HAPPY SUMMER BWAA Members! Your board of directors has been "hotter" than usual this summer, working diligently on your behalf. Five board members attended a meeting in Arlington, TX on August 3-4, including Dick Evans, Jim Goodwin, Joan Romeo, Kathy Watson and me. We met with our new Administrative Director, Ron DeRoxtra and the rest of our support staff liaisons. We were all impressed at what we will be able to do with the staff resources of STE behind BWAA.

We are lucky to have Ron join our BWAA Board. He has a 20+ year career in broadcast journalism as news and sports anchor, reporter and editor covering the 1984 Republican Convention, the Branch Davidian siege at Waco, Dallas Cowboys, Texas Rangers and the Dallas Mavericks. He has also been a national sports talk host on Prime Sports Radio as well as the TV play-by-play voice of Dallas Fire hockey and TCU women's basketball. He is an 8-time winner of the Dallas Press Club Katie Award.

In between radio stints, Ron dabbled in high tech public relations in Silicon Valley, California where he worked with clients to develop and execute strategic communications and marketing strategies. He was also a communications trainer working with corporate leadership to develop effective public speaking skills. Ron is an Air Force veteran, having served in Southeast Asia and Europe. He is married with four children and six grandchildren.

Our new board member, David Prange, was elected by the membership at the annual meeting in Las Vegas on June 23. David was born and raised in Joliet, IL and moved to Las Vegas, NV in 1993. He has been involved in writing for bowling publications since writing a regular column called "Junior Bowling News" for the Will County Sportsman while still a youth bowler. More recently, he has served as webmaster for www.sonvbowl.com, the official website of the Southern Nevada USBC Association. David has served on the Board of Directors of both the Southern Nevada USBC Association, and the Nevada State USBC Association and has held numerous Committee positions including Chairman of the Tournament Committee.

David is also an accomplished bowler and has been a member of the PBA for over 20 years. As of this writing, he has 48 - 300 games, 18 - 800 series, and held the high average in the Southern Nevada USBC Association of 240 in 2007. David was elected to the Southern Nevada USBC Hall of Fame for Superior Performance in 2006. The BWAA board is grateful to Fran Deken for encouraging David to run for office.

Our other two "new" board members are not really new to any of us. John Jowdy was appointed to serve the unexpired term of office vacated by Tom Clark, whose duties with the PBA precluded his continued service on the board. Mary Lynly was elected to serve as Chairman of the Council of Life Members and takes her seat on the BWAA Board as well. I don't believe you need any introduction to either of these icons. We are honored to have them join our board and look forward to receiving the benefits of their experience.

While I may not be tall, dark and handsome, like the President of the United States (well maybe tall), our mantra is the same... Hope and Change. As individual board members, we may not all agree on which road is the best to take, but we are passionate about our organization and we want BWAA to succeed and prosper now and in the future. Be assured that we are all working together toward that goal as a team. Let me update you on some of the things we are doing at this time...


* Committee Assignments: will be posted on the website next week. If you would like to serve on a BWAA committee, please contact me ASAP at JWyckoff@BowlingWriters.com
* USBC Convention Events: Joan Romeo and Chris Beard are working on details for the BWAA events at USBC Convention. We will host a breakfast again, have the booth and possibly host a seminar. Mark your calendar for April 26 - May 1 and plan to be in Reno for the fun, networking and educational opportunities.
* Bowl Expo and BWAA Convention Events: Jim Goodwin is planning lots of interesting things for our members who attend our annual meeting and the Bowl Expo activities. We are working with STE/BPAA/USBC to have a recognizable media name as keynote speaker for our convention. We are planning breakout sessions with round table discussions and you will be able to sign up for your favorite topic. As usual the days' events will be capped by the annual Columbia/BWAA Press Dinner and awards presentation.
* New and Improved Website: More features, more interactive, easier to use. Pay dues online, donate to the scholarship fund or just cyber-browse. Look for the roll out of our new site in early 2010.
* Added Membership Benefits: We all know that one of the greatest benefits of membership is FREE registration to Bowl Expo. What are some other benefits of belonging to BWAA? Networking, educational seminars, press credentials are a few. The STE staff is working on more benefits for members of BWAA. I hope you will be excited when you open your membership card next year.
* New forms: A real membership card, redesigned brochures and just a more professional look overall.
* Membership Classifications: The plan is to activate the "Supporting Membership" category, which has been on the back burner for a few years now and add different classifications for current members, such as professional, volunteer, international and student.
* Syndication List: Similar to IStock for photos, this will be a link from our website where members could buy and or sell their articles (prices would be set by the individual member).
* Newsletter: We are going back to a previous "newspaper" look for the BWAA newsletter and publishing it on a regular basis - every other month starting in January. In months that we don't send the newsletter you will receive a president's report and update, similar to this but probably not as lengthy.

I hope you are now as excited as your BWAA Board of Directors. Our vision for the future of BWAA is bright and we have the support to be able to execute what we have only dreamed of in the past.

PLEASE feel free to comment - pro or con - on any of these proposals. Call or send an email to me and I will share your compliments, ideas or concerns with the board. Be sure to let me know if you wish to remain anonymous.

JWyckoff@BowlingWriters.com
408.866.6598

I will update you again sometime before September 15th
Yours Fraternally,
Jackie Wyckoff