The Soaring Society of America’s Board of Directors established the United States Soaring Team Committee during the 1995 SSA Convention held in Reno, Nevada. Largely through the work of Mark Huffstutler, the SSA Board approved the formation of a committee to “oversee the affairs of the Soaring Society of America with respect to its representation at Federation Aéronautique International (FAI) approved World Gliding Championships”.

As defined in 1995, the U.S. Soaring Team Committee was an operational body primarily focused on the effective conduct of the U.S. Team at specific World Championships. The makeup of the original committee was five members, a Chairperson and four Committee members each charged with a specific area of authority. The chairperson served from the time of their election until the last day of the then current World Championships. As more FAI classes and World Championship venues were added it became obvious that the original system established in 1995 could no longer meet the needs of U.S. Teams and the soaring community.

At the February 2002 Soaring Convention held in Ontario California, the SSA Board of Directors adopted a proposal creating the U.S. Team Policy Task Force. The goal of this task force was to accomplish a fundamental review of how U.S. soaring teams operate, solicit community input, investigate areas for improvement, develop solutions, author a report and provide implementation assistance. Task Force members included Jim Payne, Tim Welles, John Seaborn, Jim Short, Ken Sorenson and Doug Jacobs.

At the January 2003 Soaring Convention held in Dayton Ohio, the U.S. Team Task Force presented its findings to the SSA Board of Directors. The Task Force defined and examined 14 areas and made recommendations based on their findings. Central among these findings was the need to modernize the U.S. Team Committee organizational structure with a broader responsibility for overall team management, subject to SSA Board oversight. A critical element was the creation on both appointed and elected positions to provide consistent long-term management of the teams rather than the previous single event focused structure.

At the 2003 Dayton meeting the SSA Board voted unanimously to adopt the Task Force recommendations and charged the appointed members of the U.S. Team Committee to form the new organization. In early April 2003 the committee election was concluded and the new U.S. Team Committee was formed. Appointed members included Doug Jacobs, Ken Sorenson and Dennis Wright with Dianne Black Nixon, Tim Welles and John Seaborn the elected representatives. The first meeting of the new U.S. Team Committee was held in September 2003 just prior to the mid-year SSA board meeting in Dallas.

U.S. Team Task Force
At the February 2002 Soaring Convention held in Ontario California, the SSA Board created the U.S. Team Policy Task Force. The goal of this task force is to accomplish a fundamental review of how U.S. soaring teams do business, solicit community input, investigate areas for improvement, develop solutions, author a report and provide implementation assistance. See the U.S. Team Task Force findings including all the posted topics for public review and comment here...

U.S. Team Committee Structure
The six-member committee includes the Contest Committee Chairman, the U.S. Team Chairman, the SSA President, plus three members elected by the members of the SSA. The procedure for selecting the three elected members is nearly identical to that used for the Rules Committee elections: nominations from SSA directors, SSA-conducted election and staggered elected terms with one position up for election each year. The establishment of this committee provides some much-needed institutional continuity to U.S. Team management as individual volunteers come and go. Operational aspects of the U.S. Team will be handled by the U.S. Team Chairman and the various team captains.

The U.S. Team Committee and the Rules Committee differ in three areas. First, the SSA or the U.S. Team Committee will appoint a designee to administer the election. This designee may be the SSA or a third party. Second, the election will utilize the Internet for much of the communications and voting, and third, the entire SSA membership is eligible to vote rather than competition ranked pilots alone as is done for the Rules Committee. For more on the U.S. Team Committee please read the New Form of U.S. Team Committee & Election Process document available here in PDF.