USATF VIRGINIA ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING SEPTEMBER 14, 2014 In attendance: Jim Holdren President Ray Funkhouser Vice President Annette Sirica Secretary Bill Boyd Officials Training Chair Joseph W. Hirn Steve Taylor University of Richmond Track Coach Leo Charles Bill Anderson Officials Chair Kenneth Williams Michael Lewis Keith Witherspoon Joe Mack Ross McDonald Masters Chair Bob Disse Men s T&F Chair Guthrie Ashton Marquita Mines Women s T&F Chair Tony Vaughn Youth Chair Michael Rose Vaughn LaPrade Melissa Johnson Membership Chair Deborah Snagg Call to Order: President Jim Holdren called the meeting to order at 2:13 p.m. Approval of minutes: Approval of the minutes from the February, 2014 meeting was moved, seconded, and unanimously approved by those in attendance. Treasurers Report President Holdren gave the Treasurers report. Checking account--$26, 975.93 Investment Account--$349, 093.44 Committee Reports: Race Walk Committee-Ray Funkhouser Race Walk Committee Report Championships- Those already held are: -Open/Masters- 3,000 meters as part of the Open/Masters T&F Championships. Thanks to that committee for the organization. -Youth- 1500 & 3000 meters as part of the Association JO Championships. Thank you Youth Committee USATF Virginia Semi-Annual Meeting Minutes September 14, 2014 1
-Open/Masters M&W 1500 Meter Championship- August 16- Virginia Beach Still to be held: -November 8- Open/ Masters M&W- 1 Hour- Virginia Beach Officiating- Fro all of the Race Walks we were contacted for, we were able to supply full Judging Panels. Virginia Race Walk Officials are weel thought of around the country and welcomed at majored events. At the USATF Nationalk Masters Outdoor Meet in Winston Salem, ½ of the judging panel for the race walks ere from Virginia. The Committee chair had a busy season officiating at the USATF Indoor, Outdoor, Junior National, IAAF World Cup Qualifying Race, Outdoor National Masters, and the NCAC under 23 Championships in Kamloops, BC. Also attending an International Race Walk Clinic in El Salavador. Attempts were made to hold a Race Walk Officiating Clinic. A date that didn t have major conflicts didn t work out, but this is definitely on the agenda for the future. Development- A Race Walk Clinic was held in Kilmarnock, VA in May. There is a concern that we are seeing a decrease in the numbers of Race Walkers in outr competitions. This is particularly true for the JO s. An effort will be made to discuss how to best introduce Race Walking to the clubs in the Association. Ray Funkhouser, Chair- USATF Race Walk Committee Master s Committee: Joe Mack/Ross McDonald After the report on the Masters Outdoor Association Championships held in June, Joe introduced Ross McDonald as the new Masters Chair. Mr. McDonald laid out his plans for the outdoor Masters meet, again to be held in June. In addition, he plans to attend and participate in Regional USATF meetings. He is also looking into sponsorships of local and Regional Masters events and meets. He has asked for suggestions about potential sponsors. Keith Witherspoon made a motion that Virginia Association continue our sponsorship of 3 events at the Regional Masters meet. The motion was seconded, and voted on by the assembly. Unanimously passed. Officials Committee Bill Anderson Currently, the Virginia Association has 178 registered officials. Twelve more are preparing, which gives us a total of 190. A number of Virginia officials are working National events, mostly in Race Walk. Coming up: Indoor Nationals USATF February 27-March 1, 2015 Boston June 25-28, 2015 Eugene, Oregon USATF Virginia Semi-Annual Meeting Minutes September 14, 2014 2
Mr. Anderson reminded officials that the June meet is the USATF National team selection date, therefore apply early if you wish to be considered for officiating. National Service Awards: Mr. Anderson presented three awards: Dan Thompson, GMU Track Coach, for his work with the A-10 Conference Blair Gardner for her quick ascent from Apprentice to higher level meets Bob Disse for his work before, during, and after the Masters meets USATF Virginia Semi-Annual Meeting Minutes September 14, 2014 3
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Mens Track and Field Bob Disse USATF Va. Association Men s Committee Report September 1, 2014 for February 2014 through September 2014 The association held its Track & Field Open Championship in conjunction with the Masters Championship on June 21 at Maggie Walker High School. After having growth the first two years, turnout was not good in 2014. The association also held its Cross Country Championship on August 29 th at Pole Green Park in conjunction with the U of R Spider Alumni Open. This was the first time for this collaboration. The entry list was not deep but shows opportunity for growth. The meet was managed well and had a big time feel. Chairman Concern and Request: Va. has an excellent presence on the Elite, Youth, Colligate and Master s stages but lags at the Post-Grad (Open) level. We would like to entertain ideas to strengthen our Open age group competition. Bob Disse Men s Chair coachdisse@gmail.com 804 360-4773 Womens Track and Field Marquita Mines Ms. Mines has been talking and recruiting a number of young post-high school and postcollege athletes for USATF. Together with Bob Disse, they are trying to greatly build up the Open Division participants in the Masters and Open meets. Steve Taylor, track coach at U. of R, asked if out of state students can register as Virginia USATF members. Jim Holdren and other members answered that yes, they can. Out of state students attending college in Virginia can compete as a Virginia USATF members in our Association LDR and Open championships. They can also compete in their home associations. Discussion followed regarding the inconsistency of rules regarding participation, as Youth divisions cannot compete in championships representing more than one Association. Bill Anderson also suggested to men and women throwers that they consider going to the throwing contests and meets, as there are a variety of events. Youth Tony Vaughn The Association Jos were held June 20 th at Sportsbackers Stadium. It was a small meet, but many competitors moved on to Regionals, and were as a group, quite successful. USATF Virginia Semi-Annual Meeting Minutes September 14, 2014 6
Upcoming meets: Association JO Cross Country meet Saturday, November 22 JO Nationals December 13, Myrtle Beach SC February 15, 2015 Indoor Youth Zonal meet Site TBD Our zone includes Virginia, Potomac Valley, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee Indoor Youth Nationals--March 6-8, Prince Georges, Maryland Outdoor JO T&F Virginia Association meet June 20-21 Outdoor JO Regional meet July 9-12 Outdoor JO National meet Jacksonville, FL July 20-26 Athletes may use this as a tune-up for the later-scheduled AAU Nationals. New rule regarding youth participation in Association meets: A club can recruit from a bordering state, but the athlete can only live within 50 miles from the border of the state. Long Distance Running Mark Tomkins, Chair Since Mr. Tomkins was not at the meeting, Jim Holdren gave the report. Mr. Tomkins has been working to use existing races as USATF Virginia Association Championship races. The first one is the Colonial Half Marathon. Old Business Accreditation standards a lot of new ones, and more difficult standards. Our Association was given two areas in which to improve: Championships we need to have at least 21 championships. We only had 14. We were deficient in the distance races, fine with Youth championships. From this came the idea of using already existing races of different distances as Association Championships. Mark Tomkin working on this. Website The National office could not tell us where we were deficient. We are paying Andy Martin, a former national staff member, $5000 per year to upkeep our website. The website issues were taken care of before this meeting, and our website is now in compliance with National standards. Newsletter Chris McCann has been doing this for us and has put out an informative and nicely done newsletter. This is important as it is one of our accreditation markers. Sanctions and memberships Jim Holdren reminded everyone there to please do sanctions and membership apps and renewals ON-LINE. Doing it by paper wastes time, and is very slow. When a sanction is requested on-line at the National website, Jim receives a notification that a sanction is pending. He can read the sanction, and approve it immediately on-line. Formal nominations of four committee chairs: Four acting committee chairs are up for formal nominations Mark Tomkins LDR Bob Disse Mens T&F USATF Virginia Semi-Annual Meeting Minutes September 14, 2014 7
Marquita Mines Womens T&F Ross McDonald Masters T&F A call was made for any nominations from the floor. There were none. A motion was made and seconded to approve all four nominees. Passed unanimously. New Business Meet calendar members are reminded to get any meet information to Andy Martin ASAP. His email is andy.l.martin@comcast.net Association report August meeting Report from the 2014 Association Workshop Changes are being made to the workshop timing for the next 2 years. Workshop will be held 1 day before the start of the Annual Meeting. This will be Houston in 2015 and Orlando in 2016. After the 2016 workshop, survey will be done to determine the timing in the future. Big Ideas Session: -A lot of the discussion was about youth. -Have top association athletes and alumni members be invited to youth meets for autographs. Promote this ahead of time. -More discounts for members especially youth interests- movie tickets, Amazon, book stores, etc. -More direct association contact with youth- need addresses. -LDR Grand Prix. Regional Breakout: -More background checks are coming- for officers and officials -Club Championships will be at Randall s Island for 2015 -Discussing coordination of club championships with Open T&F Championship. One on One: -Desiree Friedman- -All artwork approval to go to Desiree for approval -New disk coming out with approved artwork for all different uses. -Business cards- Big discussion- Originally only Officers and USATF employees could use logo- not officials. Big discussion- Modified sand will be coming out with approved guidelines for officials. USATF Virginia Semi-Annual Meeting Minutes September 14, 2014 8
-Discussion on Association Resources. -Jill Geer- Result of the meetings there is a request for an Association Marketing Strategies Manual. President s Meeting- -Problems with the Legacy e-mails- Is set up officers except Vice Presidents. There is a request form that President s can use for Legacy e-mail request form. -Rule books for clubs- apparently they were not sent out. They wanted to go Green and said were available on line. Max was not aware and looks like they will go out. -Questioning why we put out a Rule book every year when the NCAA and IAAF put out a 2 year Rule Book. -Accreditation Standards- Big issue of discussion throughout the workshop. Championships were a big problem for many associations. This issue is going to be reviewed and looked at what is included. Some associations have different demands for the type of Championships they hold. -There will be a National Vendor- put out a catalog of items available for purchase. -Cross Country- There is a stipend available for Association & Team to go to Nationals- $500.00 Run Jump Throw- Sponsored by Hershey. Kids 7-12. Free to participate in. Can be up to 20 activities. Can be a 2-3 hour or 5-6 week program. Only need a pair of shoes. -Planning on a Sept 1 launch. -USATF will insure. No sanctioning fee. -Curriculum and video available Sept 1. Accreditation -Next update due November 1 _Items for VA- Budget, 990 -Make sure each event (championship) is listed on the sanction. -Assistance Program- Kelsey Mimms -Provided staff time to assist association where we need assistance -Would provide weekly calls, strategic planning, marketing ideas, templates, marketing kits, social media help. -Cost is $2.00 per membership. USATF Virginia Semi-Annual Meeting Minutes September 14, 2014 9
Safe Sport- Power Point presentation given should be on line one week after workshop. Rewards Program- -Not a member benefit. - Purpose is to increase membership, collect & leverage data. Currently 9,877 fans Signups- 39% social media, 30% Events, 31% email. 18-27 Men- 1% are members 30% of Rewards Members 36-50 women- 8% Members, 30% of Rewards members -Looking for ideas to encourage visits to Association site- i.e.: 5 wings per visit per day. -Would be able to provide demographics for association. Ray Funkhouser, Vice president USATF Virginia A lot of frustration of many Association officers and members in dealing with the National office. Checks, budget information, approvals are all held up, as it seems to be difficult to get in touch with the correct person at the National office. For the next 2 years, the Association workshop will ber held the day before the National Annual meeting. The Natioal office wants more direct contact with Youth athletes rather than the entire club using their coach s address. Logos Desiree Friedman of the National office related that they are very concerned about the unauthorized use of the USATF logo. Andy Martin has been proactive in getting us advance permission to use the USATF logos on our championship entries and website. The National office will soon be coming out with a business card with a special ligo for officials to carry. Sanctions Jim Holdren reminded all members that when submitting a sanction, list ALL separate championships within the race, i.e. Masters men, women, Open men, women etc. That is 4 championships at a single event. Kelsey Mimms is the staff member at the National office who is to assist us with this, if needed. Youth concerns Tony Vaughn reported from the Association workshop meeting that many inner-city coaches deal with kids who have no internet at home, therefore no email. Election of delegates to the National Annual meeting December, 2014 Our Association is eligible for 14 delegates; we must have at least 8. Those planning to go must give to Jim Holdren the following information: Name USATF number USATF Virginia Semi-Annual Meeting Minutes September 14, 2014 10
Category you represent (athlete, coach, sports committee, general interest.) We are in special need of competing national level athletes to attend representing Virginia Association. Financial arrangements Although delegates are expected to assume all costs of attending the Annual meeting, a reimbursement is available. As the Annual meeting is in Anaheim, CA, Jim asked that we consider a more generous reimbursement that in previous years. Vaughn LaPrade moved that we reimburse $1000 per attendee. Keith Witherspoon amended this motion to reimburse $1200 per person. Vaughn withdrew his original motion. Joe Mack moved that we accept Keith s amendment of reimbursement of $1200 per attendee. Motion passed unanimously. Delegates to the National Meeting: Jim Holdren Ray Funkhouser Reimbursements for National competition: JO Cross Country Nationals Myrtle Beach SC Moved and seconded to reimburse competing athletes $100 each. Passed unanimously. JO T&F Championships Jacksonville, FL Tony Vaughn moved that we pay the Registration fee for all attendees. Motion was seconded Passed unanimously. Ross McDonald the possibility of reimbursing participants in the National Masters Championships, held in Winston-Salem NC. Jim Holdren said that we do not fund adults, as they can fund themselves. Setting of next Association meeting date: The next meeting is set for Sunday, February 8, 2:00 p.m. U of R Robins Center, Room 245 The meeting was adjourned at 4:08 p.m. USATF Virginia Semi-Annual Meeting Minutes September 14, 2014 11