European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 12, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 22 a the stars and stripes thursday december 12, 1991�?�?1 a a .immwaw.wff.wwww. I. . Emf off. Air Force figures Supply demand will Call shots by Rob Staggenborg staff writer Ramstein a Germany a the future of the air forces sports program in Europe pares Down to a simple formula of Supply and demand. I a the interest will dictate what will go a said Dick Mullins a Safe a sports director in an interview last week. A until there Are no bases playing Well have a football program. If it has to be a four team league Well still do it. As Long As there Are athletes who participate in the sport to keep it alive there will be Safe sports despite a Force reduction and base closings on the Safe horizon the air forces varsity sports program in Europe will stay afloat. Mullins and his staff have already set next year s schedule and Are looking into More army air Force cooperatives to stage interservice events. A for the immediate future we re plan Ninh and conducting our events at the same level As in the past a Mullins said. A we May even try to build upon the Success of the tip off classic and stage army air Force championships in some of the other the tip off classic a preseason basketball exhibition that pitted the Safe men s and women a basketball champions against the army european champions Drew an estimated crowd of about 2,800 to the in Frankfurt Germany. More importantly the game attracted a slew of civilian sponsors which offered a car As a door prize airline tickets hats shirts and sundry other logo laced items. A i d like to think that commercial sponsorship is the answer a Mullins said. A we Hope that it will help offset the costs of staging an event and help us keep the Safe sports program operates As a non appropriated fund activity responsible for raising Revenue that in turn goes Back into the Naf. Last year Safe spent $602,000 on its sports program which covers bases in Germany the Netherlands Italy Greece Turkey the United kingdom and Spain. With budget cuts and fewer airmen to serve that budget will drop to about $400,000. A right now the Safe View of sports has not changed a said col. Kenneth r. Neher a Safe a director of morale recreation and welfare. A a we re faced with certain inescapable realities though. One the command is just going to get smaller. There will be fewer bases eligible to compete. Two there will be fewer dollars to run those the Naf budget for Safe was an estimated $6.3 million for last fiscal year. Fiscal year 1992 offers a Naf budget of about $4.8 million. A that s going to Force some changes in the Way we operate a Neher said. Where the army has placed its emphasis on the unit level intramural programs the air Force s varsity program May be leaner but its still Strong and still bringing the All important Dollar figures Back into the budget. Football which hits the Safe budget the hardest is still a popular Spectator sport. But with bases like Lindsey closing Small populations in bases like Soester Berg a and the population Pinch in the u.k., the time May be Ripe to establish interservice Competition like the tip off classic but in the other sports. Army policy prohibits communities from establishing Community level tackle football teams but All other sports Competition could become interservice affairs. Several individual sports events like Power lifting racquetball and skiing Are already held As open invitational tournaments open to army air Force marines and Navy personnel. S4s Kan George Rhein Mai its Marty Andres 47 and Hilton Chretien exult during the 1991 Safe title game an event the air Force says will continue a until there Are no bases �?o1 would t be surprised at All to see the old army air Force conference Back together again a an nil Al merger if you will a Mullins said. A when the dust settles in the Wake of draw Down that s what we May be looking As easy As it sounds to get an army and air Force Champion on the same court Field or Diamond it Isnit. The services varsity leagues often do not run concurrently which makes scheduling a headache. Although the two services do collaborate on coaching and officials clinics the army decisions go through a committee of people each with different opinions where at Safe Mullins is the decision maker. Mullins denied that the army a state of adjustment poses a problem and Neher said while the interservice Competition would be Nice the Crux of the Safe program is to take care of its own. A your no. 1 Mission a a no. 1 Mission which keeps changing by the Way a is to provide viable morale welfare and recreation programs for the air Force Community in Europe a Neher said. A a we be got to worry about taking care of our own needs but where our needs and the army needs overlap we will won t notice changes army says by Rob Staggenborg staff writer Heidelberg Germany a the shift of Power from the once mighty Usa eur sports office to the newly created area support groups should have Little if any effect on army athletes in Europe Usa eur s top sports official said recently. Usa eur sports chief Jim Brown said that in the shadows of major troop reductions in Europe a communities Are going to have to support themselves More and More when it comes to its sports programs. A for the immediate future you probably wont see and difference Quot Brown said. A there May not be an army european championship but it May be called something else. Instead of a corps championship there May be an ask area support group this increased emphasis on sports at the ask level has All but forced the Usa eur sports office out of business. Brown who assumed the Post and inherited the command s sports problems in the Spring of 1990, is leaving for fort Benning ga., in january. A the unit level program Hasni to really been affected by any of the changes. It s still thriving a Brown said. A in the past the unit level teams would Advance past the Community championship to the corps level championship. Now they la go to an ask the 19 area support groups Combine three or less communities into a Hub Community. For instance the Westpfal and 29th ask includes the military communities of Kaiserslautern Pirnia Sens and . With 19 different huh communities interacting and planning sports events Usa eur sports has been reduced to a one person operation responsible for Little other than publishing schedules and conducting sports officials clinics. Several sports officials at the Community level have been critical of the army a new european sports program. A Susa eur is not in the operations business anymore. They re Only policy folks a Don Claycomb explained. Clay comb the Niernberg military Community s recreation director preceded Brown As the Usa eur sports director and stepped Down on the heels of us truer a a decision to a its championship program. The headless horseman Moniker has been placed on the army s european sports program by Many. A without the corps there there s nobody to really organize say a basketball league a Claycomb said. A it has been organized but it Wasny to done in a staff fashion. It just kind of emerged. Which was Fine with me. The Heck with bureaucracy it was something that needed to be done. A the varsity level program is certainly a Long Way from Brown agreed. A there is a need for varsity level programs a he said. A but we just done to have the Quantity of troops that we did in the mid-80s, when we had the Money and the resources to have the program. Sports was big time Back in those Days. A but the army of today has a different philosophy now then it did Back then. Its a different army today. There a less Money and fewer troops Quot and participation in higher level championships has been made voluntary. Setae headquartered in Vicenza Italy took Usa eur up on its offer and has not sent a team up for an dec event since Usa eur axed its official program. Instead setae concentrates on serving its Market. That spirit continues in other Mediterranean areas where the army has dispatched several sports directors on a rotating basis to Turkey and saudi Arabia to run recreation programs for the troops still stationed there. A the sports program will be around until the last Soldier leaves Europe a Brown said. Tomorrow the draw Down and the individual athlete
