Huntersville Youth Athletic Association: HYAA Board Meeting Minutes

December 21, 2011

Attendees: Jason Grier, Lynn Clark, Scott Ennis, Robert Lauro, Richie Sullivan, Dave Kobuszewski, Mitch Edens, Randy Schuette, Amy Gais, Greg Fawcett

Meeting called to order at 7:00 PM

Minutes from previous board meeting not reviewed.

Community Outreach: Amy Gais updated on the Community Service projects. November saw roughly 300 pounds of food donated to Loaves and Fishes by HYAA families. In December, families donated over 300 food items, 200 toys and a number of clothing items to Angels and Sparrows.

Basketball: Dave Kobuszewski provided an update on the state of the basketball program. He expressed the goals for the 2011-12 season as including ‘more basketball, better uniforms and more kids’. This season includes over 800 athletes across all boys and girls divisions and teams have been afforded extra gym time for practices and ‘open gym’ time on Sundays throughout the season. There have been some scheduling issues related to trying to accommodate so many games with limited gym spaces on Saturdays which have been mostly worked out. Some HYAA members are voicing concerns still regarding ‘prime’ gym space, but for the most part the schedules are working well.

Motion was made to review contract(s) with officials for both basketball and baseball – to be addressed in next Board Meeting.

Registration scholarship granting was discussed with some ideas offered:

- Base on if family qualifies for lunch programs through CMS

- Co-sponsorship agreement with town provides some funds for this as well (to be reviewed)

Lastly, Dave indicated that there is an idea to consider an All-Star game(s) against other area leagues (SOTG, Cornelius, etc)

Softball: Greg Fawcett discussed developments related to HYAA Softball and the North Meck Filly League. Main development was the admission of Stewards of the Game (SOTG) to the league with a pledge to field 1 team per division in the Spring. Overall, HYAA Softball numbers are remaining consistent, particularly in the T-Ball and 8U divisions. Typical attrition levels occur in the older age levels. Greg outlined a guideline for registration to limit registrations based on the number of coaches that volunteer, rather than try and force enough coaches to meet the demand.

Baseball – T-Ball/Machine: Mitch discussed developments in the T-ball and Machine-Pitch divisions of baseball. First discussed was the overall success of the introduction of coach-pitch to the t-ball program in the Fall 2011 season. Introduction was limited to 3rd inning only in this first season and was met with excitement by coaches and players – and did not cause game play to slow noticeably from the innings where tees were used. Aim is to try and grow the t-ball level to help ‘feed’ more players into Shetland and beyond. In the Shetland division, HYAA will not sponsor a ‘tournament’ team but will provide a ‘developmental team’ program as initially instituted this Fall with practice and scrimmage action on Sunday afternoons for players identified by Rec league coaches as being talented players. In Pinto, tournament team will need to include try-outs and will start at 9U level for tournament play.

Baseball – Kid Pitch: New structure of teams and options for players discussed which will help ‘brand’ Huntersville teams under the HYAA banner. The overall goal is to be the league with the ability to serve all skill levels. Players will have the option of playing strictly Recreational in Spring and Fall as currently offered. A second option would be to play Recreational and compete on a ‘challenge’ team that would be populated with designated all-stars from the Recreation leagues. Finally, a strictly tournament/travel team will be offered to those with the highest skill levels with the aim of playing in PONY tournaments. Color scheme discussed for branding HYAA travel/tournament teams. Tentative agreement centered around Green with thoughts of a non-White complimentary color – such as Gold.

Website: Randy Schuette discussed the process of obtaining quotes and demos for various website hosting companies in an effort to migrate the HYAA website to a more robust platform. Upon reviewing these options, and with review of several Board Members prior to this meeting, it was decided to move forward with using LeagueAthletics.com. Goal is to migrate ASAP in time for Spring baseball registration.

Finance: Scott Ennis provided financial information for the November 2010-October 2011 timeframe. Overall report was that HYAA is solvent and will not have any issues paying outstanding costs for the current basketball season.

Marketing: Dave Kobuszewski discussed the need for additional marketing. New Facebook presence has generated some additional interest in the league. Considerations discussed to place advertisements in the Hearld and/or have registration booths at places like Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Elections and Voting Rights: Four out of five voting positions on the Board need to come up for elections in 2012. Vice President will need an election conducted for expiring term in April 2012. President, Secretary and Treasurer positions were vacated and filled by appointment in 2011 and will need to be up for elections at the 2012 HYAA Annual Meeting. This is currently expected to be scheduled for a date in June 2012.

Athletic Directors moved and lobbied for voting rights as part of the Board of Directors. Pros and cons discussed but no formal vote was taken on the subject. Tabled to be discussed at the next Board meeting.

Stumptown elementary school project: HYAA has the opportunity to contribute to the building project for the new elementary school to be built on Stumptown Road with the benefit being a full-size gym being built (rather than the multi-purpose gym that exists at Torrance Creek) with preferred usage for HYAA programs.

Meeting adjourned at 10:00 pm

August 9th 2011
Board Attendees:
Randy Schuette, Richie Sullivan, Jason Grier, Lynn Clark, Scott Ennis, Mitch Edens, Dave Kobuszewski, Greg Fawcett

Member base attendees: Joe Castronovo, Brian Samples, Carpino
Basketball Update- Added summer open gym this summer was very successful. Approximately 70 kids attended each week. Largest attendees were 8-9 but had some 6-7 year olds. We need some additional parents to step up and help with the kids in the older age groups. For the upcoming season one night per week combine/camp in addition to normal process to help with the need to capture more practice. Fall gym space is tight due to NothinButNet basketball. Possibly explore cross-over games with Davidson/Cornelius/Stewards. Girls potentially changing age groups.

Girls Softball- finished regular season with 3 t-ball 4-8u 2-10u and 1-13u. 8U- won the NMFL tournament for the first time ever. Challenge league this summer we fielded an 8U and a 10U team. The 10U team came in 3rd. 8U won the summer challenge league. Does not look like we will have a 13U team for softball. No 10U or 12U travel team this Fall.
Long discussion regarding field space and scheduling. Currently all fields and gym space are scheduled by one person on the Board.

Machine Pitch Baseball- 12 T-ball team 8 Shetland and 7 Pinto Teams. Wants to get a core of coaches to devise a game plan for all coaches in each league. Example: get practice plans for each league. Overall league was extremely competitive
PONY Tournament at Bradford had a great turn out. League made a couple of thousand dollars based on entry fee only and net of all expense.

Tournament teams achieved the goal for the year. Had one 7U and 3 8U teams. Great foundation set for the future. Fall season outlook is positive. Will continue academy in the Winter.
Should we consider a change from PONY to Little League? Baseball commissioners to make recommendation. Follow-up item is for the baseball commissioners to put together a pro/con review for the Board to review.

Want to have more PA announcements. Have a game of the week. National Anthem. Parade.
Kid Pitch- add age to the evaluation equation. Standard pitch count was a positive change to the league. Interlock with DC was not well received. Early formation of challenge teams was a positive. Uniform cost was too high.

Director review- are any changes appropriate at this time in the Directors of the sports
-Todd Harwood resigned we have an open Board seat that needs to be filled.
-Multiple changes to the by-laws proposed for consideration. A review will take place in the coming months.

Finance review- No checks to be cut for reimbursement without pre-approval from the commissioners and alignment with budget and pre-approval from Scott Ennis.

Date: June 8^th, 2010

Board Attendees: Todd Harwood, Jason Grier, Gavin McIntyre

Member Attendees: Dennis Wantland

Agenda- Vote on proposed by-laws changes as highlighted in the Board Meeting Minutes from the May 11^th, 2010 meeting.

Meeting called to order at 6:45

Changes in by-laws reviewed. Copies distributed and changes were reviewed/discussed by line item

Floor was opened for member discussion and feedback

Motion raised to vote on changes

Motion seconded and passed

Vote was unanimous

By-Laws passed and approved

Meeting adjourned at 7:30