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1 Minutes of the Board of Directors (BOD) Meeting Great Lakes Region (GLR) - USA Volleyball (USAV) Sunday, November 21 st, 2010 Aurelio s Restaurant Addison, IL In Attendance: Sandy Abbinanti, Donna Smith, Angelo Iasillo, Paul Ickes, Lea Wagner, KC Johnsen, Pam Campbell, Erin Lorenz, Joe Gedvilas, Janet Galvin, Jeanine Hoskin, Mark Cimaroli, Mike Hulett, Scott Harris, Dan Ames, Keith Kujawa, Cindy Gritzman, and Lori Cozzens. Absent: Mary Malpede, Dean Hoskin, Alan Feder, Deb DiMatteo, and Paula McAleese. 1. Welcome: The November, 21 st, 2010 BOD Meeting for GLR of USA Volleyball was called to order by Commissioner Sandy Abbinanti at 6:30 PM. Sandy welcomed both the new members to the BOD of GLR as well as the returning BOD members. 2. Sandy then stated that the meeting will be conducted under Robert s Rules of Order. 3. Review and Approval of Minutes- Sunday, July 18 th, 2010 GLR BOD Meeting. No revisions to the Minutes were required. Lea made a motion to approve the Minutes as submitted and seconded by KC. Sandy then called the Motion to a vote: APPROVED.

2 4. Information for New BOD Members: Angelo then spoke about the GLR BOD Memorandum of Understanding. All Board Members were/ are required to sign the document and submit it to Sandy. 5. Standing Committee Reports: Commissioner s Report Sandy: Sandy made available to the BOD extensive information that included: October 2010 RVA Meeting Sandy (N.B. statements in bold emphasized and/or discussed further!) Background Screening: 77 disqualifications from 30 different regions, 27 Multiple drug and alcohol offenses, 25 Individuals were disqualified because of violence, 7 False applications, 5 Sex offenses, 4 Crimes against children New legislation in Florida - youth sports coaches must be background screened every year Insurance - $500,000 plus in the reserve ($250,000 deductible for sexual abuse/molestation) Incident report form must be sent by the club to the Region and then sent to American Specialty Insurance. Elective - Medical Malpractice insurance policy is going to be offered to clubs for any volunteer medical personnel. USAV insurance will not cover if there are AAU, JVA and/or USAV players in one facility for competition and practice. USAV D&O insurance is different from USAV liability insurance RVA Contingency fund - $4000 Insurance Committee Report See Report

3 Competition Committee There was discussion regarding: seeding criteria for the adult nationals, NORCECA qualifying tournament, problem with non contrasting Libero uniforms or numbers (teams need to get uniform approval), should there be a 12 and under division at Nationals? Structure and Function RVA manual is a work in progress. Nominating Committee RVAA chair (there is no criteria or job description), there needs to be a standing nominating committee. Jon Lee - $10 increase was defeated by RVA but approved by the Board, Regional Membership was also defeated, Board passed background screen policy for all Board members, and a Committee for Athletes Safeguards was formed. RVAs would like to know how much money is being brought in from the membership increase and where the money will be going. Doug Beal presented Cecile Reynaud s report on Safeguards for Athletes. Approximately 25% of young girls will be abused and a slightly less percent of boys. USAV is doing a good job about this problem but we can always do more. Background screening, while effective and important is not the do all; end all, for this problem. Many things must be implemented -pre screening, mandated reporting, staffing issues (athlete s safety director). A Task Force will be formed help implement the safeguards. Margie Mara- Concussion education update. Education material is included in the IMPACT manual information and sent to Regions for distribution. Each club should have a list of their practices and competitions listed on line to hold the clubs accountable for their activities Ali Wood Beach is expanding staff to be more responsive to the regions. Chula Vista (Venice) is a new six court beach facility. Growth is increasing most in the tryout area but also an increase in camps. Now that (AVCA) AVP Next is defunct it is a good time for USAV to step in and provide services for beach. Beach schedule is being distributed through magazines and small handouts. (Rick Schantz Elevation)

4 Kerry Klostermann the RVA Ad Min manual must come into alignment with USAV Bylaws etc. John Bryant Ad Min manual is being reviewed. Bylaws need to be updated, who votes, weighted votes and job descriptions. Chuck Stemm/Margie Mara Reciprocity agreement between regions All RVAs of USAV will honor all sanctions up to and including suspensions of membership/registration imposed of individual/teams/clubs by other RVAs/USAV for any ethics violations for the full term of the sanction. Margie Mara Review of membership season dates will be discussed in May Mary Jo Hardy Collegiate memberships and opportunities. NCVF club championships are being sanctioned by USAV. There need to be consistent fees between regions. Rules testing USAV would like to be aware of rule modifications and have the ability to say no to certain modifications for safety purposes. Doug Beal State of the Game USAV held a staff retreat In partnership with UCO we held the largest sitting tournament Women s group qualified for London. USAV is hoping that they will become the NGB for sitting volleyball. USAV is not purchasing AVP but will be increasing our beach efforts. Looking to host more International matches World League for men and Grand Prix for women and the NORCECA Beach event. Tom Pingel Inside HP Championships will be held in Tucson AZ July 26 to 30, 2011 HP Coaches clinic will be held at the Olympic Training Center Jan ,2011

5 Margie Mara Officiating Report Tomas Hoy will now be running camps Michele Crater will do referee development Test B is almost complete. A & C are ready and will be available around Oct website is very good Mike Chandler Stays to Play Comp rooms are available when clubs book 20 rooms. THS is addressing our concerns. Double elimination round will be presented this year Proposal - NORCECA Championship would be run at our Nationals For the 2010 Championships USAV knew that there were many changes that needed to make and they were made. If 12s and under need to be included the younger divisions will not be able to play just AM waves. The consensus is that it would be fine if the younger ages played in the PM wave, provided that they are out of the facility by 10:30 PM. Adult Nationals 2011 Dallas Ranking system is going live this year. Mike will send screen shots Diana Cole Coaching Education IMPACT Manual is completed (on the jump drive) Available IMPACT webinar will be held this Monday and Tuesday night Instructor refresher classes have been held already with a CAP recertification module Has trained four new IMPACT instructors John Kessel - Grassroots Program Disable program is growing and Mike Hulett is once again involved at the Zonal level Military/college age memberships - $21

6 Youth volleyball blog Why USA Volleyball Supplement (linked to our website?) Club licensing Florida GOLD SEAL/ SILVER SEAL (on Florida website) 11x17 Poster for marketing programs play volleyball? (on Florida website) Look at the Dare and Share section of the grassroots section What are our funding priorities? Send suggestions to John Kessel Team building Lynne Updegraff Parents as Partners Initiative Haiti Street Project Marketing Kerry Klostermann Many discounts are available on the USAV website Coupon Book offer available on the website (customized for each club) Spaulding agreement each region gets two systems. We need to send back a statement on how the courts will be used. Steve Bishop Financial Report Total assets increased $3262,942 from $2684,151 Net surplus - $768,042 up from $255,026 Profitability Ratio this year 6.6% last year 1.9% Brad Preston from AES provides Event format with real time results approximate cost - $9.00 per team. John Bryant was elected RVAA Chair October 7, 8 & Mid Year Meetings in Denver Lake Effect Report Sandy A number of USA Volleyball Regions have been affected by JVA. Michigan has lost almost all of their members and Indiana has lost 70% of members. Wisconsin seems to be doing fine and GLR is in pretty good shape overall at this point. A

7 meeting was held with a number of RVA leaders, they discussed the following, and they issued the Lake Effect Report. Highlights of the report include: 1. Culminating Tournament (Invitational/Festival) next year- perhaps Orlando to trump AAU? Keith questioned whether boys and girls would be combined for thisthere were problems before with this plus not enough space. 2. Grow and brand USA Volleyball 3. Service our members 4. Facilitate all volleyball 5. Provide tiered membership 6. Hire course designers for IMPACT and CAP 7. Give something back to the Regions 8. Hire a top notch marketing firm 9. Conduct a Lake Effect Super Regional Championship- if we do, we want some bids for this! EXTRAVAGANZA 2010 Sandy Evaluation Feedback: 1. Best one yet! 2. Liked the idea of having it early so the boys clubs/ coaches could be included. 3. Liked having a variety of sessions. 4. Liked having club coaches present. 5. Didn t like that they had to choose between sessions- wanted a longer clinic or possibly a two day clinic. 6. Least favorite presenter- Eye Training. 7. Extravaganza will take place again in August, date, time, location TBA Great Lakes Extravaganza Official/Coach Panel Discussion Notes Official: Felix Madera Coach: Erin Lorenz

8 Overall Concerns: (C= Coaches, O= Officials) C: Officials focusing on where coaches are standing and that players are standing at the end of the bench; can be over-zealous and stops match flow to address it. C & O: Consistency of officiating. C: Scoreboard advancing wait to beck for serve until serve is flipped, i.e. officials should wait until score is flipped before beckoning for serve. Was noted to coaches that the flip score is a courtesy, book is official score. C: Can anything be done to help prevent balls from coming onto court while match on next court is in session? Felix specifically brought up he loves to see the teams shag for each other (since they can t ball handle anyway) but rules do NOT allow us to require it. Usually when one team sees it being done, they tend to follow. C: Ball handling in spectator s walkways some facilities allow this. One coach/club director stated they allowed this at their facility and was reminded that USAV rules strictly prohibits ball handling in a spectator area. C: Want officials having more control of their matches and need to stop coaches from going too far (i.e., how come that coach can go on and on I should be able to do that too or coaches who are allowed to go too far basically distract from the match.) Certain savvy coaches admitted they know which officials they can get away with things and which they can t. C: Parents yelling/attacking officiating team/work crew. It was stated that most officials protect their work crews but controlling the fans belongs to host management/tournament directors. By rule, officials are not necessarily allowed to eject spectators. One coach stated officials really do have more control than they realize and once an official says something to a parent, it stops the issue. O: Coaches not being at court-side to monitor teams. Coaches agreed and felt maybe club directors needed to be more proactive about it. Also brought up concerns regarding training of work crews by their clubs.

9 Summary: Coaches overall want consistency and good control of their matches. Officials overall want a good match and not to be noticed. Membership Donna: Donna shared the following information: As of Sunday morning- November 21 st, 2010, there is a total of 8,279 Members registered with a full 2011 membership. However, a fair number of players have listed UNDECIDED as their club choice. Donna has sent an to these people with directions on how to change their club affiliation. If you have players who have committed to your club but they do not show up yet on your club listing, it is because they have either not associated themselves to your club or they have not yet renewed their membership. Also there are 4,080 juniors who took out the $5.00 tryout membership but over half of them have not upgraded yet to full membership. Most of these are still listed as UNDECIDED. That tryout membership expires on Wednesday, November 24 th. An will be sent out to these individuals to remind them to upgrade now to full membership and select their club affiliation if they have been accepted to a club. If you currently have kids in your account that show the multiple-day one event membership- that is the tryout membership. If they do not renew by Wednesday, November 24 th, they will disappear from your current club listing and go to the lapsed area. There are currently 122 adults registered and affiliated with a junior club who are not listed as Impact Certified. Two Impact Clinics are scheduled for December 5 th - at McHenry County College and at the River Plex in Peoria. Contact Donna for more information on Impact Certification. While GLR will lose some members, GLR currently leads the rest of the country in registered members.

10 Finance- Angelo: With WEBPOINT, things are going well financially. And, from a financial perspective, the GLR is in pretty good shape overall. GLR decided to issue full refunds for people requesting them. Lea asked if this costs GLR more because of credit card charges. Angelo responded yes but that it was not significant. Scott then suggested that we should add notes to the web site to reflect the financial stability of GLR- for example, the $400 benefit for junior teams that qualify for Nationals- as well as list all the benefits of membership in GLR. Sandy then asked all Board Members to submit a listing of important benefits of USA Volleyball membership to her ASAP. Structure and Function: No Report. Juniors : No Report- position open at the time of the meeting. Keith Kujawa will now fill this position. Beach Paul: Paul has prepared a small pamphlet highlighting some information and opportunities for sand/ beach volleyball in the Chicagoland area for both juniors and adults. A copy of the brochure was distributed at the meeting and is available from Paul for all interested parties. Since our last Board meeting, the following beach activities have taken place in GLR: - USA Junior Beach Tour Stop in Chicago- North Coast Open: This annual tournament occurred on Saturday, July 31 st at Montrose Beach located at 4400 North Lake Shore Drive in Chicago with 120 teams competing. More information is available at: The date for the 2011 tour stop should be announced prior to our March, 2012 meeting.

11 - Inaugural Illinois High School Sand Volleyball League and Tournament: Eleven boys teams participated this season. The championship took place Friday, July 30 th at Montrose Beach. Many inquiries have been made about the July 2011 season. Schedule and result updates are posted at - USA Junior Beach Tournament Championship in Fort Lauderdale, Florida: This is the first time that the championship was played outside of the state of California. It took place on Sunday, August 22 nd (Extravaganza date & beach session). Further information on this event is available at and at WEBSITE OF THE JUNIOR BEACH TOUR: Extravaganza Beach Session- Sunday, August 22 nd : A number of coaches and officials attended the session. I recommend that a beach session be included each year at this event. AVP Nivea Tour Kentucky Grilled Chicken Chicago Tour Championship- CANCELLED!: Future Goals: In light of the increased development and enthusiasm for the beach game, especially NCAA Division II (spring, 2011) and Division I (spring, 2012) for women, I plan to focus efforts initially in the following areas: - Regular communication with Ali Wood-Lamberson and USA Beach Volleyball Programs. - link for recent USA Volleyball Partnership announcement with IMG. - establishment of USA Beach Volleyball Cadre New Olympic Training Center for USA Beach - Chula Vista, California

12 - Collaborate with USA Beach Programs, the AVP Tour, IMG, the Elevation Group, and the AVCA for future coach, official, and player development. There will be a B-CAP training session at the upcoming AVCA Convention in December. We are also hoping to schedule some programming- player/ coach clinic(s) - for next summer. - Collaborate with GLR clubs and leaders in further developing beach sanctioning, training, and programs in our Region. Planning will begin soon for a June, 2011 GLR Junior Beach Tournamentwhich is also needed to certify officials. We are looking at a Lake Michigan location- Montrose Beach perhaps. Since many indoor club tournaments are held on weekends, I m considering a Friday event. Please let me know of any significant date conflicts ASAP. Please feel free to contact Paul at any time- whether for sanctioning, program development or reporting, or for any other questions or suggestions related to Beach Volleyball in our Region. Adults Mark, Joe & Lorri: No report. TD Dean and Paula (presented by Sandy): 1) 496 junior sanctions and 13 adult sanctions have been issued for the season. 2) Juniors: For the most part, boys TD s are getting their information to Jeanine in a timely fashion. Jeanine commented that scheduling overall is going well- some growing pains and some computer issues that have been solved. Jeanine is scheduling two weeks in advance. Club directors present expressed approval of the system. 3) Adults: The Windy City Tournament will again allow junior teams to enter. Other related comments:

13 - Adversity ran a college men s tournament in conjunction with a junior boys tournament recently that went well. Sandy commented that this type of creativity is good for the game and GLR. - There are a limited number of younger boys teams, so communication on tournament dates is key here! - Should GLR have a Boys Tournament Director? Mike Hulett volunteered to put something together on this. Officials Mary Malpede (presented by Sandy): GLR has added three people to the Officials Division: Rating Coordinator- Devonie McLarty: She will be orchestrating the Rating Team. In her capacity, she will select raters, coordinate rating dates, schedule and communicate all information, and evaluate. This year, we will also be implementing a camp for referees that are not quite ready to take the stand. We would like to not only rate officials but extend the training that we already offer. Junior Officials Development Coordinator- Sean Doheny: Sean was added to the team as a Junior clinician many years ago. He has accepted the role to coordinate the dates that are requested from clubs to instruct coaches and select athlete s duties of R-2 and scoring. Sean has chosen a team to travel to club practices. So far, he has completed six sessions with six more scheduled before Christmas. This has already surpassed last year s accomplishments. Parent Meeting Assistant- Mary Soapes: Mary will travel to club parent meetings to review and explain the basic officials duties and educate on the misunderstood rules and procedures that might make their lives as well as the officials lives much easier. New Candidates: There are currently 27 candidates that have completed their paperwork and are now ready to start the first part of the process with rules meetings. The program is tougher this year. Evaluation: The Commissioner, Region Administrator, and Comptroller/ Budget Director left the meeting and Lea Wagner- Past Commissioner- led this discussion based on the written report submitted by Kathy Steele. After examining and discussing the

14 report, Paul moved and Mike seconded accepting the recommendations of the Evaluation Committee regarding the evaluation results and proposed increases in salary for the Commissioner and the Comptroller/ Budget Director. The vote was APPROVED Erin Lorenz is the new chair of the Evaluation Committee. 6. New Business: Adult Regionals: Will be held May 14 th -15 th - location TBA. GLR Windy City Power League: Extensive information was presented to the BOD. Currently, there are 82 teams signed up as of meeting time with a baseline of 160 teams desired. Registration concludes on December 1 st. More information and registration forms can be found at the following link: %20Entry%20Form.pdf?nid=160 Junior Recruiting: The current rule is: A staff member of a club cannot approach a committed junior- but a junior can approach you and then you can answer their questions. A prolonged discussion occurred on a variety of issues related to AAU, dual membership, and sanctioning USA events. Erin (as Chair), Scott, KC, and Dan are now a subcommittee to study these issues further and present their findings to the BOD. Junior Tryout Dates: After extensive discussion, Erin made a motion- seconded by Angelo- to abolish all tryout dates for girls to offset any advantage to JVA. GLR BOD voted APPROVED. Mandated Junior Warm-Ups: % Rule for Hosting Tournaments: Angelo presented this proposal: USA Members from last year who are also USA Members this year can receive tournament sanctions if 80% of the club who were Members last year are also Members this year. (Currently, USA sanctions are only being given in GLR if 100% of club members are USA members.) Several issues were raised including: - Boys: What if the girls part of the club leaves USA- then the boys part of the club cannot run sanctioned USA Tournaments.

15 - If we do not make some kind of adjustment to the 100% rule, we could lose more Members. Angelo (as chair), Mike, Paul and Pam are now a subcommittee to examine this issue further. Keith Kujawa will also have a meeting of junior club directors in January to discuss these two issues- junior recruiting and junior tournament sanctionsfor GLR. Spectator/ Parents Code of Conduct: The following was presented to BODthese will be posted at all GLR USA Volleyball events: Important notice: Entry to this privately sanctioned event is granted as a courtesy. If you enter/attend this or any other Great Lakes Region sanctioned event you agree to abide by this code of conduct. Spectators/Parents will: Abide by the official rules of USA Volleyball and the Great Lakes Region Know and honor the rules of this facility Understand and abide by the No outside Food Policy in all GLR facilities Display good sportsmanship and exemplary spectator behavior Encourage my child and his/her team regardless of the outcome of the match Generate goodwill by being polite and respectful to those around me Acknowledge effort and good performance for both teams Acknowledge that all players in this event are amateur athletes Tell my child to speak directly to their coach if things are unclear or confusing Not make any negative comments, but address concerns with the appropriate coach or club director Notify the event director immediately if I witness any illegal activity The tournament director is the final authority for this event. The police will be called, if necessary, to resolve any disputes or altercations. Questions and/or concerns may be directed to the Great Lakes Region Office.

16 Junior Club Ranking System: BOD examined a proposal to rank clubs based on what they provide- similar to a star rating system for hotels. BOD decided to table this discussion until next year due to other issues within GLR. Wayne King Facility in Rockford for Regionals: After discussing this opportunity for use of this facility, BOD voted to use this facility for Regionals. DEFEATED Libero Rule: In Junior competition only the Libero has the option to serve. Logo and T-Shirts for Power League: Sandy will follow-up on these issuesthere was support to examine these further, especially the logo idea. 7. Old Business: Workers Comp for Officials: Angelo advised not to do this. D and O Insurance: Angelo informed the BOD that we a fully covered with D&O insurance. 8. Adjournment: A motion to adjourn was made by Angelo and seconded by Lorri. The BOD vote was ; APPROVED. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM. The next GLR BOD meeting will take place on Sunday, March 13 th, time and place TBA. The July 2011 GLR BOD meeting will occur July 24 th. Respectfully submitted, Paul Ickes Secretary- GLR