[RPD]

Reg,
I hear what your saying growth and promoting are key to growing this hobby, the question is how, where, what and when. When it comes to an ambassador of the hobby, you rank right there at he top if not THE top dog. Recruiting young people to the game is going to be real tough, I have connections to young men and women through my children, and beleive me when I say I have tried recruiting many even my own son, but they get bored with it very quick. Most young kids today have no interest in electric football, that's just a fact, yes there is an exception here and there, but on the most part they do not. Electric football isn't a game they grew up with the way we did, therefore it wasn't a part of there youth growing up. You ask why did RD find his way back to electric football, because to me it's nothing more than a game of chess(which I've played for 46 years) on an electric football field. Yes you may find a young man or woman who is intrigued by it and yes you may set the game up in a mall or at a sporting event and many people may come by and check it out, but really at the end of the day, young folks nowadays prefer the madden and ea sports games that's just a plain simple fact, that is what they grew up with. Electric football has a place, and though it may be difficult to read this or some may disagree, it's the guys 40> on the most part that play the game. Have we done well in recruiting, I think so, I think of Michigan Joe, M Robertson, Taco(roller Dave), Chris Fields, and many others in the 30-40 age group as the guys we are passing the torch to, IMO it will be very difficult to pass the torch to the 15-20 year olds, it's not something they grew up with. Now with all this being said if you think that moving the CBSMF will put a jolt in recruiting it may, you may very well be right, but at the end of the day I think you will run up against the same obstacles we run up against across the whole country, young kids today would rather sit and play a game of madden or ea sports than sit at an electric football game for 2,3 hours those are the cold hard facts IMO. So I believe this is a great debate as to where to take the CBSMF, what city, but I'm only speaking for myself here if I were to go to a miniature football event in Las Vegas, my wife would want to go and so would my kids, so my time there would be spent with my family, thus keeping balance on the home front and my time on the playing field would be zero...So Reg what I'm trying to say in a nut shell is this, the game of electric football is great to me to you and to many others, just take a poll and see what age group play this game, and I think you know what the answer will be. I also know that your fighting an uphill battle here and you will continue to do so in the future.
If you will allow me to lets take a look at an angle I feel has great untapped potential, and that is the chess clubs of today. If you want to take this game to universities for exhibition take it to the chess clubs, I believe there is an untapped recruting potential that lies within the chess clubs across the US like no other, for had it not been for the similarities of chess and EF I may not be here today, and if you'd like I will go with you and set up exhibitons at any chess club you want to go to. This my friend is where the recruiting potential lies within this great game of ours. Reg you are and have always been true to yourself in the vision you have for the game of EF, but concentrate your efforte where there is the most potential, I don't believe it is in the youth and don't think that moving the CBSMF from city to city is the answer either, but I do believe that the greatest recruitment tool lies within the chess clubs of America.
I hope I have not upset anyone with this post, but I feel the time has come to accept the fact that most young men and women DON't have an interest in the game of EF.

Oh and BTW I do feel that the CBSMF and the MFCA could co-exsist but not under the current format, we must have a format that would include all the coaches that wish to participate. How we accomplish this I don't know but I'm sure there are great ideas among the coaches across America.

RD