October 2014 USLRA Board Meeting Minutes

USLRA Conference Call Minutes

Sunday, October 19, 2014 – 8:00 PM

Present on call: Troy, Sam, Polly, Amber, Shayna and Joanie

1.) Approve September 2014 Minutes

http://www.uslogrolling.blogspot.com/2014_10_01_archive.html

Shayna motions to approve July Minutes.  Amber Seconds.  All Approve.

2.)  Elite Rankings

·         2014 Elite Rankings have been prepared and submitted to board

·         Will Post after January 1, 2015

·         Board Members will individually review for accuracy

·         Discussion begun on expanding points:   Points could be awarded for a win – 3 points for a Level 1, 2 points for a Level 2, and 1 point for a Level 3.  It is decided that this issue will be included in the Member Survey and revisited at a later meeting.  This point expansion would be for places 17-24.

3.)  Super Series Awards

·         Shayna has secured a vendor for new Super Series Awards – Wood Cookie type plaques, with Roller’s name burned in, with new simplified logo.

·         Plaques will be ordered leading in to November Nationals to be awarded as possible, for those places that are secured.  Unsecured places will be prepared and sent at a later date.

4.)  Website

·         Joanie Recommends that we rebuild a new website from scratch, to enable a more user friendly format with easier links.  

·         A USLRA Board Page to include documents, minutes, and board member information will be added to website.

5.)  LWC Proposal

·         Troy has prepared a proposal for the LWC board concerning the 2/3 falls changefor amateurs.   Proposal includes several different suggestions to save and better budget Amateur match times.

5.) Log Rule Discussion

·         Question is posed – should the Log times be changed for Amateur Matches, should the matches be required to start on a #2 Log.   It is suggested that the Time should be kept with the Log.  

·         After review of a similar issue in 2013’s Membership Survey, it is decided to re-write a clearer explanation for a vote on the 2014 Membership Survey.

6.)    USLRA Board Terms Expiring

·         4 Board Member Terms expire after 2014:

Joanie Davenport

Sam Hadley

Amber Scarborough

Leah Stanton

·         Call for Nominations to fill these four seats will be added to the Fall 2014 Newsletter, posted on Facebook, and taken at the Membership Meeting on November 8.

·         Nominations will be listed for Vote in the Membership Survey, and top votes will be approved by the current board.

7.)        Finance

·         Balance:  $5445.64

8.)        USLRA Membership Survey

·         Discussed questions to be included on Membership Survey.

  

9.)  Tournament Liaisons for remainder of season

            October 26 – River Rat Roll:  Troy and Polly

            November 8 – November Nationals:  Troy and Joanie

10.)  Next Board Meeting:   Annual Membership Meeting will be held November 8, 2014 at the Hudson YMCA immediately following the November Nationals Tournament and Awards.  All Members are encouraged to attend.

Joanie motions to Adjourn.   Amber Seconds.  All Approve.  9:39 PM.

September 2014 USLRA Board Meeting Minutes

USLRA Conference Call Minutes

Sunday, September 14, 2014 – 8:00 PM

Present on call: Troy, Mary, Sam, Polly, Joanie, Leah, Shayna

1.) Approve August 2014 Minutes

http://www.uslogrolling.com/html/news.html

Shayna motions to approve July Minutes.  Polly Seconds.  All Approve.

 2.)  Volunteer Recognition

·         Discussion on beginning a new volunteer recognition program

·         USLRA Board will nominate first Volunteer to be recognized in the Fall 2014 Newsletter.

·         Newsletter article will call for nominations from USRLA members for other volunteers to be recognized.

3.)  Super Series Awards

·         Shayna will work on comparing costs for different styles of Super Series plaques for 2014.

·         Laser Engraved plaques are an affordable option.

4.)  Tournament Sanctioning

·         Troy has sent out an email with a sanctioning document proposal to select Tournament Directors to gather opinions and thoughts.  One tournament director approved, another suggested adding language reflecting the Day Fee for USLRA non-members.  One tournament director raised concerns with the document, mainly in regard to the time frame suggested for tournament results.

·         Could tournament Registration papers be used in lieu of this document?

·         The document will be made a voluntary sheet to gather information.

·         The information from the forms could be made available on the website to be used for press releases and to create a more organized system of advertising tournaments.

5.)  CAN-LOG

·         Troy reached out and did get a response.  They will discuss a relationship with USLRA at their next meeting on October 4, 2014.

6.) Media

·         Website:  Shana will contact the individual who updates the website to arrange for Rich Magnone to have the ability to add information and merge pages to the website.  A board page should be created.

·         Maroon PR:  USLRA was contacted by this PR firm.  Troy will respond and tell them that USLRA is not in a position to use their services.

7.)    Insurance

·         Joanie will work on researching Directors and Officers Insurance for the USLRA Board.  

8.)  3 Foot Crash Zone Discussion

·         A 6 foot crash zone has been suggested by some USLRA members.  Most are not in agreement with this, but wording could be changed to suit individual tournament directors’ preferences for their specific venue.

·         Changes could be made to include “a minimum of 3 feet” or “height of the tallest roller”, and could combine with “at the tournament director’s discretion”.

·         Board will continue to discuss and explore options.

  

9.)  Tournament Director’s Meeting

·         The board would like to meet with Tournament Directors from all Tournaments, to gather their thoughts and suggestions as to how we can better serve their needs and support their individual tournaments.

·         A gathering of all directors has been suggested, but since this would be geographically difficult, an effort to gather small groups will be made in the Spring of 2015.

10.)  Tournaments

·         October 5 - Oconomowoc Rock’n’Roll – Liaisons:  Mary Ogle

·         October 26 – La Crosse River Rat Roll – Liaisons:  Troy and Polly

·         November 8 - Hudson November Nationals – Liaisons:  Troy and Joanie

11.)  Annual Board Meeting

The 2014 Annual URLRA Board Meeting will be held in Hudson on November 8, 2014, following the November Nationals Tournament at the Hudson YMCA.   All USLRA Membership is invited to attend.

16.)  Next Board Meeting will be held Sunday, October 19, 2014 at 8:00 pm.

Joanie motions to Adjourn.   Shayna Seconds.   None opposed.

August 2014

August 2014 USLRA Board Meeting Minutes

USLRA Conference Call Minutes

Sunday, August 18, 2014 – 8:00 PM

Present on call: Troy, Joanie, Polly, Shayna and Mary

1.) Approve July 2014 Minutes

http://www.uslogrolling.com/html/news.html

Shayna motions to approve July Minutes.  Mary Seconds.  All Approve.

2.)  LWC Follow Up

·         Positive feedback has come in from members on Flipping Score Cards and Volunteer Presence on the Docks.

·         Will work towards the addition of coins for falls next year.

·         Troy will offer to completely take over brackets for LWC, and will print an official bracket to reduce errors.   He plans to generate a final version of all brackets after the finals on Saturday.

·         There were 30 more amateurs this year than last.

·         Ideas for streamlining amateur matches:

                        2/3 falls (all members present agree this is not optimal)

                        Start Amateurs on a 2 log for all matches

                        Run the Boom Qualifying at a different time (Wednesday evening?)

                        Run all age groups together on one day (letting people know in advance)

                        Move U7 to a different Day or on 2 separate days

                        Limit the number of competitors by qualifying

                        Hold firm to registration deadline

                        Online Registration

·         How much time should be allowed between pro matches?  Suggested 10 minute recovery period between

·         A policy is needed on being late to matches (for choppers)

·         Discussion on how to resolve the problem of Choppers skipping their back bracket matches

·         Form a Judge Rotation               

·         USLRA should reach out to Ketchican rollers and other remote places - should they receive a discounted USLRA rate?   Need to get them involved in the super series

·         Ideas to enhance show:   Add Championship Amateur matches to the show (halftime?) or Girl vs. Boy champions face off, Add River Pig or Grand Entrance to Open the show back in

3.)  Squamish Results

·         The Squamish tournament is run Co-Ed, thus creating a problem for rankings.

·         Discussion on how women should be awarded points – by gender or actual placement in co-ed, as a minimum of 4 competitors is needed by gender for rankings.

Proposed wording:  Pro-competitors will receive points for the place they earn (regardless of gender) for the Squamish Days Logger Sports co-ed competition.

Polly Motions to Approve.  Mary Seconds.  All Approve.

4.)  Press Release Sample

John Pappadopoulos has written a sample press release with suggestions from a sports writer perspective.  These are available for tournament directors at:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18DbN7NosVgRn6pWpdrqb3ifPj5RS2sMS8Dr7NrWWFNY/edit

5.)  Volunteer Recognition

·         Board would like to begin recognizing a “Volunteer of the Year”

·         Winner would receive a plaque

·         Members can give nominations, board will review nominations and choose most deserving.

5.) Super Series Discussion

·         Shayna will explore pricing for different award options

It is suggested that Semi-pro rollers will be awarded Super Series points in their respective age groups, according to their placement in Semi-Pro.

Semi-Pro Competitors will be awarded Super Series Points in their respective age groups based on their placement in Semi-Pro.

Joanie makes a motion to approve.   Shayna Seconds.  All Approve.

6.)    Tournament Sanctioning

·         Troy continues to work on Tournament Sanctioning Document for 2015. 

·         Wording will be added about the day fee for non-USLRA members, or a discounted fee for USLRA members.

·         A prize money pay out/break down will be added to the document.

·         Troy proposes a 7 day time limit to report results.   *A form should be included for directors to submit their results on

·         Troy will run the form past all tournament directors to seek their feedback.

7.)  USLRA Brackets

·         Steve Klingemann and Troy continue to work on cleaning up mistakes on brackets

·         They’ve added a variable font size to allow space for full names.

8.)  CAN-LOG

·         USLRA will seek to form a relationship with CAN-LOG.  Troy will reach out to them.

·         Also seek to form relationships with other Lumberjack Associations - perhaps suggesting a discounted rate for members of these other associations.

  

9.)  Log Size Specifications

·         It was brought up to Troy at the Three Rivers Roleo that at tournaments this summer, Log Sizes have not been consistent.   It was suggested that the variance in log size should be changed to ¼ inch rather than ½ inch.  The board will explore this further in the future.

10.)  Media

·         USLRA is now on twitter.  @USLogrolling

·         Future planning to update website:  add pages with athlete profiles, archival, update photos and media pages, add online payment system

11.)  Finance

·         4,935.00 in membership dues has been collected.

·         Payments left this year:  Super Series Awards, taxes.

·         Board will look at budgeting for Tournament Grants in the 2015 season.

12.)  Other topics

·       Joanie is exploring the idea of a camp for Amateurs led by Jamie Fischer.  Is working on details and dates.  Funds would go back to USLRA to form potential scholarship fund.  She will type up a proposal.

13.)  Tournament Liaisons for remainder of season

            October 5 - Oconomowoc Rock-n-Roll:  Shayna and Mary

            October 26 – River Rat Roll:  Troy and Polly

            November 8 – November Nationals:  Troy and Joanie

14.)  Apparel

·         Joanie will be meeting with two additional apparel suppliers

·         Logo has been simplified for better transfer

 15.)  Annual Board Meeting

·         Plans will be made to hold Annual USLRA Board meeting on November 8, after the November Nationals Tournament in Hudson, WI.   All USLRA members will be invited to attend.   (Meeting could also be videotaped for members unable to attend.)

16.)  Next Board Meeting will be scheduled at a later date.

Joanie motions to Adjourn.   Mary Seconds.   10:03 PM.