NORFOLK BASEBALL MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday November 19th, 2011 @ Holmes Bus Depot
Meeting was called to order @ 7:10PM by Dave Lannigan
Treasurer’s Report
· The treasurer’s report was read by Karen Fruci, reviewed 5 accounts.
Motion made to accept treasurer's report. Motion Passed.
General Items
Election of Board Members for 2012 Season
The following members were voted in to the Elected Board of N.B.A
Dave Lannigan - Commissioner
Dennis Stone - Asst. Commissioner
Rich Burns - President
Geoff Casey - BR President
Karen Fruci - Treasurer
Barry Zimmerman - Summer Coordinator
John Lawrence - Secretary
Geoff Casey discussed Joe Dirienzo Scholarship Fundraiser
It will be held Jan15th 6:00pm sign in, 6:30 Bowling begins.
- Will advertise heavily
- Raffle a big screen TV
- Minor league will use the bumpers
- Major League older kids and adults
- Online registration this year
- Raised $1600 last year
- Lane Sponsors $25-30 or donate raffle prizes.
- $20 per player, $100 per lane 5 players
Winter Clinics
Will be held 1st week in January and runs 6 weekends. Volunteers needed.
$55-$60 per player.
Coach Clinic – Mark Gafur could help w/ coaches training
A need was expressed for more coaching for the catcher position.
Matt Cullen – we need to define coaching skills needed at each level and what is expected of a coach.
There is no uniformity to what coaches teach across a given level. Coaches need to be teaching similar skills and on the same page for each level of play.
John Bench gave insight into how softball ran their winter clinics.
Used the Aux Gym @ Junior high did a six week training (6 trainings) broken out by age and catchers taught by a collegiate catcher.
Tryouts and methods of player evaluation were discussed.
Tom Howard – New place for training being built in Medfield (Sluggers Academy).
One indoor playing field. Expressed the importance of good trainers. He coached w/ Todd Chisolm in BR. Talked about Bay State Games. They have specific trainers for each aspect of the game. They get through evaluating 82 kids form 52 high schools in 3 ½ hours.
There is also a place in Millis for training – 30 feet high ceiling across from CVS.
Dave Lannigan – Tryouts are just one component of judging the talent of a player. Spring and Summer Evals from previous year are used as well.
John Bench – is a proponent of less moving the kids from station to station but more time on a particular drill. Teach one skill that particular day.
Mark Gafur – Indicated a rubric should be used/established to evaluate players.
Dave L. – Better player evaluation could help with making sure teams are balanced.
Last year used 26 evaluators and a composite rating based on all evaluators for a given player.
Tom Howard and Mark Gafur are candidates for training coordinator.
Pat Morganelli – felt last season feedback to the kids was inconsistent. Need all volunteers to give feedback to kids and use teaching moments during the game to instruct.
John Bench – Felt there was not enough time allocated for practice during the season.
Dave L. – The biggest problem restricting practice time is field space.
Geoff Casey – Middle School fields might be available for NBA which we have not had access to in the past (always reserved by Plainville in the past).
Mark Gafur and Tom Howard - gave insight into speaking with parents after a tryout.
Matt Cullen – Discussion on defining Director positions to make it easier for a new director to step in.
Greg Allen – Discussion on need for following through on philosophy of league. Are we a competitive league or a recreational/instructional league?
John Bench – Expressed opinion that it is beneficial to limit the number of positions a player is required to learn.
Dave L. – noted numbers have declined the last few years and asked how we figure out why the numbers are declining.
Pat Morganelli – put out a survey to the kids.
Tom Howard – Losing the twelve’s as they move to 13. Kids need to have a better experience through LL so they continue into the BR level.
Geoff Casey – Opened BR Reg in December and left open until March. We lose top players to AAU.
John Bench – In softball they used the selling of softball related apparel to promote the league and it actually raised the softball registration numbers. Providing training to keep them involved in off season also helps.
More discussion on coaches.
John Lawrence – Suggested the integration of older players as coaches into the coaching of younger kids such as has been done with the KP basketball program.
Tom Howard – The experience of the kids is very much determined by the nature, disposition, and skill of the coach of that team.
Pat Morganelli – raised a question about rule clarification. – Gray areas need to be clarified in areas open to interpretation or when some green book rules are relaxed or don’t need to be followed such as coaches warming up a pitcher. If this is going to be allowed then just clarify to all coaches so they all on the same page.
Barry Z. suggested a midseason meeting of coaches/director to iron out inconsistencies/ questions on rules. Babe Ruth goes strictly by Cal Ripken rules.
Karen Fruci – Strong league directors are needed to monitor how rules are being applied/ignored
In league and make corrections.
Appointed Board Positions reviewed and filled if possible.
L.L. Equipment Director – Todd Falvey
L.L. Umpire in Chief - Greg Allen
B.R. Equipment Director – Dan Mason
B.R. Umpire in Chief – Greg Casey
L.L. Registration Director – Jamie Colgan
L.L. Safety Director – Mike Findlen
L.L. Concession Stand Director – Dan Sheils
Website Coordinator –
L.L. Training Director – Mark Gafur
L.L. Publicity Director –
L.L. Activity Coordinator (opening ,Closing Day) -
L.L. Team Parent Coordinator –
Fundraising Director –
Meeting Raffle – Kevin Power won Raffle for Red Sox tickets.
Motion to adjourn accepted @9:35pm
Submitted: November 4, 2011 – Andy Dunne – Former Secretary
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