Minutes
Northern California Junior Lacrosse Association
Delegates Meeting
March 18, 2009
San Francisco
April 29
San Jose
April 30
Sacramento
7:00 p.m

Attendance:

Steve Alms, Bill Aray, John Chuday, Christopher Dean, Keith Denembiem, Deborah Ferguson, Ted Griggs, Betty Hartog, Paul Harvey, Harris Holzberg, Christy Kums, Kim Lally, David Lee, Rob Lewers, Mike Mindel, Roger Ogee, Jeanie O’Neill, Jin Peavey, Jim Robertson, Dede Szykier, Ben Tarcher, Steve Walker and Matty Wagner.

Call to Order:

The Meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm

Approval of the Minutes:

· No Minutes to approve.

1. Board & Commissioners Reports:

a) League Governance: The steering committee has met once with a consultant. Goal is to draft a strategic plan for next season. Another meeting is approaching and asking for the Board’s input. Meeting possibly to be held in The Headlands in June. A major topic of discussion will be the management of the healthy development and expansion of junior lacrosse throughout Northern California.

b) Girls Commissioner Update: Several incidents with clubs taking responsibility on discipline.

c) High School Commissioner Update: Folsom, Cordova hosting High School championships on May 16 and 17. Chico only has 9-games due to a rain out. They have been unsuccessful trying to reschedule their 10th game due to distance/travel issues. Mike removed himself from discussion and deferred to Betty.


d) Seniors Commissioner Update: David Bagman will be at the San Jose Delegates meeting. Each championship is slightly different. Seniors will not be playing on May 9. There are 12-B1 and B2 teams. There are 8-A teams. 12 will play on May 16 or 17, two-different days. Seeds 5 through 12 play in the morning; winners will play seeds 1 through 4 in the afternoon at Alhambra High School, with an overflow field at Los Lomas. Seeding is determined by the Commissioners. All Championships will be held at Diablo Valley on May 31. Sportsmanship is a concern at the Senior level. League needs to remind coaches that sportsmanship is required of all players and coaching staff. League also has new officials which makes the situation challenging.

e) Juniors Commissioner Update: To ensure inclusiveness all teams with a record over 500 are in the playoffs. Skyline and Napa were encourage to play “A” but did not. This was not a good season for some teams. For this year the league has big changes. Every “A” team is invited to post-season play.

U13A: 12-teams. Seeds 5 through 12 will play on May 9 and seeds 1 through 4 have a bi to the Elite 8 on May 16 at Sequoia High School, Redwood City. Championship will be at Diablo on May 30 (Juniors) and May 31 (Seniors).

U13 B1: 16-teams. The higher seeds can host the lower seeds; first round will be May 9. B1 winners will play at the Elite 8 on May 16, location TBA.

U13 B2: 12-teams. Same system at B1, top 4 seeded teams have a bi. Seeds 5 through 12 will play on May 9. The league needs to take a look at criteria for A and B teams.

f) Lightning Commissioner Update: “A” teams only have playoffs. 8-teams are in the playoffs; all on May 16 at Sequoia High School. Championships will be at Diablo Valley Middle school on May 30. There is a U11 B “championship” event that is not approved by the NCJLA. The NCJLA will let them play lacrosse, but they are on their own and need to make sure their insurance will cover the event.

g) Bantam Commissioner Update: Mario will distribute invitations to all U9 teams to participate at Cherry Island. Field 1 and 2 at noon and 1:30pm. 4-games total with 3-hours to play.

2. NCJLA Lax Jam: All teams must bring 6-new balls for each end-line. Clocks, horns, laminated cards and score sheets must to be brought as well. $5.00 for parking. 2-fields are added for Sunday. Playoff rosters must be updated by May 1. After May 1 the rosters will be locked, no changes will be made. Clubs that do not follow these rules will be ineligible.

3. Championships Weekend: The Diablo Scorpions have requested every club provide 2-volunteers for May 30 and May 31 championships.

4. Treasurer’s Report: We are on a tight budget, every penny is accounted for. We have a good reserve but the Board needs to approve usage.

5. Referee Update: If you have an incident with an official, you must submit a report to Keith, and then Keith will contact Steve Walker. Remind coaches that parents must be on the far-side of the field and unsportsmanship behavior will not be tolerated. Excessive yelling during a game is inappropriate, especially negative and aggressive comments. Coaches must remind parents/spectators to contain themselves and some coaches must be reminded as well.

The Junior referees are doing a great job. This season has seen a high number of unsportsmanship conduct ejections. League must determine what is the acceptable number of ejections per 100 games. Steve wants feedback on incidents involving parents and coaches.

For next season; game time-slots must be reviewed. The age/grade for officials has been raised to 15 years-old/9th grade. If you have a schedule change after Wednesday, there is not much that can be done to find referees for that weekend.

6. NCJLA travel teams:

U15 team will play in the National Championships in Baltimore and the U13 team will play at the National Festival in Ohio. Stipends are for FESTIVAL teams only.

Ben from Berkeley will review the “Code of Conduct” for coaches.

Pleasanton Lacrosse Club has donated $1500.00 to the NCJLA and the league is asking all clubs to make a donation.

7. Adjournment:

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00p.m.