At the last meeting, the membership reviewed and unanimously approved 2 new tournament divisions to be appended to our points tournaments this year.  These new divisions are aimed squarely at increasing female and couple participation during WBC events, while increasing overall participation at our tournaments.  They are also terrific recruitment tools in attracting a new genre of membership.

The 2 new divisions are as follows:

The Women’s Division is solely for female participants to compete against each other for a Female Angler of the Year trophy, awarded at the year-end awards banquet.  Prizes may also be awarded if we receive enough participation.

The Couple’s Division works the same as the Women’s Division, only couples compete as a team for a Couple’s Team of the Year trophy (and possibly prizes).

Neither division affects our current regular tournaments.  Both are treated separately and independently of the regular tournaments, and one another.  However, they are not exclusive to each other, meaning you may compete in as little or as many as you qualify for at the same time.  Women can compete in all 3, while men can compete in 2 (Couple’s and the regular Main Tournament).  This means you can be fishing up to 3 different “tournaments” during the same event!

You do not need to catch a different limit for each division. Rather, your single limit will apply to each of the divisions you enter. 

For instance, let’s say a couple enters the Couple’s division.  In addition, she enters the Woman’s division, and he enters the Main Tournament.  She weighs in an 11-pound limit; he weighs in an 8-pound limit.  She now has 11 pounds in the Women’s division and he has 8 pounds in the Main Tournament.  They also have 19 pounds together in the Couple’s division (both limits combined). If she had decided to enter the Main Tournament as well, she would have had 11-pounds in that division too as an individual contestant.

What does it cost?

Women’s Division:  $5 per contestant
Couple’s Division: $5 per couple
Main Tournament: $20  ($18 + $2 Big Fish option) per contestant

The entry fees collected in the new divisions go towards purchasing trophies and prizes awarded at the end of the year.

Regular tournament rules apply with the addition of the following:

• The Women’s and Couple’s divisions are available only during regular points tournaments.
• Entry fees and points for Women’s & Couple’s divisions accumulate separately.
• Standings, trophies and prizes will not be awarded at individual tournaments for Women’s and Couple’s divisions.
• Standings for all 3 divisions will be updated after each tournament, and announced in the newsletter and website.
• A woman can compete in 1, 2 or all 3 divisions; a male can compete in 2 (Main and Couple’s).
• Each couple will consist of one person and their significant other.  Both must compete in the same tournament in order to be eligible (No person allowed to compete in the Couple’s Division without their partner also competing in the same tournament).
• Definition: The two people in a Couple’s Division entry are a “Couple”, and will accumulate points as such for the remainder of the year in subsequent tournaments. 
• Partner substitution: Only ONE (1) substitution of a partner, per year, will be allowed during the tournament season and still qualify for the Couples Team of the Year award. Two or more roster changes or substitutions will create a new Couple, and points will be awarded separately.  Points cannot be carried over from one Couple to another.
• Couple partners do not need to fish from the same boat (both can be “back seaters”).
• Assistance: Contestants may not ask for or accept fish from another person, including their partner, nor may they offer their fish to another contestant. Each contestant must weigh in only the fish he/she catches. Contestants may not have other persons hold spots/waters for his use.
• Each person in a Couple may weigh in a single limit of fish (as determined by the tournament director) for a total of 2 limits per Couple.
• Points will be awarded in each division as follows: 1st Place: 101 points; 2nd Place: 95 points; 3rd Place: 90 points; Points will then drop in 5 point increments in order of finish.
• Year-end awards will be determined by adding acquired points in the best 3 of 4 tournament finishes in each division.

In the past, new programs such as these have been slow to take off, and attendance has initially been low.  This means competition this first year will probably be light.  So now is the best time for your chance to win these new divisions!

Hey John, I think what the intent is, is to give the women an opportunity to grow in the club as in growing in Confidence without competing directly with their boating partners ie.......Husbands. Alot of thought and discussion went into this and as always as we move along with the feedback of all involved this program will find a comfort zone. Just a thought, hope it helps. And hey............where ya been aint seen that Grey Ghost on the water....or is it Silver Flash?

Great job WBC on announcing new divisions to help and continue growth in our club.  It should help greatly and will give everyone something to shoot for.  Great, great idea. 

Chuck Pigue

Great questions, Mark.  Before I answer them, let me first preface my response for anyone reading this that if your question is answered by the "normal" tournament rules, it applies to these new divisions as well.  (Just trying to keep things simple.)

Clearly over that past few years there's been some calls for more participation in the tournaments.  Clearly, all but a few women have been absent from our tournaments.  This program is designed to get them involved.  Limiting their options is not the way to do it.  

However, if you can explain to the club why allowing women the option to choose to participate in any one or all tournaments is detrimental to the club, I'm all ears.

Personally, I don't see how it could reduce attendance, or hurt the club.  

I can understand if you feel it's unfair they have 3 choices and you have 2.  Perhaps later down the road, when plenty of women are participating, we can revisit this percieved imbalance.

Before we all start going down the path of "what if's" and "but this might happens", please understand it's not an issue unless it does happen.  If that were the case, then we'd have lie detectors, chase boats, and many more additional rules in place just to prevent possible things from happening.

Since these divisions are new, nobody can really predict what, if any, issues will crop up.  However, because we're using the current tournament rules in addition to the rules above, we can be confident our bases are covered pretty well.

I think the board, and the club, has made the decision to move forward on this, and adjust as necessary, rather than try to address every conceivable issue before it arises.

To answer your other questions:

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Not all "couples" are husband/wife.  But that's beside the point.  We wanted that provision in the event of a divorce, death or breakup of a relationship.  It doesn't make sense to "penalize" a club member due to unfortunate circumstances.

In addition, this allows a family member to stay home in the event a child is sick, family emergency, etc., and not be penalized for it.

Quote:

Good question.  I'll punt that to a board member.

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Another good question.  The answer is "No, but he/she needs to be your significant other"  While we want to keep this as open as possible to everyone, including same-sex relationships, we do not want this to turn into "Team Tournaments".  

I would hope nobody would take advantage of the same-sex provisioning as meaning they can pair up simply to fish as a team.  Again, as stated above, this is currently a non-issue.  However, if male club members start pairing up to fish as a "couple", thereby turning this into a Team Tournament Division, we'll need to address it.  (perhaps by creating a Team Tournament Division?)

However, this does leave open to debate who the "significant other" is.  My personal interpretation would be a person whom you're involved with in a relationship, or a relative (down south it's sometimes both!) Again, another non-issue that I believe we can deal with fairly if/when the time comes.

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Yes!  Again, this is covered under the "normal" tournament rules.

I hope this answers your questions.  

Thanks!
Glenn

Larry? .......Remember our don't ask, don't tell agreement?....Gooood! Love ya man.

Who's Carol????????????????
RC

Hey Glenn, some clarification.....on the new divisions.....for the couples one of the two have to be fishing in the main tourney...correct?....as in paying full fee? we are having a problem with that not being spelled out in plain english. Thanks//

And Larry... as for Carol, I do have an energetic woman friend who would love the opportunity to fish and compete in the Jack-n-Jill, just in case Carol has another excuse...er...  reason for not coming again this year.   

I'll see if she'll be interested in coming to one of our fish-in's.  Who knows?  Maybe she'll join.