September 7, 2019
Dear TSCA Members,
I am sure that you all have received a letter from Mr. David Niederer of Fossil Pointe Sporting Grounds. As the Board President, I would like to communicate the situation from the Board’s perspective. In running an organization this large, there will often be conflicts that arise. It is not the TSCA Board’s intention to mistreat anyone, especially a valued member of TSCA. It is important to the Board that our membership hear the history behind the conflict. We want to have our State Championship Shoot at our local Shooting Clubs. The 2018 State Shoot hosted approximately 625 shooters and the 2019 State Shoot hosted approximately 890 shooters. This event has grown into the 3rd largest Sporting Clays event in the U.S. It is important to our organization to always seek excellence in all aspects of this Shoot. Therefore, in 2018 your TSCA Board updated the Minimum Standards so that all Clubs would know what requirements they would need to meet in order to host this very important shoot. Mr. Niederer was a member of the TSCA Board when these standards were updated and voted to approve them as presented in 2018. The Board was surprised that he requested to modify the Minimum Standards that he himself voted for.
It has always been and will continue to be a priority for your TSCA Board to support our Texas Clubs. TSCA secures a Title Sponsor for every State Championship Shoot. The Minimum Standards require the TSCA to provide the trophies for the 5-Stand, Preliminary, Main Event and FITASC. TSCA also uses the monies from this sponsor to support this Shoot by providing door prizes and other give aways, including the numerous guns, handguns and rifles given away at prior shoots. That will not change and your Board will be the ones who do all the foot work and volunteering to make sure the Title Sponsorship monies are spent to provide the biggest bang for the buck for the shooters, so that shooters leave this shoot excited to come back to Texas the next year.
There has been much discussion about the date for this Texas State Championship. TSCA makes its decisions based on what is best, in their opinion, for the entire membership and success of the State Championship. As Board members, we receive input from numerous shooters at the various tournaments we attend. The Minimum Standards require the Host Club to obtain TSCA approval for the proposed shoot date. One of the items most requested is for us to have this tournament in the Spring before our state hits the extreme heat of Summer. This was communicated to Mr. Niederer by our Board representative very early on during the negotiations. Our 2019 Shoot was held in April and had one of our largest attendance records to date. During negotiations, TSCA gave Mr. Niederer a month and a half window in which he could select acceptable dates to schedule the 2020 State Championship and post it so that all last year’s shooters could schedule their shoots for the year. However, Mr. Niederer chose to propose dates that were not within the period proposed by TSCA and as of August, no mutually agreeable date had been selected.
As a matter of necessity, TSCA has made the decision to enter negotiations with the National Shooting Center (NSC) in San Antonio to host the 2020 Texas State
Championship. This is not a decision we wanted to make because TSCA had all expectations that Mr. Niederer of Fossil Pointe Sporting Grounds would host the shoot. However, after long discussions by the Board’s representative with Mr. Niederer, Mr. Niederer decided to make the decision to withdraw from hosting the 2020 State Championship. Please note that TSCA did not withdraw its intention to have the Texas State Championship at Fossil Pointe Sporting Grounds. Mr. Niederer, in a letter, dated Aug. 21st stated, “Fossil Pointe will not be able to host the 2020 State Championship due to these unprecedented demands.” The demands that Mr. Niederer refers to are simply that he meet and comply with the Minimum Standards regarding the sponsorship money, the number of events and targets to be available to the shooters, and the Spring date. Therefore, TSCA has no other option than to procure a new site. At this late date, we are fortunate that NSC is willing to discuss accommodating our State Championship.
TSCA and its leadership will continue to support Texas Shooting Clubs and our membership to the best of our abilities. We will continue to strive to do the best to support our sport and our membership.
Sincerely,
Danny Vines, President Texas Sporting Clays Association
Great read thanks