OMGBA Board Meeting Minutes
OMGBA Board Meeting Minutes January 13, 2014 Meeting Called to Order: 7:00 p.m. Guests: Andy Aubut, Karen Moroz, Jon Resman, Harry Kennedy, Aaron Hayhurst, David Miller, William Eucker, Denise Galvin, Mike Sides, Terri Sides Special Guest: Dave Rieser, Osseo Sr. High Girls Varsity Coach Board Member Changes (new to board, new positions, or leaving board): Andy Aubut and Jon Resman were unanimously voted onto the Board. Information Director’s Report (Karole Hanson): A motion was made to approve the December minutes. MOTION APPROVED Treasurer’s Report (Gary LaPalme): Financials are provided to the Executive Board each month electronically. If you have specific questions or need more information about the financials, feel free to contact any of the Executive Board members. Final numbers are in for fees from both the boys and girls tournaments. We ended up with a little larger net profit than originally estimated. Profits from the girls’ tournament were approximately $33,940 and $62,890 for the boys. Committee Reports Building Committee (Jim Davison) We were not awarded the Hennepin County Trust grant this year. We will have another opportunity to apply for the grant next year and will work on garnishing more support. The MG Dome did not receive the grant the first year either but was awarded it the following year. We are hopeful the same holds true for our building. We have our second, larger payment to the city due on February 1, in the amount of $900,000. All CD’s have been liquidated and the money is available in our building fund. Our next step in the process will be to start determining how to best utilize the facility. Many programs will be expanded once the new facility is available. We are looking into requiring volunteer hours from all participants in order to meet the demands of the expansion. Cori Davison is looking into the Dibbs program available through NGIN to track volunteers. Special Guest Dave Rieser, OSH Varsity Girls’ Basketball coach, came to speak to the Board to discuss the dwindling number of Osseo students participating in our programs. In the past, we were able to support separate teams from each school. We had to combine the teams a few years back as Osseo numbers dwindled.
We do currently flyer the elementary schools that our organization supports. We also send a representative to the elementary schools during their open houses, as well as both OJH and MGJH during registration. We do review addresses, as does the Brooklyn Park association, to ensure that players are signing up with the correct organization. We also offer full and partial scholarships for those who qualify and apply during the registration window. In some instances, transportation to/from practice and games prevents some families from being able to participate and, while we are not equipped as an association to handle that issue, there are a few coaches who do transport players on their own. Suggestions were made to perhaps get the high school booster clubs and high school players to help with recruiting players into our program from the Osseo High School attendance area. Visitor Concerns There were several coaches from the Jr. High House program present with concerns regarding practice times. The majority of practices allotted to their house teams have had 10 pm ending times. In addition, it is their understanding that travel teams are practicing as much as 3 times a week and most of their practices don’t end at 10. The late practice times make it difficult to develop any skills because kids are exhausted by that time. In addition, practices are very short, sometimes only an hour. Practice times for the travel teams are not made available to the other coaches and this lack of transparency causes concern. The association is supposed to serve as a feeder program, developing all of the players, the coaches feel the association is too heavily skewed towards the travel program at the expense of its house program. Cori Davison addressed the majority of their concerns. According to the By-laws, travel teams are scheduled for 2 practices per week and house programs are scheduled for one with the exception of the Sr High program which receives very little time at all. Of the two scheduled practice times, travel teams usually have one early and one late practice. The 7th and 8th grade teams often have both late. All levels of travel, including 4th grade teams, do have late practices scheduled. There are some coaches who schedule additional practices at churches and gyms outside of our organization (such as the MG Community Center) on their own often for an additional cost for their teams. Travel teams from other associations around the metro also have at least 2 practices and we must provide that to our teams in order to remain competitive. Gym time for the Jr High program is provided in blocks to Phil Waljasper, the coordinator, who then assigns the time based on coaches’ requests. Practice time slots for all programs can often run an hour and 20 minutes, but never less than that. Gym time is severely restricted during January and February as we compete with the schools and community for space. We often do not have access to the gyms until 8pm. Jim Davison explained that our association is unique in that it is comprised of both boys and girls and both house and travel programs. He also read from the proposal for the
new facility where the majority of the goals set out in the plan regard expanding the length of house programs and provide additional practice times for those programs. There was some discussion regarding the difference in fees between the two programs. It was explained that built into the house fees are referee costs. Travel teams don’t pay for referees, the cost is incurred as part of their tournament fees. Also discussed was why we continue to expand the programs by allowing for more participants when gym time is a concern. Most of the expansion has occurred by filling out the teams that we have as opposed to adding more teams. Finally, there were questions regarding whether coaches were allowed to give feedback regarding the officials. Eddie Drag explained that issues with officials should first be funneled through the appropriate coordinator who will then investigate and work with Eddie as needed. Old Business MN Timberwolves Game Matt Bare from the Timberwolves has invited Board members to attend the Timberwolves vs Portland game on Saturday, February 8th. A suite will be provided for up to 16 participants. Only Board members are invited. Matt and his boss will be discussing opportunities they can offer for our 1900 participants. Board members were asked to contact Jim if interested. Metro Traveling Basketball League There is a movement to try to create a league for traveling basketball. Teams will no longer participate in tournaments instead they will play teams within their league over the course of 10 weekends with 3 games per weekend and have a season ending tournament for the league (34 games). No Friday night games and no games scheduled for Sunday before noon. The season would run mid-November through February. The risk is that we have a longstanding tradition of hosting a home tournament, we raise a significant amount of money that funnels into a building fund as a result. We are also looking to expand tournaments we host in order to continue to fund and support the new facility. We will have a few board members able to attend the next meeting of the group that is supporting the league. In addition, a few board members will be reaching out to other associations to hear their thoughts on the issue. Department Reports Elementary Commissioner Report (Cori Davison) First and Second Grade – The winter program has started and is running smoothly. Moving forward to the 2015-2016 season, we are looking to add kindergarten to the 1st/2nd grade program in the fall of 2015. Team formation will be based on grades and teams will play within their age group although some combining of teams may be required on the girls’ side. The winter session for the second grade program will change to a league type format similar to the 3rd grade program. For future years, the second graders will continue to have a fall program similar to how it currently exists, with the change to league each winter.
Third and Fourth Grade – We are considering, beginning with the 2015-2016 season, the 3rd grade program continuing to run as is, but with an extended season. The 4th grade program will also continue as is with house being offered, then travel team tryouts. We will continue to offer support for 4th graders who do not make a travel team but want to continue to practice. Fifth and Sixth Grade – We are planning that the 5th grade program will continue as it currently set up while the6th graders will be added to the Northwest Suburban League beginning with the 2015-2016 season. Meeting Adjourned: 8:50 pm. Next Board Meeting: Monday, February 17th at 7pm - MGCC.
We do currently flyer the elementary schools that our organization supports. We also send a representative to the elementary schools during their open houses, as well as both OJH and MGJH during registration. We do review addresses, as does the Brooklyn Park association, to ensure that players are signing up with the correct organization. We also offer full and partial scholarships for those who qualify and apply during the registration window. In some instances, transportation to/from practice and games prevents some families from being able to participate and, while we are not equipped as an association to handle that issue, there are a few coaches who do transport players on their own. Suggestions were made to perhaps get the high school booster clubs and high school players to help with recruiting players into our program from the Osseo High School attendance area. Visitor Concerns There were several coaches from the Jr. High House program present with concerns regarding practice times. The majority of practices allotted to their house teams have had 10 pm ending times. In addition, it is their understanding that travel teams are practicing as much as 3 times a week and most of their practices don’t end at 10. The late practice times make it difficult to develop any skills because kids are exhausted by that time. In addition, practices are very short, sometimes only an hour. Practice times for the travel teams are not made available to the other coaches and this lack of transparency causes concern. The association is supposed to serve as a feeder program, developing all of the players, the coaches feel the association is too heavily skewed towards the travel program at the expense of its house program. Cori Davison addressed the majority of their concerns. According to the By-laws, travel teams are scheduled for 2 practices per week and house programs are scheduled for one with the exception of the Sr High program which receives very little time at all. Of the two scheduled practice times, travel teams usually have one early and one late practice. The 7th and 8th grade teams often have both late. All levels of travel, including 4th grade teams, do have late practices scheduled. There are some coaches who schedule additional practices at churches and gyms outside of our organization (such as the MG Community Center) on their own often for an additional cost for their teams. Travel teams from other associations around the metro also have at least 2 practices and we must provide that to our teams in order to remain competitive. Gym time for the Jr High program is provided in blocks to Phil Waljasper, the coordinator, who then assigns the time based on coaches’ requests. Practice time slots for all programs can often run an hour and 20 minutes, but never less than that. Gym time is severely restricted during January and February as we compete with the schools and community for space. We often do not have access to the gyms until 8pm. Jim Davison explained that our association is unique in that it is comprised of both boys and girls and both house and travel programs. He also read from the proposal for the
new facility where the majority of the goals set out in the plan regard expanding the length of house programs and provide additional practice times for those programs. There was some discussion regarding the difference in fees between the two programs. It was explained that built into the house fees are referee costs. Travel teams don’t pay for referees, the cost is incurred as part of their tournament fees. Also discussed was why we continue to expand the programs by allowing for more participants when gym time is a concern. Most of the expansion has occurred by filling out the teams that we have as opposed to adding more teams. Finally, there were questions regarding whether coaches were allowed to give feedback regarding the officials. Eddie Drag explained that issues with officials should first be funneled through the appropriate coordinator who will then investigate and work with Eddie as needed. Old Business MN Timberwolves Game Matt Bare from the Timberwolves has invited Board members to attend the Timberwolves vs Portland game on Saturday, February 8th. A suite will be provided for up to 16 participants. Only Board members are invited. Matt and his boss will be discussing opportunities they can offer for our 1900 participants. Board members were asked to contact Jim if interested. Metro Traveling Basketball League There is a movement to try to create a league for traveling basketball. Teams will no longer participate in tournaments instead they will play teams within their league over the course of 10 weekends with 3 games per weekend and have a season ending tournament for the league (34 games). No Friday night games and no games scheduled for Sunday before noon. The season would run mid-November through February. The risk is that we have a longstanding tradition of hosting a home tournament, we raise a significant amount of money that funnels into a building fund as a result. We are also looking to expand tournaments we host in order to continue to fund and support the new facility. We will have a few board members able to attend the next meeting of the group that is supporting the league. In addition, a few board members will be reaching out to other associations to hear their thoughts on the issue. Department Reports Elementary Commissioner Report (Cori Davison) First and Second Grade – The winter program has started and is running smoothly. Moving forward to the 2015-2016 season, we are looking to add kindergarten to the 1st/2nd grade program in the fall of 2015. Team formation will be based on grades and teams will play within their age group although some combining of teams may be required on the girls’ side. The winter session for the second grade program will change to a league type format similar to the 3rd grade program. For future years, the second graders will continue to have a fall program similar to how it currently exists, with the change to league each winter.
Third and Fourth Grade – We are considering, beginning with the 2015-2016 season, the 3rd grade program continuing to run as is, but with an extended season. The 4th grade program will also continue as is with house being offered, then travel team tryouts. We will continue to offer support for 4th graders who do not make a travel team but want to continue to practice. Fifth and Sixth Grade – We are planning that the 5th grade program will continue as it currently set up while the6th graders will be added to the Northwest Suburban League beginning with the 2015-2016 season. Meeting Adjourned: 8:50 pm. Next Board Meeting: Monday, February 17th at 7pm - MGCC.
