Changes to membership on the Fairfax County Athletic Council could give a seat at the table to representatives from a wider array of sports.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on June 9 approved the body’s first significant charter change since 2004, slightly adjusting slots on the 23-member council.
Approved by supervisors unanimously and without comment, the revisions include a consolidation of slow-pitch and fast-pitch softball into a single position.
“This combination will better align with other sports-specific representation on the council,” staff said in a memo to the board.
To fill the slot that opens up, supervisors added a fourth at-large member, designed to provide representation for sports that currently do not have a designated position on the body.
“The addition of an at-large member will allow for the inclusion of currently unrepresented sports, such as track, wrestling, tennis, pickleball, hockey, cricket, swimming, badminton and Ultimate Frisbee,” county staff said.
In addition, under the new charter, individuals representing specific sports now will be directly appointed to the posts, rather than coming through Sports Specific Councils representing baseball, softball, basketball, football, lacrosse, soccer, volleyball and women’s sports.
Other slots remain untouched by the changes, including one representative for each of the county’s nine magisterial districts and representatives from the towns of Vienna, Herndon and Clifton.
The panel also includes non-voting representatives of the Fairfax County Park Authority, School Board and school system, and the Department of Neighborhood and Community Services.
The Athletic Council was established by the Board of Supervisors in March 1974 to support what then was known as the Fairfax County Recreation Department, according to contemporaneous coverage in the Springfield Independent and McLean Providence Journal newspapers.
Today, the panel advises supervisors, the Fairfax County School Board, Planning Commission, Park Authority and county staff on “allocation, use, management and future planning” of county athletic resources.
The body meets monthly except in August. Lula Bauer, representing the soccer community, currently chairs the panel.
