Global Gravity Association

Principles

Action Plan

Leadership

The Global Gravity Association

A new vision for the International Downhill Federation

Organizing bodies for closed-road gravity sports must meet the needs of the global community.
We are here to foster understanding and work together to craft solutions for the future.

Principles

Fluidity

More than the brackets

All paying participants deserve ample time on the hill, whether or not they care for racing. We will work with organizers to offer top tier racing for those who want it, within a context of unfettered freeriding for all.

More than the boards

Whatever you ride, we will create a safe environment for you to explore your limits on closed courses around the world. Adaptive vehicles, luges, blades, gravity bikes, and drift trikes are all welcome.

More than the boys

We love the global downhill community and want to help it grow. This means actively making space for every gender, color, nationality and creed.

Accessibility

Sliding Scale Dues

To ensure closed-road events are welcoming and affordable to riders from all parts of the world, the price of membership will be set (beginning in 2022) relative to the currency of the country in which you are purchasing it.

Scholarship Program

To guarantee access to even the most economically disadvantaged riders, we will commit 1% of our total operating budget to a scholarship fund offering free membership to applicants from around the world.

Newcomer Clinics

To foster participation in gravity sports we will promote event structures which include defined space and time for newcomers to pad up and ride with expert gravity guides.

Universal Safety Protocol

To keep everyone safe, all aspects of course closure, coverage and communication require clear, standardized action plans, crafted together and implemented around the world. All stakeholders—riders, event organizers, board members, course workers and spectators—must be equipped with tools to help maintain these standards.

Transparency

Open Meetings

Monthly board meetings will be hosted live via Zoom, and transcripts will be archived for future viewing by paying members. The first portion of the meeting will be dedicated to a predetermined agenda (including updates on all ongoing projects), followed by time for questions and dialogue with the board.

Open Dialogue

Have a question of concern? You should be able to voice it and expect a respectful and thorough response. Our new site will feature a contact form managed by our public relations official to give you the professionalism you pay for.

Open Books

Organization members deserve to see and understand the flow of funds and how leadership is balancing the budget. All financial information will be accessible through our new website.

Equity

Fair Wages

Moving away from an all-volunteer organization will help us attract and retain a competent workforce. We will take responsibility for refining our budget and working with our event partners to account for fair wages for all—course workers, media makers, all other contractors, organizers and board members.

Local Hiring

Communities hosting World Cup events deserve to be involved in organizing and production so they can help make it happen and get paid for their work. We will partner with organizers to ensure local talent is included.

Rider-Reviewed Rulebook

World Cup competitors rely on the rulebook and its consistent implementation to keep racing honest, fair and fun. Including them in the crafting of a new draft is essential to securing their trust and producing world-class sporting events.

Durability

Event Organizing Clinics

Producing world-class events for the global gravity sports community is no small task. We are committed to helping event organizers produce the best experience possible for all types of attendees by offering a range of services including budgetary reviews, grant research, course safety, media production, timed qualifying and more.

Contracted Media Team

All event participants should expect to walk away with high quality pictures of their time on the hill. Trained media makers with defined deliverables will make the difference between fleeting fun and lasting legacy, bringing gravity sports out of relative obscurity and allowing us to share with the world.

Contracted Web Development

An engaging online platform, hosting live event updates, will bring the excitement of our activity to viewers around the world without the need for a broadcast deal. Our new website will be built by a team of dedicated professionals and allow the community to participate in crafting the way we present ourselves to the world.

Contracted Bookkeeping and Legal

To reach the quality of events we envision, make them repeatable, and establish systems of clarity and accountability for when (not if) difficult circumstances arise, we need the support of accountants and legal experts who speak the language of international, mission-based business.

Action Plan

Assess viability of world cup season

Following the best practices of the WHO, we will set the year’s schedule to promote the wellbeing of all our stakeholders around the world.

Audit of previous years’ operations

Our primary goal in 2021 is conducting a global outreach to all stakeholders, seeking input for our collective futures.

Create digital resources for future operations

We will organize the best practices from our findings into spreadable media, hosting global presentations to facilitate conversation.

Build new website

Our new website will vertically integrate broadcasting, member forum, media library and organizer tools. As a part of this process we will update our name on account of its confusing alignment with the Israeli Defense Force.

Host end-of-season demonstration events

Covid allowing, we will model our proposed best practices at one or two demonstration events at the end of 2021, documenting them for use in promotion of upcoming activity.

Sign contracts with organizers and media team for 2022

Still following the best practices of the WHO, we will make covid-concious plans for a world-cup season.

Adjust annual dues

Prioritizing fair wages and equity for our transnational membership, and to account for changes in services provided, we will implement adjustments to the price of membership. Whether your price increases or decreases will depend on your socioeconomic status.

Explore racing classes

To refine the space we make for our community’s athletes to ride at high levels of performance, we will experiment with racing categories, encouraging participation among women, amateurs and professionals of all walks.

Produce a six-event world cup circuit

Covid allowing, we hope to host one event on each continent.

Expand event structure to benefit host communities

Foster mutually inviting relationships with the people of each town we visit, seeking and offering varied opportunities for interaction between our community members and the world.

Offer services to organizers of non-world cup events

We hope to support the efforts of organizers around the world to form continental tours and more localized event circuits. The effectiveness of our tools will be measured by others’ ability to use them.

Increase gender, racial, geographic diversity in leadership

We will continue inviting people into the conversation around the growth of the gravity sports community, seeking guidance, encouraging leadership amongst the diverse population and offering to train our replacements.

Voting starts January 21st

Register Now

Leadership

Diversity Statement

The future of gravity sports is not all-white, all-male, or all-American.

We believe the IDF’s current all-volunteer structure fails to make leadership positions welcoming to folks of all genders, races and nationalities who cannot necessarily afford to work for free.

Volunteer organizations tend to work best for those who can afford to volunteer.

We are running to change that.

Let’s be clear: all are welcome in the organization we are working to form.

Holding an elected position is only one way to work on behalf of international organizing.

If you have time to offer, we want to talk.

If you want to work more than five hours a week to help craft our future, we want to see you paid for your efforts.

We are seeking to fill our advisory board with diverse representation from around the world.

We encourage the global downhill community to reach out now, and any time in advance of the next election if they are interested in working together.

Our goal is to encourage healthy growth during and beyond our time in leadership positions.

We will be excited to step down to foster a more diverse future.

Proposed Board Members

Aaron Breetwor
Board Coordinator

Aaron Breetwor

Austin Pedroni
Event Organizer Liaison

Austin Pedroni

Brian Cortright
Web Coordinator

Brian Cortright

Tyler Topping
Media Coordinator

Tyler Topping

Jack Collins
New Rider Liaison

Jack Collins

Zak Maytum
Course Steward

Zak Maytum

Max Dubler
Public Relations

Max Dubler

Advisors

Kevin Reimer

Event Management

Mike Girard

Event Management

Don Tashman

Business Development

Calleigh Little

SkateIDSA collaboration & gender/diversity advocacy

Joe Lehm

New rider outreach & transnational development

Joner Strauss

SkateIDSA collaboration

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"See you in the mountains!"