USATF-LI EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING

Minutes for Board Meeting Held on Monday, November 6, 2017

Meeting was brought to order at 7:50 pm.

Attendees:16

Officers:

President:Alex Cuozzo

Vice President:Robert Lemke

Vice President:Kevin Arloff - Absent

Treasurer:Gary Westerfield

Secretary:Pamela Lee

Standing Sport Committees:Standing Administrative Committees:

Track & Field:Richard DegnanOfficials:George Erker - Excused

Track & Field:Dwayne JohnsonCoaching Education:Michael Frazer - Absent

Race Walking:Mary Ann Harvey - AbsentOutreach:Ronald Nardo

MUT:Carl GrossbardPR & Nominating:Lori Mangual

Masters Athletics:Vicki FoxMembership:Sue Polansky

Youth Athletics:Sheryl HallSports Medicine:Jon DeGorter - Excused

Para-Athletics:Fred BenleinLDR Grand Prix:William Reitz

Club Representatives:Invited Guests:

Bellmore Striders:Bridget McCannBob Hersh

Minutes:Minutes of October 9, 2017 were approved.

Budget & Finance:

Bank Balance at Citibank as of October 31, 2017: $15,810.00 (Checking $14,673.00); November 9, 2017: $16,953.50 and $10,693.55 for current checking.

Expected inflow of $1,000 + $2,500 for race walking + $1,000 for youth.

Membership:2,044 Individuals have renewed for 2017 (compared to 2,100 at this time last year) and there are 69 Clubs/Organizations (same last year).

Alex Cuozzo reported that individual adult LDR and club memberships remain consistent for 2016-2017: 404 members have purchased multi-year memberships compared to 409 for the previous year.

He will discuss with National, ways to promote multi-year memberships, possible lifetime membership and revenue in order to retain a consistent base of individuals.

He emphasized the need for new blood in the administration, ie, individuals that will contribute to the success of the organization.

Discussion/Business Items:

Old Business:

Harry Penny Health Update: Harry Penny attended the Youth Championships and seemed to be in good spirits. A possible fundraiser is planned for January 7, 2018 at the Nutty Irishman, Farmingdale to raise funds for the upkeep of the van and the need for technology for life style maintenance. Rob Lemke will research technology needs. Sal Nastasi’s band is available for the fundraiser. All associations are needed for raffle contributions.

LITF Accreditation: Received letter that fully accredited LITF in March and now have received an additional letter on November 1, 2017.

USATF National Convention: No entries for necrology submission.

Discussed attendance at the Annual Meeting as follows:

  • Association Workshops: Alex Cuozzo, Pamela Lee, Rob Lemke, Ron Nardo
  • Youth Workshops: Sheryl Hall, Bridget McCann
  • New to Board Workshops: Lori Mangual
  • Workshops: Fred Benlein – Para-Athletics & Coaching Ed, Steve Cuomo – Para-Athletics; Alex Cuozzo – Men’s LDR, Carl Grossbard - MUT, Sheryl Hall – Youth; Bob Hersh – Women’s Track & Field & Rules & Law & Legislation, Dwayne Johnson – Men’s Track & Field, Pamela Lee – Cross-Country, Rob Lemke – Masters Track & Field, Lori Mangual – Women’s LDR, Bridget McCann – Masters LDR, Maria Michta-Coffey – International Athlete, Ron Nardo, Sue Polansky - Officials, Gary Westerfield – Race Walk

Rule Change regarding decreasing time from 1 minute to 30 seconds for attempts after called by referee to coincide with IAAF rule.

Delegation will meet on Friday morning, December 1. Alex Cuozzo is looking for a suitable venue for breakfast.

Officials Dinner is on Friday evening at the host hotel.

New Business:

Awards Brunch: Scheduled for February 2018 after the date of the Youth Championships.

Interim Race Walk Chair: Motions to remove Maryann Harvey as Chair and replace with Gary Westerfield were seconded and approved.

PO Box: When LITF organized 16 years ago, the PO Box at Old Bethpage was obtained to maintain a separate entity (incorporations, telephone numbers, and addresses) from GLIRC. The cost to maintain the box is $134/year versus the cost of changing the address on all legal documents such as stationery and checks. Will check with Cici Hirsch regarding volume of mail delivered to the box.

USATF National Office Address Change: 130 E Washington St, Suite 800, Indianapolis, IN 46204.

Committee Reports:

Standing Sport Committees:

Track & Field: Rich Degnan reported thatindoor meets are scheduled for Suffolk Community College on Saturday, January 13, 2018 5-9 pm – Youth Championships and limited Open/Master and St. Anthony’s on Saturday, February 24, 2018 in the morning for Open/Master and field events. There is a sufficient supply of indoor medals for these meets and future meets through 2024.

An additional tent is needed. Cost is $600-$900 and we need to conduct a full inventory of warehouse items.

Lauren Primerano, NY Metropolitan Association, is asking for support for the Open National Indoor Championships at Ocean Breeze in 2019.

The newly-built Massapequa track, along with the former track that is one-half a mile away, will be a sufficient venue for the 2019 Junior Olympics.

There is a proposal to honor local track and field athletes.

LDR: Alex Cuozzo reported that the Open/Master (October 21) and Youth (November 5) XC meets took place at Gardiner’s Park and there is positive feedback on the new location. There are additional fees to use the facility and there is a need to start the process earlier next year to increase participation.

The XC 4k at the Veterans Hospital on November 4, 2017 was the third largest with approximately 450-475 participants.

The last XC run will be Rob’s Run on November 26, 2017.

The last LDR Grand Prix Road Race, Long Beach 10k, will take place on November 19, 2017.

Jonas Chiropractic has renewed its commitment to donate $5,000 for the upcoming year.

Race Walking:Gary Westerfield reported that the National 30k was held on October 22, 2017 in Hauppauge with 35 attendees. A number of athletes came from Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Brazil, and Ecuador.

Mountain Ultra & Trail: Carl Grossbard reported that the 50k Championships will take place on Sunday, March 5, 2018. A bid for hosting the next two years will be presented at the Annual Convention.

Masters Athletics: Robert Lemke reported that outdoor records have been updated and $1,200 in cash awards have been presented to 12 out of 29 entrants.

Youth Athletics: Sheryl Hall reported that 101 athletes registered for the XC Championships held on Sunday, November 5, 2017 at Gardiner’s Park and 96 attended.

The regional meet will take place in Rhode Island on November 19, 2017.

There is a change to USATF’s Youth Indoor Program. Zonal competitions to qualify for Nationals have been eliminated and anyone can attend now.

Ocean Breeze will host the Holiday Youth Division on December 19, 2017, the Freedom Games on January 7, 2018, and the Youth Invitational on January 20, 2018.

Para-Athletics: Fred Benlein reported that Vin Lananna organized a meeting locally on October 18, 2017 with the National Chair from California. The US will host the World Para-Athletic Championships in 2021.

Suffolk County was the venue for national para-athletes. There were three wheelchairs and two amputees in the full marathon and one day chair and athlete with down syndrome in the accompanying half-marathon. In other recent events, notable para-athletes include: NYC Marathon – Alex Schneider 2:50:05; Suffolk County Marathon – Alex Eletto 2:51:55. Thomas Mihalin 3:36 Trent Hampton 3:40:30, Ben Beavers 5:17:04; TOB Supervisors 5k – Alex Eletto, Thomas Mihalin, Trent Hampton 18:48, Ben Beavers 23:57.

The proposed a track meet in 2018 will serve as a qualifier for the USATF National Track Meet in July or August 2019.

Standing Administrative Committees:

Officials: Currently, there are 34 certified officials and 16 in partial status. Several Board Members have volunteered to contact several of these officials in partial status (Sue Polansky – Geza Feld; Lori Mangual – Paul Fetscher; Richard Degnan – James Henderson and Walter Brenn).

Pamela Lee reported that the cost of rack cards to attract new officials is approximately $100 for 1,000 brochures. Gary Westerfield will write the narrative for the rack cards

Coaching Education: Tips and videos can be found online - Team USA Coaching Newsletter.

Records: Send any master records to Rob Lemke and Track & Field records to Richard Degnan.

Outreach: Ronald Nardo reported that Jill Skelly’s school is interested in five RunJumpThrow events in the spring and Lori Mangual’s school would like to repeat an event in the spring.

Publicity: Lori Mangual suggested campaigning a special discount offer of $20.18 for the LITF portion of the USATF membership for 2018 and also to promote membership through GLIRC.

Sports Medicine: No report.

Newsletter: No report.

Other:

Missing Equipment: The five-gallon orange LITF water jug is missing and was last seen at one of the summer track meets.

Office Coverage: Cici Hirsh is working in the LITF office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

Next meeting: Monday, December 4, 2017.

Meeting was adjourned at 10:09 pm.

Respectfully submitted by Pamela Lee, Secretary, USATF-Long Island

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