Changes to the Selection Committee.

Under Amanda Pakade's presidency, enormous changes have been effected to further streamline MSSA.

On 1 December 2018, Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) extensively overhauled its Selection Committee.

The reason for such overhaul was to take into account MSSA's greater international commitments, its desire to ensure that the best possible Registered Players are selected for teams, and to remove the Selection Committee from political interference.

Under the new rules, the chairperson of such committee shall be the Executive Officer assigned to oversee the National Team Managers and assign duties to such. Currently there is not an Executive Officer for this position, and MSSA has already advertised the position on 16 December 2018.

The new committee shall consist of four (4) Selectors who shall normally be elected at the National Convention, however, since the National Convention has already been held on 1 December 2018, the Management Board is entitled to co-opt four such members.
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The period of office of any selector shall not exceed two years, but may be renewed upon election or co-option. However, it should be noted that members co-opted in 2019 are only eligible to hold the position until the 2019 National Convention.

One thing that did not change is that the Team Manager sits with the Selection Committee when choosing the team. The Team Manager shall be consulted by the Selection Committee when selecting the team.

It has now become a rule that when selecting a team, the selectors shall also give an indication of how they expect that team to perform. It is expected that the selectors shall be honest when giving this indication and not give unjustifiably high targets. The aim shall always been on future improvement.

The Management Board shall then review the Selection Committee's performance within 30 days after every World Championships, and have the authority to recommend to the Executive Committee to remove,and replace, any/all of the Selectors should the teams not have performed according to the expectations the selectors stated beforehand. The Executive Committee is made up of elected office-bearers and a delegate from each and every club affiliated to MSSA. Thus any personal politics is greatly reduced, and the Selectors are able to make their decisions without worrying about interference by anyone else.

Selectors shall have the authority to remove players from any team under their jurisdiction, who, in their opinion, do not train sufficiently, perform well, or are disruptive to the team subject to the right of the affected player(s) to make representations to the selectors, with the right to appeal to the Management Board, before they are removed.

And now for something extremely important... Up to half of the Selectors need not be affiliated to a member club. This rule allows greater good-governance and allows any member of the greater South African community to stand for the position. Of course, the people elected as Selectors shall sign the Undertaking and keep all discussions confidential.

All Selector's shall be suitably qualified for the role, which shall include, but not be limited to: 

• previous experience as a selector, 
• previous international experience as a player or involvement with competitive gaming, 

The emphasis shall always be placed on knowledge of the level of competition required at international level.

No person already holding office in MSSA may be elected or co-opted as a Selector, and any Selector who is elected to any office in MSSA must immediately resign as a Selector, and the Management Board shall as soon as possible co-opt a Selector to complete such Selector's term.

During a tournament (if this includes travel out of the country this means from the moment of departure) the Team Manager shall act in place of the Selection Committee, except when it involves selecting a replacement player.

The Team Manager shall report to the Selection Committee within a month after every tournament or competition, and the Selection Committee shall submit a report to the Management Board, which shall include the Team Manager’s report.

Thus the above changes are designed to create a more dynamic Selection Committee that will further ensure South Africa's success at international level.

Also read:

• Hearken to the call.
• Changes to the Selection Committee.
• So you wanna be a Selector?
• The new national team selection criteria.