By Mark Gintert.
As you may have heard by now the end of December will conclude my tenure as the National Youth Director for The Bass Federation. I will once again be giving retirement another try! (I have failed miserably in the past so I’m going to try harder this time!)
I have spent a long time trying to think of all the people that I have worked with over the last ten years and I have come to the conclusion that trying to recognize any of them would be nearly impossible as I would most surely forget someone along the way. So, I just want to take a moment and thank all of you who saw the vision and had the faith in what we were trying to build in High School Fishing as well as our other TBF youth programs.
Your dedication to help build this program in your schools, communities and state federations is what made it such a tremendous success nationwide.
The entire journey from the initial days of doing our first live in-school presentations to laying out and planning our first High School Fishing World Finals to watching our membership soar to new heights has been quite a wild ride. For me personally I can’t begin to tell you what a rewarding experience this has been!
The old phrase, “don’t you just love it when a plan comes together,” has never rang more true for me!
As I look back on the last ten years it will be the faces and personalities of students, parents, club advisors, youth directors and coaches who bought into the High School Fishing dream and all that it has to offer that will stay with me forever.
I leave with literally hundreds of memories of people I have met and conversations we have shared.
I love the late night calls from moms and dads who told me their child was the next KVD! I loved those calls because when they finally brought their student angler out to a State Championship or an event like the High School World Finals they found out that High School Fishing was well beyond anything they thought had ever existed and it brought them back to planet earth a little bit! Lol But, also the idea that the next KVD is out there in our circuit now; it’s truly exciting!
But most of all I want to thank the TBF Board of Directors for taking a chance on me ten years ago and the TBF staff who I served with on a day to day basis. You have all made this experience one that I will never forget!
Fish on my friends and remember to help just one more school in your area get involved in the great sport of fishing!
Sincerely,
Mark Gintert
