Webster Youth Hockey Association Committee Meeting Minutes September 18, :30 PM

Transcription

1 Webster Youth Hockey Association Committee Meeting Minutes September 18, :30 PM ATTENDEES Board Members: Darrin Jones, Tom Flaherty, Fred Campbell, Todd Bezenah, Tammy Hall, Heather De Vries Committee Members: Tom Klee, Dan Sullivan, Umbereen Mustafa, Jeff Hall, John Knowles Guest s: REPORTS President - Darrin Jones -USA Hockey Membership Agreement sent in. -Darrin Jones Elected VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH by USA Hockey. Ace - Jeff Hall Cyclone Challenge: -Went well, 5 divisions (PW Minor and Major, Bantam Minor and Major, Midget 15U/16U) with 6 Webster teams. -Spread sheet with details and sensitive information was sent to the board. -Referee incident in the Midget 15U/16U championship game. Ref called an Onondaga player a name. I informed the president of RIOHA and the ref was given a 5 day suspension for his actions after referee John Rivera admitted that he committed the violation. Seems a little light to me. -4 of 5 championship games had Webster teams playing. Three Webster champions crowned. Possible article for the Cyclones Carrie!! -Volunteering an issue, need to figure out how to get more involved (maybe voting rights require volunteer hours at tournaments or every parent must contribute 2 hours). -Basket Raffles and 50/50 successful and add a nice vibe to tournament. -Big thanks to everyone, especially the Klee s, Andy Taylor, Tammy Hall, the Campbell s, Katie Gibb and all those that assisted above and beyond. -Add more to lobby in future (fun/free things for the age appropriate?). -In future recommend making this a 4 division tournament. PW Minor and Major, Bantam Minor and Major makes a lot of sense. Just about all games could be played at Webster and would make things much less complicated from a planning and running stand point. -Would like to run a Girls tournament at the end of the season (if possible). G14U and G16U tier II, 6 team divisions with 4 game minimum. At very least design for season. ACE: -West Section Ace Meeting on 9/13. Discussed safe sport, RWB program upgrades and safe sport/other requirements including deadlines. New West Section ACE Coordinator; Jeff Curry from Geneseo. -Webster RWB underway with ADM practices, ADM station based practice ran on Monday with USA Hockey regional ADM Coordinator, Dave Hayman involved. Coaches/Level Coordinator meeting after. Dave mentioned that we need more coaches for these practices, looking to add HS, G16U and Bantam Major players for assistant. Some coaches missing due to early 5 pm time slot. -ADM in house jamboree on Wednesday. Used this opportunity to train coaches and parents on rink dividers. Goalie gear given to teams. -Pinnies and water bottles to be given to teams for effective ADM practices/jamborees. -Talked to John Tuite about making the gate where the dividers are stored into a double gate so that the dividers can be safely moved in and out of the fenced area. He agreed this was a good idea and was going to look into making it happen. -PW house also running station based practices. 1

2 -Will need to work with the Squirts house next. Then Bantam house. -May add practice plan collections to verify process is being used. -Will combine Development practices for all levels combined (Squirt, PW and Bantam). If registration numbers exceed 40 we will revisit this decision. These practices to begin in early October. -Need Squirt level coordinator, PW/Bantam level coordinator and ADM Coordinator still. -Going to be hard to perform entire process, especially player tracker sheets, without these positions filled. -Recommend combining the ACE Coordinator with the VP of Player Development position as a voting board member under the new by-laws. Travel - Fred Campbell -Two coaches have not registered with WYHA, Managers have been notified. -Received an invoice from WNY, we are being fined for score sheet not being completed properly/completely. -NYS mandates that Screening, Safe Sport and USA Hockey Modules be completed by 10/1/14. Travel committee Report- September 17, Thanks to everyone that attended the WNYAHL Annual Meeting and Scheduling day. The schedules with game numbers are posted for Bantam, Pee Wee and Squirt. Teams will have 7 days to contact the league with any changes. 2. Game schedules have been forwarded to RIHOA for referees. 3. We received our invoice for nine teams from WNYAHL, $250 per team totaling $2, Invoice due Oct. 15 th. 4. We received our first fine from WNYAHL for the U18 team s first game on 9/4/14. The fine is for $25 for not correctly completing the score sheet. No level, division, scorekeeper or on/off Times were listed. Fines are cumulative so to all managers please take the required time to complete the score sheets. 5. The September WNYAHL General Meeting was not held because of the Annual Scheduling Meeting. 6. Just a reminder as we get the season into full swing and the penalties start to add up. Read WNYAHL guide book and know the rules. Match penalties and game misconducts: WYHA must be notified by completing the appropriate form at wyha.com. All misconducts also must be completed on WNYAHL site Must also report match penalties. Failure to do so coach is suspended for a game Review new rules / changes /All Rules a. 411 Aggressive play/major penalties b. 15 penalties-coaching suspension 1 game c. 3 majors in a game- mandatory coaching suspension 1game d. 3 majors for a player during a season-3 game suspension e. 2 misconducts/5 penalties- game misconduct 7. Congratulations to Jeff and Tammy Hall on a tremendous Cyclone Challenge Travel tournament. Five divisions and 20 teams. Thank you to everyone that volunteered and special thanks to the Klee s and Andy Taylor. Other than the traditional ref grousing the players and families were very complimentary of a tournament well run. Thank you again to everyone that volunteered and the Broccolo s for taking my 7:15 AM Sunday morning time slot. This was a terrific way to start the season with four Webster teams making it to the championship game. Reminders a. All coaches module to be completed by October 1 st. All coaches screened prior to working with kids. Equipment - Frank Riggi (not in attendance) -House jerseys and socks are on order. Same for pucks, pails, First Aid kits, and ice packs for House coaches. -RWB teams already have their loaner goalie sets. -Done with Travel jerseys. All distributed, socks too. 2

3 VP of Girls - Tammy Hall/ John Knowles (Assistant VP) - Girls Pre-read; This is my report for tonight. I will respond to questions tonight if there are any. Tom - I need a check for league fees for the GLGHL on the 10/5 meeting as noted below. - Girls 12UNTB - At this time, following late registrations, there is enough to make a 12UNTB team which John Knowles will be working with those parents to garner interest. We will then work with GLGHL to see if we can put the girls into the division to compete against all girl teams. These girls are dual rostered on an Empire team (first priority) and then on a girls team (2nd priority). We still need to determine how much additional ice will be needed as these girls already have a practice schedule with their Empire house teams. The girls games will need to be scheduled outside of conflicts for their Empire teams. Parents will pay for the additional ice needs. -Girls 14UNTB - This is really a 16UNTB team as there is one girl on the team (Coffed) who is overaged by 1 day. The team will officially be noted as a 16UNTB team with West Section, but on our website, etc. we will note them as a 14UNTB team. The roster is healthy. -Girls 14UTB - This team is set. -Girls 16UTB - This team is set. -Girls 19UNTB - this team folded. Several girls left the organization to play with other orgs that had 19U teams. Releases and refunds are being given including tryout charges and registration fees as we did not fulfill the obligation as noted. The remainder girls will play on the pickup hockey team. The cost differential vs. what each player paid will need to be sorted out. -The Great Lakes Girls Hockey League (GLGHL) scheduling meeting is Sunday 10/5, 9am at Batavia Downs Racetrack. Coaches/Managers are expected to bring Rosters, League Fees and enough ice time to schedule their games. Treasurer Tom Flaherty See Attachment #1, page 5 House Todd Bezenah 1. Preliminary team counts were given to Empire by Carl Provenzano(4-RWB, 2-Squirts, 2-PeeWee,2-Bantam) 2. Coach's update Missing two Safe Sport. 3. Team Jersey updates They are in, they just need to be silk screened. 4. Mascot Trying to get Salvatore s to sponsor (Patti Powers) Action Item: 1) Beginners Program J. Dziedzic get program up and presented on Website. 2) Forward Darrin Dates that the Background Checks were actually applied for. Ice/Ref Scheduler - Dan Sullivan -Suggested WYHA have a posted schedule of events/deadlines just as Empire Amateur Hockey Conference does. -All travel games have been scheduled -Girl games ice scheduled -House practice ice scheduled through 10/12/14 -House games ice scheduling 10/7/14, boys ice will be scheduled after girls schedules are completed on 10/5/14 -Girls Coaches will receive Game ice schedule by Sunday afternoon or Monday -Bill Hammond to enter practices into schedule, Managers to enter games and opponents. USA/NYSAHA - Tom Klee USA Hockey Western NY meeting notes from Sat 9/12/14. -Level 4 coaching clinic is the 1st weekend in December in Rochester (Sat & Sun). Details to follow from Mike Ackerman -Did we send our USA Hockey Membership Agreement? It was due 9/12/14. (Yes, per Darrin) 3

4 -Score sheet review by Referee's prior to all Tournament bound team games. Communications Director - Umbereen Mustafa See attachment #2, page 7 Action Item: 1) List of Important Dates published on the website. VP of Hockey (not in attendance) Secretary - Heather De Vries Nothing at this time. Action Item: 1) Post 9/18/14 Committee Meeting Minutes on the website. Registrar Darrin Jones - Beginners/Developmental Program Coordinator John Dziedzic - Pictures - Tara Broccolo - Adjourned: 8:35 PM Respectfully Submitted: Heather De Vries Secretary 4

5 ATTACHMENT 1 Treasurer Report April 30 th 2014 tax return: It has been extended as there is still some QuickBooks data input that needs to be done for the period of November 2013-April Steve Solimano and his staff at the tax accounting firm see this extension as not being a problem. WYHA receivables: WYHA gives several options to parents as to how to pay for their child or children s registration fees for the season. They are: -$150 check or credit card payment in March or April 2014 at evaluations or travel tryouts that then is synced up by the parent when they actually register the child with USA and then WYHA. -Early bird by check or credit card June 30, 2014 that saves $50 per child of registration fee -Check or credit card by August 31, 2014 to pay for the season without a $25 penalty. -Entering into a payment plan with 4-5 installments to be paid in FULL by check or credit card by December 31, From what I can tell, the seasons and prior resulted in several families NOT paying for their child or children to play hockey. Simply said, WYHA s best leverage to assure they pay is to not allow the child on the ice by a certain date if a) Full registration is not paid or b) default on an installment payment plan. That is what we are doing for the season. However, such leverage appears to have not been used in past seasons and thus those unpaid balances from season and prior have to be written off, especially if the family is no longer in the organization in It s hard for me to tell without going back in the system and doing a forensic audit, but I would estimate that over $15,000 has been written off in the last 3-4 years. Treasurer has been working in concert with Registrar, VP of Girls, House, and Travel in this effort to make sure ALL registration fees have been paid for season or that payment plans have been entered into and 1 st installments paid in September I m confident that our combined effort will result in having little or NO write offs of registration fees for the season Lessons learned from my first registration/family pay cycle: I become treasurer of WYHA in December In such, the March 2014 evaluations/travel tryouts through to August 31 st deadline to pay without $25 penalty for the season was my 1 ST FORAY IN THIS PROCESS: What I have learned that will help me immeasurable for next year or the next treasurer that I hand this info off to: Proper registration classifications on WYHA site are imperative: If a parent is confused on which team he/she is registering their child for (I.E. Girls house versus Girls 12U NTB) then the registration and payment process will be a mess. It appeared that for season, the registration classifications for the Girls program was confusing so hopefully we can remedy that for the season. Did not seem to be such confusion in House bantam verses pee wee or travel bantam versus travel pee wee. Garbage in Garbage out: The WYHA registration and payment system is VERY intuitive and tutorial in my opinion. However, if a parent does NOT follow the instructions, we end up with $150 evaluation checks or credit card payments in March/April 2014 that do NOT sync up with their child s registration and remaining balance. Another problem is parents making general credit card payments and not making them from the registration system so that the payment syncs up to their child s registration and posts to their account Many parents have told me I paid $150 in March/April but the system is not reflecting that. I then have to go back in the system to see if any of the checks I deposited in March/April match up to their assertion. I am NOT versed yet in how to look up in the system the credit card payments from march/april 2014 to see if there are ones that were made by a parent that has not synced to their child account. Hopefully Darrin or Bill can show me how to do that 5

6 *Payment plans: As of Monday 9/15/14, WYHA is entered into ten (10) payment plans for the season with two(2) more pending based on parent promises to them or snail mail them back to me this week. Approx. half of these plans are credit or debit card payments and the other half are checks the family will mail to WYHA These plans are manually managed with the Treasurer going in each month and processing the credit or debit card payments or posting that check has been received and depositing the check in the bank. Once payment plan is entered into, the WYHA system shows NO balance due from that family for the season. However, the risk remains that default can occur anytime between September 1 and December 31, 2014on the installment payments. If such default occurs, I will work with VP of girls, house, and travel to formulate the best balance of Public relations and fiscal integrity for WYHA plan to approach the family and the potential that their child could be removed from the ice. Future Treasurer moves (September 18- December 31, 2014) - Research updated QuickBooks 2014 version where Canandaigua National Bank statement data on the 4 accounts WYHA has there auto populates to QuickBooks to produce monthly financial statements for presentation at Board/officer meetings and for the preparation for the annual tax return submission - Research the option of having bookkeeping assistance to treasurer in the form of either a) volunteer from WYHA family or b) paid firm like Yeager and Treviso - Work with Travel, House, and Girls team managers to assure the process of submission for coach and manager reimbursements in go smoother than Continue work as Chair of the By Law committee to interface with the current WYHA Board/officers on getting 1999 WYHA BY Laws amended and ratified. Ideal situation in my opinion would be: # By Law committee meet with Board/officers at the October 2014 Board/officer meeting # November 2014 annual meeting ratifies the amended by laws. At that annual meeting, it is motioned and agreed on to move the annual meeting from November to March. It is also motioned and agreed on to extend ALL current board/officer expiration dates of their terms from November to March (I.E. a November 2014 expiration would now be March 2015) # a nominating committee would be formed in November-December 2014 to identify and vet candidates/volunteers that are looking to be up for election at the March 2015 annual meeting. # first election of newly amended by laws occurs at the March 2015 annual meeting with the March 2015 expiring termed officers up for election at that time 6

7 ATTACHMENT 2 Communications / Marketing Proposal: Confirm long term Objectives: 1. Membership: a. Sustain, Grow b. Drive involvement / volunteerism 2. Programming a. Define targets: i. Tailor to specific objectives or meet needs of all? (travel, house, TB) b. Establish consistent programming c. Communicate programming annually 3. Communications a. Transparency b. Balance volume of information (programming and social) 4. Distribution lists manage carefully a. Who is on mailing list used for courier? b. List people can opt into on web? 5. Fund raising a. Organizational or team based? b. Promotion of sponsors? c. Priorities for expenditures? i. I.e. Subsidies, Scholarships Tactics: 1. Create open channel of information flow from and to the organization a. Courier monthly i. Solicit items from coaches / managers ii. Coach list October iii. Manager list Nov b. Manage distribution lists c. Website who are we? What do we stand for? 2. Volunteerism a. List committees online brief description and wish list for volunteers 3. Create an identity family-friendly, child-oriented hockey organization a. social events i. Fall open skate and donuts for all? Meet and greet? ii. Spring TBD iii. Kickoff event for b. Sponsors promote and build community goodwill i. Web ii. Flyers 4. Obtain feedback from current and past families a. Immediate (post by 9/26, results at October 16 meeting) b. annual 5. Determine growth objectives (long term) Web Site Updates: 1. Short term 7

8 a. Update cyclone tournament challenge i. Internal what happens to funds raised? b. Change format to headline only for home page i. Make it clear and appealing to visit limit to one page if possible ii. Group like info (cyclone challenge in 3 blocks should only have one) iii. c. Limit what s on home page to headlines and link to other pages for details. i. Scroll option is redundant to details below. Either scroll through headlines or have them listed below not both 2. Long term a. Add all team sponsors to home page encourages more involvement from community i. On team pages add blurb about sponsors encourage teams to do this 3. Under Club Contacts a. Club contacts i. Break list into two or three groups Committee Chairs Board Members (Exec and Directors) ii. Organize List in alphabetical order Committee Name, not person s name iii. List contact info as table short and easy to print iv. show addresses v. let link go to an not a form b. Coaches and Managers a. Update list b. Make sure order same for all (sometimes manager first near bottom) c. About WYHA remove intro presentation or update d. Reduce left navigation bar group into nav bar above e. Voting roles and Terms needs to be updated i. Add a brief description for committees ii. Make link to or contact name a hyperlink from person s name instead of separate line that says click to ? iii. Update list I think there may have been changes made Survey: 1. Program Involvement o Currently registered o Interested in joining o Former skater 2. Level of skater (how do we handle if more than one skater per family) 3. Goals for skater (how do we handle if more than one skater per family) 4. Interest in getting involved o Tournaments organization o List Committees o Club Administration 5. Rate performance o Satisfied to unsatisfied open box for why 6. Rate value o Good value, poor value open box for why 8