The Benefits of a Solid Organization

The Benefits of a Solid Organization – by TJ Cuenca

A successful organization is more than just having a catchy name, or business plan or even champions leading the charge.  A successful organization needs to have a solid foundation that is designed with expansion and growth in mind.  It needs to have dreamers who propose ideas, creators who carefully design the structures, workers who make things happen, administrators who make sure things are done according to plan and investors who fund future projects.

If any of these elements are lacking, there is no growth and the foundation of the organization will be unable to stand, much like a  concrete building built over a sinkhole.  As anyone who is familiar with sinkholes knows, it is an underground cavern filled with water.  It is capable of supporting structures aboveground as long as the water remains in the cavern.  However, residents in the building and other surrounding structures often use up all the water and the cavern roof is no longer capable of holding up the weight from the structures above. Eventually, it will collapse.  And with it, the structures above. This can be the result of overdependence on a single source of income or individuals to sustain its organizational integrity.  An organization must be able to stand on its own by empowering its component parts to become self-sustaining and with multiple streams of income sources from its inception and in that way, become foundationally sound.

As M. Shawn Covey said, “An empowered organization is one in which each individual has the knowledge, skill, desire and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success.”  This can only happen if multiple, local branches of the organization contribute to the organization.  Membership dues are collected annually. Sponsorships and advertisers are encouraged to support local athletes and leagues.  General media and social media are used regularly to promote awareness of the organization’s goals and activities. And membership drives bring in more new members on a regular basis.

All successful sports organizations started as backyard sports played by locals in a dirt field.  From baseball to basketball, the world of organized sports had their origins in grit and sweat; fighting their way to a respectable level of recognition through perseverance and member support.  However, the level of effort it takes to reach an even higher level of success will be double what it took to reach that initial level of success.  And it takes quadruple the amount of work and effort to reach the level above that.  Most organizations are quite content to rest on their laurels or are afraid to extend past their comfort zones.  This mentality is not conducive to growth.  It takes more than just individual resilience to become a worldwide phenomenon.

Using the analogy of bodybuilding, every serious bodybuilder hits a plateau where they no longer experience any gains.  Despite increased effort and caloric intake, they can’t get past the plateau stage by “doing what they’ve always done”.  Muscles adapt quickly to repetition and unless something new happens, it becomes stagnant and dormant.  The only way to succeed past the plateau stage is to change the routine and use new methods to stimulate the old muscles.  Without new stimulation, the body will fail to grow and the discontent may even cause the bodybuilder to abandon training and thereby prompting disuse atrophy.  But excessive stimulation can also lead to injury, which can further complicate matters.  So simply changing the routine may also fail.  Novel and disciplined stimulation must be applied incrementally and with purpose.  Without the proper mindset, discipline, and training habits, all repetitive training leads to plateaus.  And without a solid foundation of ingrained habits, it will eventually lead to failure.  Only experience and coaching will create the impetus to blow past the plateau without injury.

Our sport needs an organization that is focused on making the main thing the main thing.  Our sport needs an organization that is able to sustain itself without relying on just one or two sources of income to fund its programs.  It needs to attract new blood, maintain current members, bring in huge crowds and entice sponsors to support the sport.

Blade Aces.org is such an organization. Built on the premise that in order to have a solid organization we must start with experienced, capable leaders, who have experience in organizing competitions, have solid business acumen, understand the rules of competition, and are able to effectively communicate with its members. Where members are rewarded for participation and victory in tangible ways, motivated to become the very best they can be, and encouraged to reciprocate with the organization by helping other members and the world community.  Blade Aces’ leadership have competed all over the world from the US, Canada, England, France, Italy, and Hungary.  Melody Joy Cuenca, Blade Aces’ co-founder is an 11-time world champion and the only person in the world that is actively on the Board of Directors of the two largest knife throwing organizations in the world (IKTHOF and Eurothrowers).  Several of Blade Aces’ founding members are world champions in the IKTHOF and Eurothrowers as well as No Spin and Mountainman competitions.   In fact, the leaders of Blade Aces have the strongest credentials for accomplishing the task of becoming the foremost professional precision projectile sports organization in the world.  Not simply because of their experience in knife and axe throwing. But also for their business, media and social networking skills.

In spite of all this, an organization is nothing without its members.  Without active, enthusiastic members, even the strongest led organization won’t stand.  The members must be willing, ready and able to participate in promoting the sport and in competitions.  They must love the sport and rest in the knowledge that their leaders care about supporting them and building the sport.  Only then can we become a solid organization.  Only then can we hope to show our talent to the world in the Olympics and beyond!