Jerry Micco

One June afternoon in 2002 while sitting at my desk at the Contra Costa Times, the phone rang yet again.

The voice on the other end was then-APSE president Don Skwar.

"Hey, you won."

"Won what?"

"You won. You know, the election. Second VP. Congrats."

"Oh. You're kidding, right?"

He wasn't.

Three years later, at the Ritz-Carlton bar in Orlando, a convention-goer walked up to me and said, "Congratulations. You're done."

"I am?" was my response.

One of the things I've had a chance to do since the end of the Orlando convention is think about APSE life after being an officer. Of course you want to help any way you can, but you need time to push away, and leave the leadership to the current group of officers. The only way the organization gets better is fresh ideas and fresh people.

While that's true for the most part, sometimes it's good to look back to see what our organization was doing in the past that needs to be considered as we look into the future.

Part of this exercise for me is a new role our new prez Glen Crevier has asked me to fill as chairman of the newly formed APSE Future Committee. As I think of folks to ask to be on the committee and think about where we should be looking in terms of the future of APSE, I find myself looking back.

And my thinking has little to do with the technical side of APSE — membership growth, dues structure, associate memberships, convention fees, convention funding, the regions — all important, but that's not where my mind is at this point.

One of the things we need to do when we all gather to improve, discuss and celebrate our sports sections, whether it be at the regional or national level, is to make sure we learn about one another. It's something that I think in the past several years we've sort of drifted away from doing. It used to be one of the big reasons why APSE was a great experience for its members.

The only way to do that, even as we look for ways to improve what we do in the future, is to make sure we take more time to do that. It may be sacrilegious to suggest here that when we gather non-scripted fun has to be part of the plan. Informal things that at one time were a major part of our meetings.

This isn't to say we've become a bit stiff, but we may have become a bit stiff. We tend to worry so much about how many programs we can put into our convention that we forgot that part of what makes APSE great: It's people.

I'm not pointing blame here. I've been on the convention committee for six years, been an officer the last three and was a region chair somewhere in there. I was part of the decision to ramp up our conventions and region meetings to fill it with programs. I did so with gusto. We wanted to make it academically rich so we could justify the trips to our bosses. Despite doing so, more and more people can't make it because they are getting squeezed by their bosses. It does all come down to the money.

That's not to say we should cut the hell out of our program. No, but we should be cognizant of the fact that some unplanned time to socialize and get to know one another is a big part of the program. And for the future of APSE to be bright, that's an intangible and important component.

It's important because as our organization grows and moves forward, we're going to encounter issues that will call for us to forget personal or professional grudges and work together to solve larger issues. Some of these issues will be big, some will be small, but they all are important to the continued success or our organization.

Part of breaking down barriers is having some fun when we get together. Not necessarily planned fun, but just time to go to dinner with a large group, remembering to invite someone along who is flying solo, having a few drinks together, getting a card game up. In a more informal setting, many ideas can be exchanged and it could lead to us helping to resolve issues that face us.

If we can take some time to get to know each other as people, we sometimes can get to the root of how we think as professionals. The two are linked.

One of the people in our organization whose advice I've always taken to heart is Bill Dwyre. On our last night at the Baltimore convention in 2001, he sat across the table from me in the hospitality suite and told me that we don't take the time — nor do we have the time at the conventions — to get to know each other anymore. He went on to tell me it didn't used to be that way in APSE.

Now, four years later, I know exactly what he means.

As I get ready to look at the future of APSE, I'm going to make sure I don't forget our success of the past. One has the potential to be rich and the other already is.

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You can reach Jerry Micco of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via e-mail at jmicco@post-gazette.com.

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