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  Welcome to the WBA web site! For those of you that do not know me, my name is Lewis Holmes III. I've done many things with the WBA. When I started as a WBA member nine years ago I was just competing in tournaments. I wanted to do more, so I became a tournament director. Then I became a Region 2 representative, working on fundraising. Last year at the annual meeting, one of the WBA's senior members nominated me for president and I accepted. 2009 will be my second year as WBA president. I learned a lot last year! The biggest thing I've realized is that we all have to work together as an organization. Organizations like the WBA just don't work right if only a few people are involved - we need everybody's help. We've got more people stepping up to the plate this year, and that helps bowfishing more than you may think. Every time somebody new takes on a task, it frees somebody else up to do more. I'm an extremely busy person, and I know that without all of your help I couldn't do the job that I do. Thank you for that!I'm very excited about the upcoming year. The WBA has more going on than ever before - we've got three promotional events, seven sanctioned tournaments, and we're helping with a youth world championship and a fun shoot to end the year. Of course, that does not include all the other events that our members are helping with. I know of eight bowfishing events that our members are representing the WBA in. We are helping lake associations more than ever with tournaments, fish eradication, and the cleaning of waterways. We even had a few members help save fish when they let the water down in Stevens Point to work on a dam. Things like this are the reasons the WBA has a great name. Keep up the good work! As time goes by, the WBA is becoming more about conservation than shooting fish. We now have a legislative liaison whose job is to back the sport of bowfishing. Bowfishing has grown tremendously in the past few years, but so have the complaints of bowfishermen doing wrong. Remember, if you see anyone breaking the law it is your duty to call then in. I know this may seem as if you are telling on them, but it has to be done. Bowfishing is a privelege, and we have to remember that just like any other privelege it can be taken away. Remember the definition to conservation: the act or process of conserving. In the upcoming year, I would like to see more people get their communities involved in bowfishing. It would be a great thing to see a boat sitting at a Lions Club picnic, just for conversation. Don't just take a child out, take the local newspaper. Go a little farther and set a night aside to take your boat to a hunter's safety class. Children are not the only future in bowfishing, you are as well. Everything you do will make a difference. I would like to thank you for supporting bowfishing and the WBA. Please help us keep the waters clean, and if you have good luck please dispose of your fish properly. I would also like to thank the members of the WBA that go above and beyond their duties, you know who you are. I wish you all the best of luck every time your arrow hits the water, I'll see you out there.
Good bowfishing, |
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