GVAA Baseball Committee Meeting Agenda May 3, 2009 @ 7 p.m.
Committee Members- All Present except Mike Stauffer 1. Commissioner John Kutchey 2. Operations (Registration) Russ Winch 3. Operations (Uniforms) Travis McCrory 4. Travel/Fall Ball Coordinator Will Gant 5. Secretary Angela Kinna 6. Concessions 7. Coach Selection Mike Stauffer 8. Field Maintenance Mike Yoingco 9. T-Ball Coordinator Mike High 10. Rookies Coordinator Jeff Abrecht 11. Minors Coordinator Jay Burriss 12. Majors Coordinator Craig Hackett 13. 13 & up Coordinator Mike Parker
Guests: Mary Edwards, Don Edwards, Joe Molnar, Danny Musselman, Brett Campbell, Robert Bennett
OLD BUSINESS Follow-up March 29 2009 minutes APPROVED after minor correction under Tracking Equipment.
Opening Day reflections – what went well? What would we do different next year? Bring commissioners on to field next year; they were introduced but would be nice to invite them on to field. Consider using field 4 again because of the Harry O Smith dedication sign on field 4 and it is a larger field.
Feedback on photo experience – Opening Day Coaches for Nationals (Rick Ringer) and American, as well as other Major and 2 Minor travel teams will get together and determine date to do photos. John will let Angela know so she can schedule for these 5 teams with Life Touch. Small mix-up with some photos between a T-ball team and Minors Rangers team. Someone expressed concern about price; others quality – some had concerns about Donna Grimes quality as well. Someone wants us to consider more local bids for next year. Change date from Opening Day next year because it is early in season (usually too cold). Coaches liked team photo plaques that they were provided free of charge. Some expressed concern about it looking more like a school picture than sports picture – too casual a stance in individual photos and did not like tipping hats up. Life Touch will send refund check within next 3 weeks to Angela’s attention.
NEW BUSINESS RUSS- Update Website - slow going in move to www.gvaabaseball.org; everything should be switched over and updated by September; Coaches can use same password as before; coaches can send out info for your team or division. Mike High has used website to communicate with T-ball families. Angela provided opening day CD to Russ that Life Touch provided and Russ will update website with same when he gets a chance.
Scoreboards – Fields 1, 2, 3 & 4 all in working order now; still working on field 5. Please “exercise” the boards by using them.
COORDINATOR Updates: All-star tryouts as follows: May 16 at 4:30 – Minors (age 9 & 10) field 2 May 16 at 4:00 – Majors, (age 11 & 12) field 3 May 16 at 4:00 – Rookies (age 8) 13-prep TBD – Erik Howard is coach Mike Parker Tournament for 14 states is July 17-23. 16 kids have registered for 16 to 18 year old play- they will not be charged the $25 raffle charge in their fee; Mark Gaffigan has agreed to coach the team again.
Craig Hackett Need to clarify some rules with Masser as Urbana coaches seem to have different understanding, i.e., infield fly rule Door on shed on field 3 needs repaired ASAP.
Jay Burris - NA
Jeff Abrecht One of the single wheel pitching machines is on its last leg; if there is another one out there, Jeff would like to have it. The other single wheel works okay; the double wheel works okay also. A new single wheel costs about $1,000 and that is not in the budget this year. Need to put this in next year’s budget for consideration.
Mike High - NA
WILL GANT – Fall Ball/Travel Reviewed registration forms for fall ball; concern about PO Box since we don’t have a GVAA Board secretary any longer to retrieve same. Motion made and ALL agreed that GVAA Baseball should set up own PO Box and the cost is approximately $50 a year. Will receive 3 keys with the PO Box. Russ will take care of establishing and then give keys to those who need to retrieve registrations from the box.
For All-stars this year, we are definitely planning for a team at 9U, 10U, 12U with 8U and 11U to be determined based on participation at the tryouts.
MIKE Y- Field Maintenance Update With all the rain we’ve had suggest using fields for make-up games rather than practice; if you have a make-up game, let Mike know and he can drag the field for you. Fencing on fields 1 & 2 are done; still working on fields 3 & 5; these are two separate contracts with Long Fence. Mike was able to net $11 for the 1200 lbs worth of fencing he took for recycling.
OPEN DISCUSSION Game Cancelation: Discussed acceptable reasons for canceling games. Committee had discussion on same and ultimately agreed that games will only be canceled if: 1. Bad weather 2. Coordinator approves a game be rescheduled because both coaches agree to same.
Additional dialogue ensued around whether GVAA is a rec program that supports more skilled players through travel and All-Stars OR does the program gear toward more top notch players with a rec program behind it. Lots of dialogue, but committee members seemed to support the current program structure which is a rec program that supports more skilled players through travel and All-Stars. Full time travel teams are readily available in the area to those who wish to pursue same.
Coach & Fan behavior at games- John reminded everyone that coaches are responsible for overseeing their own behavior and the fans/family that attend games – treat everyone with dignity and respect.
Concessions status – Belinda has resigned and the plan moving forward is that a group has emerged to coordinate remainder of season. That group consists of: Mary Edwards Mike & Chris Parker John & Lori Kutchey Mike Yoingco Group will maintain the schedule Belinda established for the regular season. Group will develop tournament schedules as needed.
Field 4 concession: We need to reclaim the area; football and softball may currently be housing freezer/refrigerators; John will find out WHO has what in there and ask them to move so we can get field 4 concessions ready for 14 yr old state tournament.
2009 Budget The GVAA Board determined that the General Administrative fee per player has been raised to $10 per player. We budgeted $1400 for this expense in October 2008. Thus, the expense is in the neighborhood of $3200. This fee covers insurance, background checks and administrative fees. In the future, all coaches (Baseball has approx 75 coaches) will have a background check completed and the GVAA board is developing criteria for passing the background check.
2009 Tournament Dates: June 10-14 – Harry O Smith on fields 1, 2 & 3 June 22-28 – Districts on fields 1, 2 & 3 July 17-23 – 14 year old states, fields 4, 5 & McCurdy
Will Gant will set up a meeting before June 7, next baseball committee meeting, to coordinate efforts to prepare for the Harry O tournament which begins June 10.
For 2010: Consider adding separate position for FUNDRAISING to Baseball Committee. Consider expense to replace single wheel pitching machine at Rookie level. Remember increase in registration fee of $5 per player due to GVAA Administrative fee. This will impact registration fee. Concession assignments – will consider alternative approach; consider coaches being assigned one week of the season to have their team work the concession stand(s). Concession Coordinator will NOT be responsible for the parent work schedule for the concession stand next season.
Due to length of meeting, the following topic was postponed to the JUNE 7 MEETING: Possibility of building documents (articles, manuals, procedures) for our website that explains the following so folks have a place to look and learn. Suggested items include but are not limited to:
Canceling umpires Rules for game postponement Coaches manual Umpire manual Concessions responsibility GVAA rules by Division
If so, who would author the documents? Do we need a format template? Due dates?
MEETING ADJOURNED at 9:00 pm
JUNE 7 – NEXT Committee Meeting