(The next Board meeting will be Sunday, October 15th, at 10:00 a.m. at the Westerville South High School Media Room.)
| In Attendance: | Emi Vishoot, Terry Miller, Bob Price, Bob Dickenson, Glenn Purdy, Rick Laskey, Jeff Belmonte, Al Herbert, Steve DiBacco, Keith Burke, Steve Donahue, Ron Wyzynski, Bill Zehler, Art Faura, Nick Nystrom, John Buck | |
| Guests: | Linda Logan from the Greater Columbus Convention and Visitor Bureau (GCCVB), Hank Trimble | |
| Absent were: | Leigh Washburne, Pam Washburne, Tom Kohl, Michelle Fox, Patty Salvatore, and Troy Dixon | |
Linda L. of GCCVB is assuming new duties to assist with bringing sporting events to Columbus. GCCVB assisted greatly during the Open Event to coordinate information with Joe Sharpless and Bill Forrester of USA Volleyball. Linda also supplied a tentative report about the tournament. This will be sent to future sites to assist them with lessons learned. Ron W. passed our several congratulatory email messages from various people within USA Volleyball. They were every pleased with how well the event was supported by the Region.
Linda asked if the Region would be interested in helping to host future USA National Events. The Board was very supportive of the idea. The GCCVB will pursue discussions with USA Volleyball for the Boys' Nationals in a couple of years as well as the Adult Nationals again about 5 years from now. The GCCVB doesn't have any dates that fit the current Girls' National format (14 days) for the next five years.
Linda L. also reported that Chip Reilly has approached the GCCVB with hosting his Early Bird Extravaganza in the future. The 2001 tournament will be held Jan. 13-15, 2001 in Baltimore. Chip is evaluating other sites for 2002 and beyond.
Linda L. was asked to research possible open dates at the GCCC for the Region to host a large juniors tournament during the middle of June. This would have to fit after the Adult Open and the Girls' and Boys' Nationals. This could develop into an annual event.
Bill Zehler, Junior Program Director
The OVR has over 7,500 junior members.
575 teams competed in the 2000 OVR Juniors Regional Championships.
Bill is evaluating changing the format to a two-day event for the age groups that play on the second weekend. There would be at most 8 teams in any category/division.
There were a record number of coaches Impact certified.
The Region hosted both Cap I and II training clinics.
John Buck facilitated OVR teams with registering for Nationals. 38 Girls' and about 7 Boys' teams participated in these events.
The Region needs more training for coaches who are working with the younger age groups.
Art Faura, Juniors' Results Coordinator
820 Girls' teams are registered.
More tournament reports were submitted this year but still not all of them. This make the seeding process very difficult since it relies on the results from each tournament.
OVR teams at Girls' National were seeded higher than ever. This is a very positive sign that our region is viewed as improving in its reputation for excellent volleyball. More Open teams qualified than ever.
John Buck
John asked if the Region should host a Power League for the Open teams. This would enable the Open teams to play better competition and therefore improve. This Power League could be used as the bid selection process instead of a single tournament. He will continue to evaluate this option.
120 Teams participated in the bid tournaments for 22 bids. The OVR was later extended an additional bid in each Club division.
Jeff Belmonte, High Performance and Coaching Development Coordinator
The Region offered tryouts for High Performance Teams in each of the three age groups. The Region fielded a High Performance Team (14, 15 & 16 year olds) that competed at the 'World Tournament Championships' in Salt Lake City.
The Region will sponsor Cap I and II training on January 6th and 7th in Columbus.
Steve DiBacco, Former Junior Official Development Director
50 Junior Officiating Clinics were presented to clubs. Over 4,000 players attended. He will be distributing certification cards shortly. The certification is valid for two years and so will include the 2001 season.
Rick Laskey, Referee Chair
The Region has over 200 Professional Officials listed on our web site.
Several Email Lists are capable of reaching about 90% of the referees.
The Region still needs more professional referees to meet the demand presented by the large number of junior tournaments.
The Board needs to help to recruit potential referees.
Rick will attempt to approach High School certified referees who are not USA referees yet.
He will also research the idea to host a Professional Referee Clinic in Toledo as well as the ones already scheduled for Columbus (12/02/2000) and Pittsburgh (12/03/2000).
Will also evaluate offering a Player-Referee Clinic at a Westerville tournament.
Ron Wyzynski: CEO Report
Thanked everyone for a very successful season.
Presented firm dates for the 2001 Adult Regional Championships (April 21-22,2001) and the second weekend of Girls' Regional Championships (May 11-13, 2001).
The Region has again purchased Spalding and Baden volleyballs for resale.
The OVR Newsletter will be made available via the web. It will not be mailed to anyone unless a specific request for a paper copy is submitted.
Keith Burke, Men's Tournament Director
There is a problem with adult teams not registering until the last minute or even after the deadline. This makes things difficult for tournament directors. So fewer are running adult events. It is easier to fill and run a juniors tournament.
Bob P. strongly recommends a two-week deadline for registration for events.
There was a problem with non-registered teams and players participating in events. The tournament directors need to make sure, though the respective Tournament director, that every team is properly registered before they allow them to play. This is an insurance and liability issue.
The Team Registration form has a location for email address. Teams are to be contacted via email and not via U.S. Mail in the future. So they need to make sure they have entered a valid email account. Unregistered teams or players cannot be allowed to play!
Bob P. The Tournament Packet will include a report as to which officials were hired and what they were paid. There were problems with insufficient numbers of officials hired and being underpaid. This form should help to identify problem areas.
Michelle Fox, Women's Tournament Director
The Kent State Annex will have 5 courts available for renting. She is in contact with KSU to reserve as many weekends as they will allow her to take. Adult and junior tournaments will be run by the region (adult tournaments by Michelle Fox and Junior tournaments by Al Herbert). Some of the adult tournaments may use the new facility also.
The Board voted to raise the entry fee for adult tournaments to $75.
John Buck question how much verification went into requests for higher than normal entry fees for junior events. The normal price is $125. But if the tournament director can show a higher cost for use of the facility, they can charge up to $140. The Board will review any requests for more than the base $125. Also, any exception to the base price must be posted clearly on the tournament web page.
Nick Nystrom, Region Webmaster
Nick distributed information about the web page's material, usage, growth, potential, and future options. Things we would like to do on the web include registration, more searching functions, more pictures, etc.
Executive Session
During Executive Session the following actions took place:There were two open Board terms. Hank Trimble was elected to complete a one-year term and John Buck was elected to complete the remainder of a three-year term.
Bob P. nominated 6 individuals within the Region for the USA Volleyball Meritorious Service Award: Cindy Hine; Glenn Purdy; John Buck; Sharon Congrove; Eric Granger; Linda Logan. They will all receive a certificate honoring them for the efforts for the Region.
The Men's and Women's Tournament Directors use two similar but slightly different seeding formulas. They have been directed to agree upon a single formula by the October Board meeting.
The Board voted an honorarium to be paid to Bob P. and Ron W. as well as a travel allowance to Ron W. for their efforts in hosting the Open Event.
(end of Executive Session)
Bob P. will facilitate a mailing to all adult members that the OVR will only publish its newsletter on its web pages and no longer mail newsletters. This mailing will be a postcard notice pointing to the web page for any future information.
Bob P. asked the Board for a consensus in favor of hiring Nick N. as the Region's Publication Editor. The Board approved unanimously. Bob P. will research hiring an intern from a local college or university to help as a Publicity Agent and/or Marketing Agent for the Region. Their function would be to find ways to better inform non-volleyball people in the region about the opportunities the sport and Region offer.
The Region financially assisted teams attending the Girls' and Boys' National Championships. Normally teams attending the Adult Championships would be assisted also but since the event was hosted in Columbus, the Board decided that since teams' expenses were less, the Region would not assist them.
Bob P. asked for a Board member to volunteer to be a liaison with the Ohio volleyball Coaches Association. Emi V. accepted this position. Bill Z. was then assigned to nominate a Boys' Development/Tournament Director at the October meeting.
Keith B. asked about new rules for the coming season. The Region will use the Libero Player and 12 team substitutions for all levels and age groups. The 'let' serve will also be legal.
Future Meetings:
Sunday, October 15th, 2000 in Westerville South High School Media Room.
Monday, January 15th, 2001 in Kent, Ohio probably the Holiday Inn.