The Federation's Five Year Plan

by Roger Fitchett
(who is Roger Fitchett)

After the BASS Masters Classic this year, I reported to you that BASS had presented ten commitments to the federation that were to be carried out by February 2004. One of those commitments was to have a meeting with the state presidents to start developing a five-year plan for the federation.

On November 22^nd and 23^rd twenty one presidents and the five divisional representatives sat down in a strategy session meeting in Atlanta to discuss the five year plan. In attendance from BASS were our Federation Director, Don Corkran, and Director of Operations, Steve Puckett, and Brett Boston, who facilitated the meeting. About two weeks before the meeting, BASS sent a survey to the presidents asking thirty seven questions. These questions were related mostly to the needs of the federation. Although some of the presidents did not fill out the survey, there were enough responses to clearly see the needs and wants of the federation.

Brett did a great job facilitating the meeting. He took the results of the surveys and showed them to us in a power point presentation. There were many interesting answers and comments from the survey, but there were a few that stood out among the rest as far as importance.

The presidents were glad to see Don Corkran back as Federation Director, and they were glad to see that BASS has given him the power to make decisions for the federation. Don stated that he was not glad to be back under these circumstances, but he was glad to be back as Federation Director. I have confidence that Don will do a good job, just as he did before.

Funding for Youth and Conservation were at the top of the survey list. From time to time most states need financial help for their youth programs and conservation projects. We have always been proud of funding the needs of youth and conservation, but things have changed. BASS now has a Youth Manager, Stacy Twiggs. Stacy headed up the first Junior National Championship this year. It was a great event, but it was an additional financial burden on the state federations that attended. I am sure that Stacy will continue to grow the youth programs. That is another reason that we need help with funding. The good news is, BASS is working to develop a Super fund program for the federation that will help support these efforts.

BASS Federation Sponsors was another concern listed on the survey. Sponsor participation at federation events has been declining over the past few years. Sponsors that have a contract or an agreement with BASS or the federation should follow through with their commitments. Don said that he was going to follow up on this, and try to have things in place for next year. Don is also going to try to get the service trailers back at our events. We also discussed the importance of having a day that we could meet with the sponsors as we use to. It will be nice to see our sponsors at the Divisional Championships and the Federation Championship again.

The Bass Federation Inc. vs. Divisional Representatives. This topic showed up numerous times on the survey. It was also brought up and discussed in our meeting. The state presidents want BASS to work with the Divisional Representatives and The Bass Federation Inc. The concern for BASS is that the Divisional Representatives are also the board of directors for The Bass Federation Inc. BASS does not feel comfortable with The Bass Federation Inc., and the federation presidents do not feel comfortable without it. Don said that he could work with the Divisional Representatives, but first, he wants to define and understand their role. There was a suggestion made in the meeting that since this was a major concern for everyone that there should be a meeting with the Divisional Representatives and BASS to try to resolve these differences. Everyone agreed. There will be a meeting arranged before the end of January 2004.

This was the most productive meeting that I have attended. Everyone kept a positive attitude, and everyone agreed that our differences could be worked out. We need to start working together again, and continue to move our sport forward. There is no question that it will take a few more meetings to complete the five-year plan, but we are off to a good start.

Take care,

Roger

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