall of Fame Inductees.

Those invited as State Guests are the following:

• All Junior Olympic National and Elite National Champions (event and/or all around)
• All Western National Champions (event and/or all around)
• All Hall of Fame Members and Inductees

All USAG Professional members will also be invited to attend (a banquet fee will be charged).

Coaching Staff of the Year:
The staff awards will be determined through points given to teams who place at state. At the conclusion of the season, points will be totaled, and the staff with the highest points for their team will receive Washington Staff of the Year. The following is the breakdown of the points.

Judge of the Year: Criteria and election to be held by NAWGJ WA.

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STATE OF WASHINGTON HALL OF FAME

The purpose of the Washington State HOF shall be to recognize the achievements of those who have earned the respect and admiration of their peers during their careers as gymnasts, coaches and judges. The USAG Washington Hall of Fame Chairman shall review nominations from the USAG Washington membership at large (nomination forms will be available on the USAG Washington Web Site). The acceptable list will be forwarded to the USAG Washington State Board, where the final decision on enshrines will be made annually.

The Hall of Fame shall serve as a place where the legacy of gymnastics professionals are remembered for eternity by the gymnastics community of Washington State.

Hall of Fame Categories and Qualifications for Enshrinement in the WSGHOF:

PIONEER OR LEGEND Gymnast or Coach Minimum Standards:
• Stood apart from their peers through their effort to develop or create programs which laid the groundwork for gymnastics in Washington State.
• Contributed to Washington Gymnastics as a coach, judge or supporter at an extremely high level for 25 years. Is recognized by peers as a substantial contributor to the sport of gymnastics in Washington State.

GYMNAST: Junior Olympic or Elite Level Minimum Standards:
• Competed at the Junior Olympic Level 9 or 10 National Championships or an Elite National Competition.
• Earned National Top 3 Finish in an event or all around at Westerns or J.O. Nationals or an Elite National or International Event.
• Demonstrated outstanding performances throughout her J.O. or Elite career.
• Set a high standard of performance during her era.
• Served as an outstanding example of quality gymnastics performance to coaches, judges, and to her contemporaries during her career.

Coach, Junior Olympic or Elite Level Minimum Standards:
• Coached in the Junior Olympic or Elite Program in Washington for a minimum of twenty years.
• Qualified athletes into the JO National or Elite National competitions for at least 5 years
• Was considered an excellent technician by peers.
• Contributed to the enhancement of Washington gymnastics through coaching clinics, seminars or congresses in Washington State.

Judge
• Judged USAG competitions in Washington for a minimum of 20 years at the optional or Elite/Brevet level.
• Judged in ten or more State Championship meets in Washington.
• Contributed to the enhancement of Washington gymnastics by helping at clinics or seminars for judges, coaches and gymnasts.
• Was considered one of the top judges at their level by peers and coaches.

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