Northern California Junior Lacrosse Association
200 Gate 5 Road #111 l Sausalito, CA 94965 l (415) 331-7271 l www.ncjlax.org
Minutes
Delegates’ Meeting
March 21, 2007
Town School
7:00 p.m.
1. Attendance:
· Dan Nourse (Pres),), Joe Bergtran (WC), Ed Ikeda (S. Valley), Don Aiello (Board, Davis), Craig Bowers (SJ Vipers), Joe Cheeseman (Town School), Johanna Thomashefski (Palega), Brad Topot (Novato), Brian Bond (Novato), Bob Mezeul (Livermore), Roger Ogee (Livermore), Kim Lally (Skyline), Ron Holcomb (SJ Vipers), Bill Kurz (Crusaders), Nipper Donovan (Vipers), Carlee Duncan (Girls), Beau Shore (Board, Diablo), Ted Griggs (Novato), Mike Sheridan (Sling It), Ben Tarcher (Berkeley), Betty Hartog (SF City), Kelli Shore (Secretary), Keith Denebeim (NCJLA Executive Director).
2. Call to Order:
· The meeting was called to order at 7:15 p.m.
3. Approval of Minutes:
· The minutes of the February 21, 2007 Board meeting were approved.
4. Commissioners’ Reports:
A. Girls: Carlee reported the STX/Cal tournament was a success. STX reps flew out for the event and were impressed with the NCJLA growth in women’s lacrosse. 25 teams participated in the tournament. Any scheduling changes to the current game schedule should go through Carlee at this point. Games should be confirmed by the home team at least 2 days in advance. There have been a few complaints about competitiveness of coaching and the referees. Carlee encourages all clubs and coaches to handle games/referees appropriately. Travel team tryouts for the U13 and U15 Festival teams are coming up.
B. High School: Keith reported for Kent. More noticeable intensity in coaching issues at the high school level. Officials need to learn how to handle the intensity and coaches, but the accountability should also be pushed to the club level. Outlying towns/areas have more issues with roughness, etc.
C. Juniors: Keith reported for Kelly. Good “PCA” coaching being witnessed.
D. Pups: Keith reported for Mike. Body checks are being called very inconsistently. The score table’s Protocol laminated card for 2007 states there are no body checks at the Pups level. However, the rule was implemented many years ago when the skill level was much different and much less experienced.
At current skill levels and years of experience, perhaps rule should be revised for ’07-’08 and body checks should be allowed at the ‘Pups A’ level. The existing rule is obsolete for ‘Pups A’ teams. It is imperative that officials know and understand the level of game they are refereeing and apply rules consistently and appropriately for that level.
Craig Bowers (SJ Vipers) commented that referees are being paid and should have accountability for the quality of refereeing. The feedback loop between the NCJLA and the NCLRA needs to be improved. NCLRA needs to take some action towards accountability. Perhaps the coaches using the evaluation section of Arbiter after a game to review the referee would help and offer concrete information.
It was a general suggestion that perhaps an idea for the future: as new clubs join the league, they must provide a qualified referee to the pool.
The three primary issues with referees are:
§ Population of referees is too small.
§ No way to motivate or hold accountable the referees.
§ No growth plan for increasing number of referees.
Nipper Donovan wanted to confirm that time slots for games need to be 1 ½ hours in all schedules, so younger teams are not short-changed game time because of delays in the day. It was confirmed that all Boy’s games are slotted for 1 ½ hours already.
E. Pee Wees: Keith had nothing to report for Doug except for the championship schedule which will be referred to in the ED report
F. Travel Teams: Nothing to report.
5. Treasurer’s Report:
· Keith reported for Tony. Clubs need to reconcile if referees don’t show up for a scheduled game or only one referee shows up when two were scheduled.
6. Executive Director’s Report:
· Keith reported the PCA was a big success.
· The Pee Wee and Pups championships will be held Saturday, May 19 for Youth Boy’s Divisions Final 4 teams.
· There is no need for playoffs for the ‘A’ teams of the Pee Wee, Pups or Junior divisions on May 12, 2008; the final 4 teams are selected by standings and/or the commissioners of the divisions.
· The Juniors Championship will be held Sunday, May 20.
Petaluma has offered to host the championships, but there was concern among the delegates about the quality of their fields. Any clubs willing to host should step forward. The Pups ‘B’ and Juniors ‘B’ and ‘C’ division playoffs will be Saturday, May 12, but again, a host club is needed.
· At the request of several Clubs, the Executive Directed petitioned that everyone should think about pushing the lacrosse season back about 2 weeks for the 2008 season. Season would start on the weekend of March 1st but would run into the second week in June, skipping Memorial Day weekend.
NCJLA Jamboree May 20 & 21, 2008
NO Games Memorial Day Weekend – May 24, 25 & 26
1st Round of Playoffs May 30 & June 1, 2008
NCJLA Championships June 6 & 7, 2008
Another idea is not to start the season until mid-March to allow soccer, basketball, etc time to finish before lax starts. The Board would like feedback.
7. Scheduler’s Update:
· Keith reported for Joe. No new games at this point because referees are not available. Rescheduling is fine, but new games should not be added.
8. 2007 Jamboree:
· Mike Sheridan reported. Pups and Pee Wees will be Saturday, May 5; Juniors will be Sunday, May 6. No fee to enter, but $5 parking fee by the complex. Parking is available for buses. NO DOGS.
9. Grade Pure A vs. Grade Pure B:
· For 2007: 8A, 7A, 7B, &C
· For 2008: Idea is to have a single Juniors ‘A’ Division and Grade pure at the “B” Level; Juniors 8B, Juniors 7B and Juniors ‘C’
· Grade pure teams encourage consistency. Feedback is needed.
10. Review of Travel Team Selection:
· There were concerns from parents and non travel team coaches that tryouts need more evaluators and need more focus on all the players. It was observed that Too many kids were not being evaluated the entire time of the tryout because there were not enough evaluators and or the evaluators there were chatting and not focused on all players.
· Discussion postponed to next meeting for more discussion.
11. Team Fees for 2008:
· NCJLA has survived in recent years by increasing population of clubs and numbers in clubs. If we begin to limit population, fees need to increase. The fee has been $400 for 4 years; it may be time to increase the fee. League should look for endowments. Can not sustain 20% population growth in referees, fields and coaches. Consider breaking the League into regional leagues.
12. US Lacrosse Club Record Keeping Requirements:
· Clubs should have to Keith the following 6 items for EACH player:
· First name, last name, e-mail, birth date, USL #, Team they play for
13. Adjournment:
· The meeting was adjourned at 9:29 p.m.