Below is a cut and paste from the document. Please take the time to read the whole doc.

I'll also add that our volunteers at the US Team committee were elected by us to do their job. They researched processes used by several winning teams and recommended some improvements to the SSA board. Those recommendations were approved by the board.

As for the preferential voting consider this. If you take the pilots who scored 85% or better in our national soaring contests you have a pretty elite group of decision makers. It would be very hard to gather that experience any other way. Additionally, they have first hand experience competing against the candidates.

I'll say it again I think the US Team committee is on the right track and I will support the team they put together.

XC
Sean Murphy



"US Team Committee discussions concerning the current US Team pilot selection process have raised a number of issues, including the following:

-An uncharacteristically bad National contest result (e.g. due to illness) may cause a highly qualified pilot to miss the US Team.

-Pilot skills and how they match conditions expected at WGC contest sites should be considered (e.g. a pilot with predominately flatland skills should not necessarily be selected for a contest that will emphasize mountain flying).

-Pilot personality and the way it fits with the full team can be an important factor.

-For a pilot who has competed in past FAI Category 1 contests, performance in those events should be considered.

-Because success at Category 1 contests typically requires some experience in competition at that level, a pilot’s age and likely commitment to future US Team participation should be considered.

-The proliferation of IGC classes raises the possibility that a pilot who has achieved excellent results in one class might be a strong US Team member in another.

The fundamental point is that the goal of every US Team should be to obtain the best results possible at any World Gliding Championships (WGC), and the current team selection process does not appear to be consistently achieving that goal. Accordingly, the US Team Committee is proposing significant changes to the process by which US Team pilots are selected..."