GEJFA Council Meeting

August 21, 2007

Minutes

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Call to order at 7:00pm

ATTENDANCE:  John Veentjer; Joe Morgan (VP); Billie Hartline (Scheduler and Inglemoor); Shawn O’Brien (Senior Coordinator); Andy Main (Bellevue B&G Club); Greg Richardson (Bears); Jim Brenden (Knights); Greg Pardee (Wolverines); Wayne Houston (Bainbridge); Louis Lee (Cedarcrest); Bob Woods (Eastlake); Billie Hartline and Duane Ranstrom (Inglemoor); Robert Reeves (Five Star); Marlow Green (Issaquah); Craig Peterson and Tom Michajla (Kirkland); Sean Marshall (Mercer Island); Randy Swain (Mt Si); Tami Steckler (Redmond); Jim Sypher (Skyline)

Systems not represented:   Bothell; Woodinville; (Issaquah was very late)

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Call to order

Minutes of the last meeting (August 7, 2007) were emailed before the meeting, comments to be sent to John; otherwise these minutes will be posted to the web site by end of the week.

The Calendar was reviewed for upcoming important deadline and events. 

• Due tonight -- Boys and Girls Club fees ($13)

• Tuesday, August 28, 7:00pm -- Roster review meeting  -- For those Systems that missed the preliminary roster review on August 1.
• September 4 Council meeting -- Referee/field use and Admin fees due
• September 8 Game #1

We still have not received all the player transfer forms.  Each System needs to send John a list of the transfers they have taken in.

Regarding coaches:

• There was no specific feedback regarding the Coaches Meeting. 
• Systems were reminded that all background checks are due before coaches step on the field.  It is apparent that some are missing.  Thus, a check will be made of background check against the rosters and any coach for whom a background check has not been completed will be suspended pending completion of the process. 
• Systems are reminded that each team needs a first aid person on the sideline; this person should be on the roster whether or not they are a coach. 
• System are reminded that they are to provide a description of the training in which their coaches participated this year.

Systems are required to provide a Master Volunteer Roster.  Even though coaches are listed on the team rosters, they should be included on the Master Volunteer Roster along with all the other adult volunteers who have some routine contact with the players.  All volunteers must have a background check and all must be rostered if they are to be covered by the Boys and Girls Club insurance.

It appears that we have the following jamborees planned:

• August 25 – Bellevue Wolverine, Woodinville, Mount Si, Five Star
• September 1 – Redmond, Eastlake, Seniors
• September 3 – Bothell

We will encourage officials to put in some time at the jamborees but all this is volunteer time.  Some need to appear at a jamboree for training and to qualify for an additional $2 per game during the season. Others are there to train the new officials. 

We believe there will be a Qwest Field Jamboree, but the person in charge has yet to return Shawn’s calls.  John will check with the Seahawks.

Game schedule

• Emphasized that changes are very likely and that no one should print the schedule for the year and distribute, because it will likely lead to confusion when someone mistaken refers to an older version.  The schedule on the web site should be checked weekly as late as Friday to ensure game is as previously schedule.  Every attempt will be made to notify Systems and team coaches whenever their games are affected by a change.
• Because we have byes at several levels, some games will be non-counting to equalize the opportunity for points.  These are marked on the schedule.
• Seniors – The 8^th Grade teams have some inter-league games.  Unfortunately, we don’t have any other league willing to play our 9^th Grade teams, however, Shawn still has some feelers out to other leagues.

• Field Managers have an important role.  A Job Description, very general in nature and not totally applicable to all fields, is available on the web site.  It is a good guideline.
• Council decided which of the Conferences in the 24 or more team levels will play each other in the playoffs leading to the Championship.  The letters A, B, C and D were put on pieces of paper and put into a hat and then drawn.  Conference A will play Conference C and Conference B will play Conference D.

Game Reports -- Billie has made some improvements to the Game Reporting System.  However, the System very few coaches assisted in the testing of the System, so there may be some bugs that won’t get discovered until Game #1 reports start flooding in.  Scores get reported to the scoreboard data base automatically from the Game Reports.  Game Reports are very simple and takes only a few minutes.  System must participate in the enforcement.  There is now additional space for comments; automatic separate email if necessary.

Huskies/Seahawks Pregames

• Huskies – Woodinville and Bellevue Wolverines the same Saturday as the GEJFA Championships.
• Seahawks -- 8^th Grade Seniors Redmond & Bainbridge on August 30

                           9^th Grade Seniors Inglemoor & Eastlake on September

The Seahawks provided us with some tickets to the August 25 and August 30 preseason games.  Distribution of the tickets was based on record of attendance and compliance with deadlines for rosters, coaches applications, etc.  Any System missing this meeting got no tickets.

Next meeting:  September 4^th, 8:00 pm  @  Bellevue Boys and Girls Club