First - Congratulations to ALL of our AMAZING USA Fencers at home and abroad. We've been watching you ROCK your competitions on the interwebs all weekend: SJCC, Div. II NAC in Raleigh & Senior Women's World Cup in Georgia! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! USA! USA! USA!

Second - The USA Fencing Board of Directors and Hall of Fame Elections end tomorrow. If you haven't voted yet, GET ON IT. 

Only 2,239 out of 9,395 eligible voters have cast their ballots. That's 24% participation.

By comparison: 

There are 37,000+ members in our organization. ("Our" being the operative word). 

Roughly 22,000 of our members are under age 18. That leaves roughly 15,000 of us in the voting-age category (assuming no other limitations apply). 

At the January NAC in Louisville, KY, there were more than 3,500 entrants in 46 event categories for Juniors, Division I and Vet fencers. 

So, while 24% is a "great turnout" for tippy-top tier folks who are comfortable with limited-contact, elbow-rubbin', back-scratchin', closed curtain governance . . . it's not a big enough representation of the actual whole. And some of those people clearly do NOT represent YOU. 

If you don't vote, you can't complain. It's like that time I wanted to buy pink pants for my boys for Easter but I couldn't find any anywhere - so I made my own: wonky as can be. [shrug, they wore them]. Complaining without action simply doesn't cut it - not in sports, not in school, not at work, not in life. Sometimes you gotta build a path from scratch, even if the stones are heavy.

Voting is the easy part! So . . . VOTE. And make sure everyone you know does the same. Great organizations depend on quality leadership and engaged participants. Our fencing families are counting on you. :) 

All my best! 

Christina