Blackpool Parents' Meeting Report

Steve & Tina Holes went to Blackpool for the Annual EADA Parent’s meeting on the Thursday of Junior Blackpool (12 April 07). After a number of poor attendances we were kindly allowed by Sandra Wilson of Leisure Parks to use the Pizza Restaurant which is actually in the Tower next to the Ballroom. It was hoped that by the venue being easily accessible and during the practice time the number of parents attending may by higher. Unfortunately this was not the case as only 7 parents attended.

EADA would like to thank those parents who did take the time out to attend.

Steve first of all gave a brief report on what EADA had done for the Junior & Juveniles this year with the Egham training session; they have all been most successful, with the last one having over 50 couples attending. He also advised that the number of /NSC’s for the Junior & Juveniles would remain unchanged next year, however the Youth were to increase to 9.

He also said that after a number of requests from Parent’s the Chart committee were going to try to select one or two “double” events where there is Ballroom & Latin on one day. He said that by doing this it should help to reduce costs for parent’s however there was also a problem with this decreasing the choice, so if you are unable to attend one of these you would miss two events and not just one.

Points raised by Parent’s are as follows

Could there be some Training Session in the Midlands / North as they were always held at Egham?

It was explained that one of the primary reasons for this was that by holding the events on the M25 it has easy access for all travelling and incurs EADA in less travelling costs to obtain the Lecturers who tend to be based within the general London area. There had been an adult event arranged in conjunction with NorWest Club and Steve suggested it may be possible to approach MAD / NorWest Club to assist in the running of a similar event for the Juvenile / Junior / Youth couples in a more Northern location.

How is the selection for Junior / Juvenile Blackpool team made and in particular how was the “replacement” couple chosen?

It was advised that this was the decision of Leisure Parks and EADA had no input. Steve sent an email to check and Sandra Wilson, who advised:
" In general as a rule the results from the National are used to select the couples for the Team Match which is done by myself and the Chairman. This can be straight forward or difficult depending if there are any split partnerships etc after the National.

The decision to choose the replacement couple was taken between myself and the Chairman after I received a phone call at home on the evening of Good Friday."

Could the rule for Junior NSC entry be amended to give couples the choice to dance Junior until their 16th Birthday?

It appears that there is still some misunderstanding regarding these rules. Some parents still believe that BDC Rule 8b(i) & (iii) applies, we advised them this has been superseded by the new EADA age range rules in accordance with BDC Rule Rule 9b, however they still want the choice. We advised the reasons for the decision – to get a chart of only eligible couples and that any non–eligible couple dancing effect results. We do have great sympathy with those caught between age ranges (example: 16th birthday in Dec and 14th birthday in June), however stressed it is only a total of 23 competitions in any year all be it well attended by the top couples. Agreed we would again put this on the agenda at the next EADA meeting (exec in May).

Could the NSC point system be amended in order that points be awarded up to 12th place?

It was explained that the skating system does not allow for this as the judges are only selecting 6 couples for a final. The next person into a final is not necessarily the couple the judges would have marked 7th given a free choice of the semi finalists. The only way to do this is to run a round for the Semi-finalists who did not make the final which is not really an option.

Submitted by Tina