I’d like to take this long overdue opportunity to introduce myself to everyone whom I haven’t had the privilege to meet yet. I’d also like to announce that the 2009 Sportsman’s Team Challenge National Championship will be held June 12th – 14th at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio.

I’ve had the opportunity to be involved with this event since 1991; for those of you that have been participating that long, you might remember me as that 14 year-old kid who made the trek to Fort Lauderdale. It is with great pride that I look back over these years past, the many friendships created and the incredible wealth of experiences and advice I’ve been exposed to and count myself lucky to be involved with such a great organization. Over the years I’ve seen the event grow and have been particularly proud of the resurgence of our participation level after the transition to San Antonio. The 2008 Match was a testament to Ron Weaver and his team’s efforts in generating new levels of participation. I’m excited to face the challenge of taking the reigns of this organization and, with a healthy dose of humility, will continue to make every effort to grow our sport, our sponsors and our participation. We are currently undertaking efforts to contact all of our previous sponsors and will be attending the SHOT Show as a team (including Ron, Kathy, Robert and myself) with the intent to bring on board as many new sponsors as possible. Ron and I have been working in tandem to transition the many aspects of planning and coordination required to put in place all the necessary components to host another successful National Championship. As I’m sure you are all aware, the amount of work involved in putting this match together is quite astounding, as I have learned over the past few months…to accomplish our many goals Robert and I are coordinating the myriad of tasks which remain in front of us and will be calling on many of you for assistance in your specialized disciplines.

I know that we have all found some level of hardship in what has become a rollercoaster of an economy; however, I would like to say that we still hold out substantial hope that our sponsors will continue to support this event and that we will be able to bring new sponsors onboard. We plan to host one of the finest National Championships you will attend in 2009, with a focus on expanded media coverage, better communication / continuity and an overall emphasis on the competitor’s experience at Nationals.

We look forward to seeing you at the Regional matches (currently we have 3 shoots registered and more to follow) and hope that each of you will be able to participate in the National Championships next June.