President's message.

Gaines, Rodney P.

Dear VAHPERD Friends and Colleagues:

I personally welcome you to "Building Drawbridges for Tomorrow," 76th Anniversary of the Virginia Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance Convention. This has been a tremendous accomplishment by VAHPERD's Board of Directors, Convention Manager, Executive Director, and others in our family of educational fellowship.

I would like to give a special thanks to Ms. Judy Johnson who is the best in the business in planning conferences, and I also would like to thank Past President Charlotte Kelso for her hard work as well in getting us prepared for this year's conference. I also would like to give a special thanks to Henry Castelvecchi, our Executive Director, who is excellent in getting things in place year after year to have a successful state convention. Last, I would like to thank the teamwork of our board of directors who worked hard all year to piece together a great conference for you and keep VAHPERD working together as a team.

This year we will have the entire board of directors helping with registration and providing information, so please stop by the booth when you would like more information and/or just want to chat with us about VAHPERD and the industry. Judy has done wonderful job in putting the convention program together, and the schedule and timetable should be easy to follow.

This year's conference will hopefully set a trend for VAHPERD's future. For the first time we will have two of the major alliances President and Past President as our keynote speakers. Dr. Janet Rankin, Past President of the American College of Sports Medicine, will be addressing us on Friday night at the opening conference. We will also have Bishop Courtney McBath speak to us on Friday night on Leadership in the community, and he has been recognized as an outstanding leader in the Tidewater area not just for spirituality but also leadership development to the community. On Saturday night we will have Dr. Steve Fleck give a message at the award ceremony, and he is currently the President of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. This is definitely "Building Drawbridges for Tomorrow."

When choosing the theme, I thought about the Hampton Roads where you have all the tunnels and drawbridges. In order to get from parts of Norfolk over to Chesapeake you have to cross a drawbridge. Likewise, in order for VAHPERD and others Sister organizations to continue to expand the HPERD/Exercise Science field we must let down drawbridges and work in alliance to service the professionals and most of all the people in the United States.

This is a historical time to have both Presidents from NSCA and ACSM in the same conference; let's work together to set up drawbridges for tomorrow. We have a great leader in President-Elect Ms. Regina Kirk who will continue to "move things forward together."

I thank you all for allowing me to serve over the last year as VAHPERD President, and it has been one of the best experiences of my life both personally and professionally. Have a great Conference! Sincerely,

Rodney P. Gaines, President

Dr. Rodney P. Gaines