Members Present: John Lumsden, Connie Larose, Billy Waller, Jim Rose

VPA BASKETBALL COMMITTEE

Friday, September 30, 2016

VPA Office

Members Present: John Lumsden, Connie LaRose, Billy Waller, Jim Rose,

Dan Shepardson, Bernie Cieplicki, Buddy Hayford, Rob

Reardon, Bob Johnson

Minutes:

-Consensus that Amy Molina is to remain as committee chair if she is still

interested New job requirements are taking up too much time). If unavailable, Dan Shepardson is will to serve as committee chair.

-motion by Rob, second by Bernie to accept minutes of previous meeting. Vote – approved unanimously. Noted that we should continue to pursue St. Mike’s as a possible option for the D2 tournament championship.

- discussion on new neutral site procedures. New procedures would prohibit

schools from practicing at a site where the state championship is being

conducted (UVM, Barre Aud.) during the tournament season. During the

regular season this is OK. No further action taken.

-review of 2015/16 season. Everything went well. An issue was presented in

the tournament concerning officials assigned to the D1 championship game. This issue was dealt with by the assignors.

-for 2016/17 basketball season, there will be a new system in the North for

the assigning of officials. Bill has now retired and is moving out of state. Jim R. will continue to assign with help from Tino Lavin and Ed Clodfelter.

-discussion on alignments for 2017-19. In the past core sports have agreed to

use the same system. The system included, a) student enrollment count (as of October 1st), b) balanced divisions in terms on numbers, c) schools can petition up, but cannot petition down (no appeals), d) if a school petitions up, the school at the bottom of the higher division can go down into the lower division.

Motion by Dan S., second by Rob, to follow same process for divisional alignments for 2017-19 that has been used previously. Vote – approved unanimously.

-discussion on possibility of returning to the “open tournament”.

Motion by Dan, second by Buddy, to support the concept of returning to an “open tournament”. Vote – Yes-3, No-2 Motion passes. Bob will refer on to other committees.

-Bob J. notified the committee that a new AED/CPA/EAP requirement is in

place for coaches education. However, a 30 day waiver is available to schools who hire coaches at the last second.

-NFHS Rules changes – no major changes noted.

- Updated Basketball Guide – Bob J. is still waiting for final commitment from

UVM on championship dates.Barre Aud. is all set.

-discussion on start date. This year it will be after Thanksgiving. Draft calendar

for 2017-18 also has it starting after Thanksgiving. No further action.

- adjourned.