LAX Meeting minutes November 7, 2007 Ellen Hofman’s residence
In Attendance: G. Osborne, G. Harvey, R. Strickland, D. Landeen (Root), E. Hofman (Harkey), K. Malone, B. Laudig
We need to recruit members to the board for next year to replace parents of graduating seniors.
Kelly attended WHSBLA meeting. We will be in Div 2 with 24 teams, and 12 teams will be in playoffs. Nov. 15 deadline for blackout dates—1 date on which school is closed already submitted. 2/25 first day of practice, Each player must participate in 10 practices before playing in any tournaments or league games. No 2-a-day or Sunday practices. Last year 1st tournament in Lynden was on 11th day. Important for players to get paperwork in so they don’t miss first practices. Good communication with school office is necessary so that all requirements are met (last year Kim Allen helped with this).
WHSBLA will be certifying coaches beginning 2010, must be members of US Lacrosse Assn (Kelly helped Bobby with this last year), must have CPR certification & first aid training.
WHSBLA League dues rising to $10 per player, official fees to $127 per home game. Officials cost split for playoff games (hope for at least 2 playoff games). Team photos due by January 15.
Move toward becoming part of WIAA over next few years and WHSBLA will go away. May be a few rough spots because WIAA teams can’t play non-WIAA teams. Lacrosse will become a team sport rather than a club sport. Laxfest usually held at Mercer Island may move to Spokane to help expand statewide scope of sport.
WHSBLA Ejection rules: 2nd ejection is for the season.
New WHSBLA rules have been spelled out for Seattle School District boundaries. Eligibility is determined by school attendance rather than home address. Rules may not be a strict for Div 2, petitions are possible.
Next WHSBLA meeting is Feb. 2 & Bobby should attend.
2008 Budget discussion If
there is good turnout we may need more uniforms (20-30 now). Fields are $10 per
night. Budget is based on 25 players and has an estimated $1500 shortfall, not
counting revenue from Boosters or concession sales.
Web Registration Count
Me In (based in Bellevue) has a deluxe but also a simple system. Paper
registration is a hassle. $50 fee per team + 2.90 per player fee + credit card
fee ($7.88 on $225 registration fee) = $235.78 per player. Players also must
pay $25 NH athletic fee. Kelly budgeted in 4 scholarships by request in
writing& board vote at up to 50%. One family has inquired already about
this coming year. There was discussion of what is a fair policy & ways that
families can work with the team to help meet the team’s expenses. There is a
desire to have these questions resolved as early as possible. Scholarships
should be based on need rather than merit and equal opportunity should be
available to all players. Some players may choose a different sport because of
cost. The commitment could be to work to raise funds rather than write a check.
In the past 3-5 players have needed financial assistance. Requests must be
submitted by February 1 and all paperwork should be submitted on time to
qualify for a scholarship. Multiple scholarship requests from one family will
be considered on a case-by-case basis. It was not considered acceptable for
players to participate without payment.
Last year’s roster had 20 players
and 3 have graduated. We need 8 new players to meet the 25 roster on which the
draft budget is based. Several students have expressed interest, including some
football players and lapsed players from the 2006 season, so 25 is considered a
realistic goal. Last year’s registration was $200. We are eliminating the
discount for early registration. Roosevelt’s registration is $200 but they have
a larger team. A fee of $260 would cover all but $500 of the estimated
expenses. Web registration would allow this to be put on credit card and paid
over time.
Costs escalate if the roster gets
much bigger because of the need for additional coaching staff. (Mike will not
be able to return this year; Cole Kerkhoff is being recruited to act as a
“junior” defense coach & is interested). Any such candidate would have to
go through a formal application process such as we conducted last year, and
complete necessary qualifications such as first aid, CPR, background check,
etc. There was a preliminary discussion of other possible assistant/junior
coach candidates (Bobby has spoken to a friend named Taylor) and appropriate
pay levels for a “coach in training” vs. last year's assistant coach
stipend of $1500. Any such candidates would not be allowed to participate in
winter conditioning.
It was agreed that a base salary
for a junior coach should be offered a base salary of $750, which could be
raised if there is no assistant coach. It was agreed that the player fee should be
$250 including the credit card fee, assuming that “Count Me In” will be the
registration choice. We will put a link to the registration site on the NH LAX
web site. That will be a topic of discussion for the next board meeting.
NH invited to Denver lacrosse camp
June 13-15 @ $250 per kind including room & board (plane fare separate). It
is a high quality program. There will be college recruiters there (it conflicts
with graduation for seniors). Glenn Harvey was familiar with the program and
Ian attended last year.
Next meeting Wednesday, December 5,
7:30 PM at Glenn Harvey’s 8912 46th Ave NE 98115 527-8150.