Davis Lacrosse Association Board Meeting

May 22, 2008

I.  Minutes Review and Approval

  1. Quorum of the Board being present including Dan Reeves, Don Aiello, Kurt Snipes and Jack Latow at 7:40 .m.
  2. Dan Reeves moved the approval of the Board minutes from the March 6, 2008 meeting. Kurt Snipes seconded the motion and the motion pass unanimously.

II.  Introduction of Candidate for New Board Member and Treasurer

  1. Don Aiello introduced Laura Juanitas to the Board members, outlined her experiences and desire to join the DLA Board.
  2. Kurt Snipes resigned as Treasurer to return a member at-large position.
  3. Don Aiello then moved that Laura Juanitas be elected to the Board as its Treasurer. Dan Reeves seconded the motion and Ms. Juanitas was elected to the Board unanimously as the new Treasurer.
  4. Don Aiello then asked Mr. Snipes to pass along all financial records and materials in his possession to Ms. Juanitas which he will do at a later date.

III.  DLA Program Review

  1. DLA had two 7th/8th grade girls teams, one team of pup boys, one junior team of boys and one junior varsity team of boys.
  2. 112 total children participated on one of those teams.
  3. DLA hosted the NCJLA girls tournament for A teams of 7th/8th grade girls.
  4. Don Aiello announced that NCJLA will change from grade based teams to age based teams, U-15, U-13, U-11, and U-9.
  5. Dan Reeves moved that DLA solicit the NCJLA to shrink the number of players on the field at a given time from 11 to 7 and create smaller fields for the younger teams. The board agreed and Mr. Aiello asked Mr. Reeves asked the DLA representative on the NCJLA Board to bring up the issue at their next board meeting

IV.  Davis High School Varsity and Junior Varsity Program

  1. Jack Latow then offered an overview of the Davis High School Boys first year as a recognized varsity team. Mr. Latow reported that the boys had a very positive season. Both the varsity and junior varsity teams had a winning season and surprised many. The coaches did an outstanding job with the boys and the boys behaved well even in trying and adverse situations.
  2. Mr. Aiello mentioned that some parents were unhappy with their child’s playing time and directed them to raise their issues with the coach and ask what they need to do to get more playing time.
  3. The varsity coach has reluctantly decided to resign in order to complete a graduate program out of state. Both the head coaches received positive reviews for their maturity and commitment to the program.

V.  Growing the Sport of Lacrosse

  1. Rod Moseanko, a parent with a child on the Davis High School Lacrosse team graduating this year came to talk with the board about his observations to growing the DLA programs and improving its overall performance on the field.
  2. Mr. Moseanko relayed his observations regarding other top programs noting that to raise performance requires top-flight coaches and dedicated parents.
  3. Several members of the Board agreed then outlined the challenges associated with hiring experienced top-flight coaches. Unlike the Bay Area that has many East Coast transplants who are experienced with Lacrosse, Davis doesn’t have access to such individuals, at least not to this point. Mr. Aiello outlined all the advertisements he’s posted looking for coaches and what other board members have done constantly beating the bushes looking for experienced lacrosse players who have the capacity to coach the sport and connect with young people.
  4. Mr. Moseanko volunteered to assist the board in searching for volunteers and potential coaches.
  5. Mr. Reeves then suggested that the cost of participating in the Spring program was one of the biggest hurdles to recruiting more players since most Davis parents don’t know anything about lacrosse and the children aren’t familiar with it either. Getting parents to spend hundreds of dollars on a sport they have never seen before is an enormous challenge. Mr. Reeves suggested that the outreach programs like the summer and fall programs are critical, so too is lowering the cost. Mr. Reeves suggested that for the youngest kids that we attempt to locate a volunteer parent coach since coaching is the single largest cost factor in the fees. Mr. Aiello responded that since lacrosse is so unknown that most parents don’t feel competent to coach the sport and it’s very challenging finding one to volunteer.

VI.  Volunteers and the Lack Thereof

  1. Mr. Aiello discussed with board his ongoing challenges locating an adequate number of volunteers to appropriate staff the myriad of activities that must get accomplished to run DLA’s programs.
  2. Mr. Aiello stated his desire to begin phasing out as Volunteer Coordinator.
  3. Mr. Berry suggested that teams be assessed fines who don’t produce the number of volunteers for tournaments they agreed to at the outset and Mr. Latow agreed.
  4. Mr. Aiello emphasized the need for every team to have a team manager who will do all the volunteer coordination.
  5. Mr. Snipes suggested that Rod Moseanko be elected the DLA volunteer coordinator.

VII.  Summer/Fall Programs

  1. Mr. Aiello started by discussing the need to locate a pool of coaching candidates to adequately staff the DLA summer and fall programs.
  2. Mr. Aiello outlined his intent to have four day program that is four hours a day this summer.
  3. Mr. Reeves suggested that the fall program this year be shortened to less than 8 weeks, closer to 6 weeks and fewer days per week. Mr. Aiello responded the need to locate coaches if such a program could be run this year.

VIII.  Field Reservations

  1. Mr. Aiello reserved 3 fields for next Spring, 5 days a week and last two Sundays in September for the free clinics.
  2. With the adoption of new city rules the cost to DLA for the fields has gone down.

IX.  Coaching Status

  1. Boys: Mr. Snipes spoke to three candidates and will report more at the next board meeting.
  2. Mr. Snipes and Mr. Latow discussed the process for recruiting a new Varsity High School coach for the boys.
  3. Girls: Mr. Berry has been contacting several possible candidates and has spoken with last year’s coaches as well in an effort to retain coaches that excelled.

X.  Treasurer Accounting Report on DLA Financials

  1. DLA has on April 30th $15,700 in its bank account. With an estimated $6,200 expenses through June, but $1,500 from a loan to the High School Boys program being paid back would bring the balance to $11,944. Last year about the same time DLA’s overall balance was $8,300.
  2. Mr. Latow announced that the High School Boys program had a balance of $14,400 with liabilities unaccounted for at t his point it was unclear what the carry-over balance would be.
  3. Mr. Aiello announced that DLA received is California tax-exemption letter from the State of California.
  4. Mr. Aiello then announced that the IRS notice that DLA owes a penalty for late filing of its no tax liability as a tax exempt non-profit. Mr. Aiello was appealing the penalty.
  5. Mr. Aiello then moved that the Board approve a payment of $500 to James Sherrer the pups coach who was not under contract to compensate him for his outstanding work with the pups. The board approved the motion which was seconded by Mr. Berry.

XI.  Adjournment

  1. Rex Berry moved that the Board adjourn at 9:40 p.m.
  2. Dan Reeves seconded Mr. Berry’s adjournment motion the motion passed unanimously.