Donald Alperstein, Board candidate, gets what it takes to tackle the challenges at US Fencing
To obtain greater insight into each of the candidates’ potential to represent parents’ interests on the Board beyond the rather brief candidate statements, Fencing Parents emailed the Board candidates on May 6, 2019 with the following request:
“Parents of fencers, many of whom are now Supporting members of US Fencing are very interested in this current election cycle, and want clarity on who they should support to lead the organization and set policies that are in the best interests of all members, and not just a select few.
Leadership is paramount. In this regard, Fencing Parents is keen to know what, in your opinion, are the 3 greatest priorities that must be addressed at US Fencing, and what specific steps will you take as a Board member to facilitate action that moves these priorities forward.
FP looks forward to sharing your response with our readers.”
Donald Alperstein responded to that request today with insight worthy of a Board member, and he shares his thoughts on how some of these challenges must be tackled. His response is reproduced in full below.
Fencing Parents advises you to vote for Don Alperstein.
Read about what he has to say below.
Of the 3 candidates, he is the only one who has demonstrated a real grasp for the responsibilities of a Board member, and a real understanding for the challenges facing US Fencing. He has taken the time to write a thoughtful Candidate Statement, and respond to Fencing Parents’ request with a detailed analysis of US Fencing’s challenges, the implications for finding or not finding resolutions, and what he believes are the way forward.
We need insightful and smart leaders on the Board. If you revisit the Board Candidate Evaluation Matrix, you will find that Donald Alperstein checks many of the boxes.
He also listened!
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What Donald Alperstein has to say
He identifies 3 extremely important areas that warrant the attention of the Board:
Tournament Operation and Improvement
He acknowledges that “Under USA Fencing’s current business model, tournaments provide a significant source of revenues that support not only the competitions themselves, but also contribute to the general funding of many USA Fencing programs.” As FP has pointed out previously, 80% of NAC attendees are under 18, and their registration fees are paid by parents.
He is listening and understands that “competition at national and regional levels, has become so expensive that tournament fees represent a very small portion of the outlay necessary for participation, which include equipping, training, transporting, housing and feeding fencers and those who accompany them. This is a much larger problem, not only for the families who support athletes and for older athletes who support themselves, but also for the organizational goals of growing the sport and achieving competitive results. “
So how does he propose addressing the problem?
“We need to find and implement practices that assure we do not price ourselves out of the market for aspiring fencers, and that means being sensitive to the full cost of participation, not just entry fees. Addressing these issues means taking into account such concerns as housing and travel costs at tournament sites.”
He is absolutely right about this. FP will make sure he follows through with addressing these concerns when we elect him. The problem is desperately looking for a fix! And he is the only Board candidate to speak up about this issue! We only need to look at the map below to see the issue. These tournaments are not being held where the majority of fencers live, or where they are cheap to access!
“In addition to the costs of attending NAC and Championship tournaments, we need to consider the event mixes, qualifying paths and other competitive opportunities. Recently, there has been pressure to reduce the size of tournaments as a means of controlling costs, schedules and logistics. I think instead of making our tournaments smaller, we need to make them better. This means not only improving the organization and refereeing and scheduling of national competitions, but also looking at the tournament mix as a whole, from the divisional level through National Championships. “
Exactly, Mr Alperstein! We agree with you! US Fencing has outgrown its current tournament structure, and the issue has to be addressed at the Board level!
“We need to start treating regional events as a meaningful part of our participation and development opportunities, by improving and standardizing them, just as we have with the NACs and Championships. This requires attending to the organization, refereeing, scheduling and competitive importance and quality of these events. If we enhance the competitive and developmental elements of regional events, and rationally integrate them as qualifying paths to higher levels of competition, these more affordable competitions will reduce the time and financial burdens of traveling to national tournaments without sacrificing the opportunities and enjoyment of well organized, appropriately conducted meaningful competitions.”
This makes a lot of sense. On this front, US Fencing should seriously evaluate the introduction of the Regional Championship, at all levels.
And the referees desperately need a systematic training program.
Technical (coach and referee) Support and Development
“I believe the greatest long-term challenge to the continued growth and increased competitive success of fencing in the United States is the need to encourage, educate and support coaches. Coaches are the lifeblood of the sport. They are the first point of contact for most prospective fencers, and whether an athlete continues to improve or quits in frustration depends on the coaching and club environment in which he or she learns. We need both more and better coaches. “
Donald Alperstein is right about this too. Fencing Parents has heard from numerous coaches that they need more support, both in coach training and in business education and marketing. Good coaching leads to well trained fencers which leads to successful fencing.
While the East and the West coasts currently enjoy good access to both great American coaches and the incredible foreign born coaches who helped turn the United States into a fencing powerhouse, US Fencing also needs renewal as the generation of coaches who trained our current Olympians and chapions age and eventually retire.
“Much of our present membership base was introduced to fencing by graduates of USA Fencing’s Coaches College, an enormously successful program that began in the mid-1990s but was abandoned in the early 2000s. Graduates of that program reached out across the country to open clubs and recruit athletes, and then imbue those fencers with sound technique and analytical skill. Unless we find a way to keep the coach pipeline full and expanding, we will face a loss of these essential teachers and promoters.”
“I believe that we need to reinstitute the Coaches College, or an equivalent program, to provide educational opportunities for aspiring coaches and to assure they receive a solid pedogeological foundation.”
This takes money. While fundraising is not Donald Alperstein’s forte, this is still a priority that needs to be prioritized at the Board level.
“we must always remember that every Olympian started in a club somewhere with an inspirational coach and opponents against whom to hone skills. “
That’s why clubs and coaches matter!
On Referees
“Similarly, good tournaments and good development demands a sufficient cadre of skilled referees. Proper actions demand and deserve proper calls; technical errors and rule violations need to be recognized and treated appropriately. (FP emphasis) In this way, coaches and referees serve the same end: an enjoyable athletic experience that fosters improved skill and has reliable outcomes. “
“We are making progress on these fronts, but there is much to be done. USA Fencing recently created a professional position for Coach Development and Referee Education, and plans in the next two to three years to make each a full time position. “
Note from FP: This is a very important position, and we recommend hiring a headhunter to fill this position. Ineffectiveness in this position could have catastrophic results for the future of the United States as a fencing powerhouse.
“ On the referee side, I serve as the Board of Directors liaison to the Referee Commission and have both observed and participated in a complete revamping of the programs for referee recruitment, assessment and development. Other initiatives are in the works to improve refereeing conditions by limiting hours and increasing compensation. Referee training is being standardized as education, testing and communications move on-line. “
We are pleased to hear that action is being taken. We await with baited breath! The issues with bad calls have been increasing rapidly, and frustrating both parents and fencers. The parsimonious referee compensation coupled with long hours and little appreciation is not a great recruitment tool for referees! The referees are probably waiting for announcements too!
Leadership Skills and Succession
“An entity with a budget approaching $10,000,000, a staff nearing two dozen and almost 40,000 members cannot rely on good fortune to provide continuity and effective, responsive leadership. “
We agree. We believe that Board members must be elected by the membership, and not appointed (except for very specific skills). US Fencing has depth from within its current membership (parents, coaches, referees, adult and Veteran fencers) and among fencing alumni who joined the business or non-profit world who now can share their leadership skills to keep the flag flying for US Fencing.
“Our committee structure provides many opportunities for orientation to USA Fencing’s operations and programs, and should be used for individual leadership development. Volunteers (be they athletes, parents, officials or club owners), should be encouraged to participate and given meaningful opportunities to do so, and those with interest and promise for continued contribution need to be nurtured and educated for future responsibilities.”
This is a good idea. The quality of decisions made by any Committee will only be as good as the quality of the intellectual rigor applied . Tapping a small circle of known people instead of reaching widely for talent, skills and fresh ideas can only lead to stagnation, and limited thinking! The Tournament Committee’s decision to institute a cut at Y12 and Y14 at Summer Nationals 2020 is a case in point.
“ At present, we have no focused or purposeful programs for filling these needs. I believe we need to consider programmatic means of encouraging participation in the governance of USA Fencing and providing opportunities for advancement to positions of leadership. As a member of the Board, I have pushed for such programs, and will continue to do so.”
We agree with Donald Alperstein. US Fencing needs a deeper bench that is inclusionary, not exclusionary..
Guiding Principles for Donald Alperstein
He believes that success can only be determined by “the atmosphere in which I believe we must operate if we are to be an effective, responsible and successful organization. I think that atmosphere has to be defined by two over-arching principles.”
We agree. A responsive leadership is paramount!
PRINCIPLE ONE
“First, USA Fencing’s leadership must always remember that we are a member service organization, not a traditional business, and that realization needs to enlighten all our decision making. We should measure our success by how well we serve our members, not by profit or even by the number of medals won on the international stage. Of our nearly 40,000 members, only a handful will ever reach those heights, and we cannot focus on those few to the detriment of the rest. “
The rank and file members are the backbone of US Fencing. Without them, there are no Olympians! While Olympians serve as role models and aspirational icons for our young fencers with their spectacular sporting achievements, they number less than 24 in an organization of 40,000 members. The leadership needs to understand where their priorities lie.
“we must always remember that every Olympian started in a club somewhere with an inspirational coach and opponents against whom to hone skills. Nor must we ever lose sight of the fact that USA Fencing quite properly supports elite athletes, but they don’t support us – our members and their families do that. “
Quite so! Parents pay most of the bills!
“ I was the principal drafter of major bylaw changes in 2010 (as general counsel) that created positions on the Board of Directors for a coach, a club owner, a parent and a volunteer. All of those have since been abrogated by amendments adopted while I was not on the Board and over my objections. (FP emphasis) Yet those constituencies still provide the foundation of who we are and what we do. I strongly believe that everything we do must be done with that understanding in mind.”
“Yet those constituencies still provide the foundation of who we are and what we do. I strongly believe that everything we do must be done with that understanding in mind.”
IMPORTANT TIMELINES
The Bylaw changes that created the unaccountable Board took place between 2011 and 2017.. Donald Alperstein was not a member for most of that period, and as he points out, he did not support the changes that eliminated the elected Board positions. (See: How the US Fencing Bylaws bypass the membership and create an unaccountable Board)
Donald Alperstein was a member of the Board from 1982 to 1990 and from 1996 to 2000. He served as general counsel to US Fencing for 2 periods after that from 1990 to 1996 and from 2000 to 2012. He re-joined the Board in 2015.
PRINCIPLE 2
“the need to be ethical in everything we do”
“ we have a moral obligation to act responsibly and openly, and to do the right thing even when “no one is looking.” If we do that, our challenges won’t go away, and there will always be problems to solve, but will meet those challenges and solve those problems in a way that everyone knows was done for the betterment of the sport we all love and the organization charged with its protection and development.”
We are definitely pleased to have Mr Alperstein articulate these principles of ethics and integrity.
“If we do that, our challenges won’t go away, and there will always be problems to solve, but will meet those challenges and solve those problems in a way that everyone knows was done for the betterment of the sport we all love and the organization charged with its protection and development.”
Vote for Mr Alperstein
Of the 3 candidates, he is the only one who has demonstrated a real grasp for the responsibilities of a Board member, and a real understanding for the challenges facing US Fencing. He has taken the time to write a thoughtful Candidate Statement, and respond to Fencing Parents’ request with a detailed analysis of US Fencing’s challenges, the implications for finding or not finding resolutions, and what he believes are the way forward.
“I have given each of these issues considerable thought over the years, and even the foregoing only begins to explain my concerns and conclusions. These are complex topics with interconnecting ramifications, and of course not the only issues facing the current and coming Board of Directors. I hope that the explanation of my thoughts, set forth above, gives you a good sense of where I stand and how I approach my obligations as a member of the Board. In addition, I encourage you to review my candidate statement and resume on USA Fencing’s web site and to review the minutes of Board meetings, also posted on the site (under the tab “about USA Fencing)” so that you can see the positions I have taken since returning to the Board in 2015.”
We need insightful and smart leaders on the Board. If you revisit the Board Candidate Evaluation Matrix, you will find that Donald Alperstein checks many of the boxes.
Don Alperstein’s Letter to Fencing Parents
“
Dear Ms. Meyer,
Thank you for providing me an opportunity to address your readers on the question “what, in your opinion, are the 3 greatest priorities that must be addressed at US Fencing, and what specific steps will you take as a Board member to facilitate action that moves these priorities forward.” Having been involved as a volunteer in the governance of our organization over several decades, I have seen amazing evolution in the sport, those who participate in it as athletes, parents, coaches and volunteers, and in the entity now known as USA Fencing. Today’s organization bears very little resemblance to the one I joined, and even to the one I presided over as president in the late 1990s. By far and away, most of the changes have been positive, with explosive growth in membership and participation; increasing professionalization of administrative tasks, standardization and improvement of our tournaments; the rise of the United States as an international fencing power; and enormous financial growth and complexity. By many measures, we have experienced astonishing success. But with that success have come challenges, and it would be a mistake to think that USA Fencing can rest on its past successes without addressing present needs and planning for the future.
As the organization evolves and the environment in which it operates changes, so do (and so should) its priorities. At the present time, and in no particular order, I consider these to be the matters that most immediately warrant Board of Directors attention:
Tournament Operation and Improvement
Under USA Fencing’s current business model, tournaments provide a significant source of revenues that support not only the competitions themselves, but also contribute to the general funding of many USA Fencing programs. This is not, in my mind, inappropriate, so long as the tournament business prioritizes its service function by charging fair prices and providing the members with an equitable and quality product. Huge improvements have been made in this direction, but significant issues still need to be addressed. These include providing top quality venues reasonably located, staffing by qualified referees and other officials, and designing event mixes and qualifying paths that make sense.
Notably, entry and registration fees have proven to have little effect on tournament enrollment, and in fact, increases in fees have resulted in no demonstrable decline in field size. But that does not mean that USA Fencing can continue such increases without any reason for doing so beyond revenue growth. I believe the price inelasticity reflects a deeper fact: the sport, and competition at national and regional levels, has become so expensive that tournament fees represent a very small portion of the outlay necessary for participation, which include equipping, training, transporting, housing and feeding fencers and those who accompany them. This is a much larger problem, not only for the families who support athletes and for older athletes who support themselves, but also for the organizational goals of growing the sport and achieving competitive results. Barriers that increase the difficulty of starting and staying in the sport discourage participation and make achieving organizational aspirations more difficult. We need to find and implement practices that assure we do not price ourselves out of the market for aspiring fencers, and that means being sensitive to the full cost of participation, not just entry fees. Addressing these issues means taking into account such concerns as housing and travel costs at tournament sites.
In addition to the costs of attending NAC and Championship tournaments, we need to consider the event mixes, qualifying paths and other competitive opportunities. Recently, there has been pressure to reduce the size of tournaments as a means of controlling costs, schedules and logistics. I think instead of making our tournaments smaller, we need to make them better. This means not only improving the organization and refereeing and scheduling of national competitions, but also looking at the tournament mix as a whole, from the divisional level through National Championships. We need to start treating regional events as a meaningful part of our participation and development opportunities, by improving and standardizing them, just as we have with the NACs and Championships. This requires attending to the organization, refereeing, scheduling and competitive importance and quality of these events. If we enhance the competitive and developmental elements of regional events, and rationally integrate them as qualifying paths to higher levels of competition, these more affordable competitions will reduce the time and financial burdens of traveling to national tournaments without sacrificing the opportunities and enjoyment of well organized, appropriately conducted meaningful competitions.
Technical (coach and referee) Support and Development
I believe the greatest long-term challenge to the continued growth and increased competitive success of fencing in the United States is the need to encourage, educate and support coaches. Coaches are the lifeblood of the sport. They are the first point of contact for most prospective fencers, and whether an athlete continues to improve or quits in frustration depends on the coaching and club environment in which he or she learns. We need both more and better coaches. The group of coaches who started US fencers on the road to competitive success, many of whom came to this country after the fall of the Soviet Union, is aging, and we need to be sure that qualified coaches are ready to take their place. Much of our present membership base was introduced to fencing by graduates of USA Fencing’s Coaches College, an enormously successful program that began in the mid-1990s but was abandoned in the early 2000s. Graduates of that program reached out across the country to open clubs and recruit athletes, and then imbue those fencers with sound technique and analytical skill. Unless we find a way to keep the coach pipeline full and expanding, we will face a loss of these essential teachers and promoters.
Similarly, good tournaments and good development demands a sufficient cadre of skilled referees. Proper actions demand and deserve proper calls; technical errors and rule violations need to be recognized and treated appropriately. In this way, coaches and referees serve the same end: an enjoyable athletic experience that fosters improved skill and has reliable outcomes.
We are making progress on these fronts, but there is much to be done. USA Fencing recently created a professional position for Coach Development and Referee Education, and plans in the next two to three years to make each a full time position. I believe that we need to reinstitute the Coaches College, or an equivalent program, to provide educational opportunities for aspiring coaches and to assure they receive a solid pedogeological foundation. On the referee side, I serve as the Board of Directors liaison to the Referee Commission and have both observed and participated in a complete revamping of the programs for referee recruitment, assessment and development. Other initiatives are in the works to improve refereeing conditions by limiting hours and increasing compensation. Referee training is being standardized as education, testing and communications move on-line. On the referee side, I serve as the Board of Directors liaison to the Referee Commission and have both observed and participated in a complete revamping of the programs for referee recruitment, assessment and development. Other initiatives are in the works to improve refereeing conditions by limiting hours and increasing compensation. Referee training is being standardized as education, testing and communications move on-line.
Leadership Skills and Succession
Seldom discussed, but essential to USA Fencing’s future, we need to identify, foster and educate further organizational leaders. USA Fencing has embarked on programs to assess organizational and Board effectiveness, and this is a good step forward. But in the decades I have been involved, we have never focused on finding and preparing future leaders. When we were a small organization with a limited budget and few programs, this wasn’t a major concern. But we are that no longer. An entity with a budget approaching $10,000,000, a staff nearing two dozen and almost 40,000 members cannot rely on good fortune to provide continuity and effective, responsive leadership.
Our committee structure provides many opportunities for orientation to USA Fencing’s operations and programs, and should be used for individual leadership development. Volunteers (be they athletes, parents, officials or club owners), should be encouraged to participate and given meaningful opportunities to do so, and those with interest and promise for continued contribution need to be nurtured and educated for future responsibilities. At present, we have no focused or purposeful programs for filling these needs. I believe we need to consider programmatic means of encouraging participation in the governance of USA Fencing and providing opportunities for advancement to positions of leadership. As a member of the Board, I have pushed for such programs, and will continue to do so.
Guiding Principles
The foregoing begins to outline my thoughts on the undertakings that require our priority attention, because that is the specific question I was asked to address. But it does not explain the atmosphere in which I believe we must operate if we are to be an effective, responsible and successful organization. I think that atmosphere has to be defined by two over-arching principles.
First, USA Fencing’s leadership must always remember that we are a member service organization, not a traditional business, and that realization needs to enlighten all our decision making. We should measure our success by how well we serve our members, not by profit or even by the number of medals won on the international stage. Of our nearly 40,000 members, only a handful will ever reach those heights, and we cannot focus on those few to the detriment of the rest. I do not wish to discount the importance of international success. It brings attention to the sport, provides aspirational goals, and fulfills one of our legal obligations. But by the same token, we must always remember that every Olympian started in a club somewhere with an inspirational coach and opponents against whom to hone skills. Nor must we ever lose sight of the fact that USA Fencing quite properly supports elite athletes, but they don’t support us – our members and their families do that. I was the principal drafter of major bylaw changes in 2010 that created positions on the Board of Directors for a coach, a club owner, a parent and a volunteer. All of those have since been abrogated by amendments adopted while I was not on the Board and over my objections. Yet those constituencies still provide the foundation of who we are and what we do. I strongly believe that everything we do must be done with that understanding in mind.
The second principle that defines my perspective is the need to be ethical in everything we do. In this era of intense scrutiny by the press, public and outside agencies such as the US Olympic Committee, Congress, the Center for SafeSport, and The US Antidoping Agency, everything we do is subject to review and oversight. But even without these overseers, we have a moral obligation to act responsibly and openly, and to do the right thing even when “no one is looking.” If we do that, our challenges won’t go away, and there will always be problems to solve, but will meet those challenges and solve those problems in a way that everyone knows was done for the betterment of the sport we all love and the organization charged with its protection and development.
Conclusion
I apologize for the length of these answers to your direct question. I have given each of these issues considerable thought over the years, and even the foregoing only begins to explain my concerns and conclusions. These are complex topics with interconnecting ramifications, and of course not the only issues facing the current and coming Board of Directors. I hope that the explanation of my thoughts, set forth above, gives you a good sense of where I stand and how I approach my obligations as a member of the Board. In addition, I encourage you to review my candidate statement and resume on USA Fencing’s web site and to review the minutes of Board meetings, also posted on the site (under the tab “about USA Fencing)” so that you can see the positions I have taken since returning to the Board in 2015.
Thank you again for the opportunity to speak on these matters and to address an essential constituency of USA Fencing.
Donald Alperstein
“
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