2004 Carolina Region Annual Retreat - August 20-22, 2004
Sheraton Grand, New Bern
Submitted by: Kevin M Wendelboe, Director of Operations

Friday, August 20, 2004:

Attendees: Karl Owen, John Boger, Scott Huettel, Amber Fulk, Stephen Shepherd, Brian Magee, Marilyn Thompson, Chuck McCracken, Sandy Fox, Betty Fox, Charlie Yang, Kevin Wendelboe

Non-Attendees: Craig Lenniger, Jami Oleskewicz, Pamela Plummer, Wade Brence, Fred Wendelboe

Registered Proxy: Jami Oleskewicz to Kevin Wendelboe; Wade Brence to Charlie Yang

Guests: Chuck Morris, Dan Pickett, Terry Pickett

Meeting started: 8:12 pm

  1. Karl began with discussing his goals for the retreat. Went over the agenda for the weekend.
  2. Introductions - went around the room to make sure everyone knew everybody.
  3. Approve minutes from the May 2, 2004 meeting - motion by John, second by Scott to:

    Motion 1: Approve the minutes from the May 2, 2004 meeting of the Board of Directors. MSA

  4. Finance Report - Kevin passed out updated Finance Report to everyone. A projected column has been added to forecast where we predict we will end the fiscal year. Our current forecast has us with a small surplus without having to transfer any money from reserves. There were a couple reasons we won't need to transfer the amount of money budgeted from reserves: (a) sizable growth again in the junior division, and (b) less than expected expenses from the member development program. Motion by Brian, second by Marilyn to:

    Motion 2: Approve the August 18, 2004 Finance Report. MSA

  5. Identify Strategic goals and challenges: Karl would like the board to identify 5 to 10 goals for the Region that we will have this year. These goals should be prioritized, should be specific and measurable. That way we can give direction to our staff and allow us to measure our performance as a Region. Sandy and Betty arrived at 8:50 pm. Charlie arrived at 8:53 pm. Began with a brainstorming session about possible goals we could focus on with no limits as to whether we could do them, no limits on money, etc. We will get these on paper first and then work over the weekend to group them in categories and identify our priorities.
    1. Brainstormed on possible Region Goals for 2004/2005.
    2. Brainstormed on Member Services Goals/Improvements.

    Recessed at 9:50 pm

    Saturday, August 21, 2004:

    Attendees: Karl Owen, John Boger, Scott Huettel, Amber Fulk, Stephen Shepherd, Brian Magee, Marilyn Thompson, Chuck McCracken, Sandy Fox, Betty Fox, Charlie Yang, Craig Lenniger, Kevin Wendelboe

    Registered Proxies: Jami Oleskewicz to Kevin Wendelboe; Wade Brence to Charlie Yang

    Guests: Chuck Morris, Dan Pickett, Terry Pickett, Carter Calloway (9:10 am)

    Reconvened at 8:05 am

    1. Went over the results of the surveys that Chuck posted on website. We will use those survey results when discussing the issues in our division meetings.
    2. Bylaws update - Chuck put up his proposal for bylaws revision on the screen for discussion. First question was whether we want to just make minimal updates such as address changes or go more in depth and change structure of board? Consensus was to make the changes now that reflect what we're doing and where we want to go. Next question was how many people should be on this board? The two main suggestions were for a seven person or nine person board. After much discussion of pros and cons it seemed a nine person board would best meet our needs. A long discussion followed about the make up of a nine person board. Everyone could agree on President, Vice-President, Men's Player Rep, Women's Player Rep, Junior Girl's Rep, and Boy's Player Rep. Question raised whether to combine Secretary and Treasurer into one position. Decided to keep the two positions separate. Final decision on composition was addition of an Officials Rep. It was pointed out that it will be written in the Bylaws that we can appoint reps with vote from groups that are not represented. Discussed whether terms should be two or three years. Consensus was to make the terms three years. Went through the rest of document and made suggestions. Chuck will make the recommended changes before this weekend is over and will post for our review. We'll then take the final version to a lawyer for review. If any changes needed we will approve by email a final version. We will give ten days notice of a bylaws change in advance of the May Annual meeting for approval to go into effect after the Annual Meeting.

      Short break taken at 10:30 am

    3. Board Development - tried to capture some ideas on ways to identify, recruit, and develop new board members. Had another brainstorming session.
    4. Member Services - brainstormed on what we can do to enhance our services.

      Recessed for lunch at 12:05 pm; Reconvened at 1:09 pm

    5. Budget discussions - added in staff expenses and program expenses same from last year to see where that would put us (about $20000 deficit). A lot of items will depend on what our divisions want to do this year. Decided to table the budget discussions until we meet in divisions to determine what our budgetary needs will be out of the divisions.
    6. Operating Code - discussed the proposed changes to the operating code that Kevin emailed out earlier this week and passed out as a highlights sheet. Decided not to institute a fee for replacement of membership cards (will track this year to see if it is a problem). Discussed the adult policy to meet the officiating requirements by Feb 1. Do we want to add language to allow the sliding scale of sanctions that we've had in practice the last two years. Decided that yes we do want to make that the new policy. Kevin will clean up the language proposed, add any other changes that come out of the divisions, and present it on Sunday for final review.
    7. Broke for Division discussions at 2:52 pm. Came back at 5:15 for Division Reports:
      1. Junior Division - Decided to hold Coaches meetings on Nov 13 (Triangle), Nov 20 (Charlotte), and Dec 18 (Triad). Would like to host a CAP clinic in Fall of 2005. Will try to get John Kessel and Tom Tait to be clinicians. If we get Kessel, he can also give an IMPACT clinician clinic for us at same time to train more clinicians in the Region. Will change play format for all divisions/ages to matches start at 0. Will modify the 5 team pool play so it doesn't take as long to play (teams won't play everyone in pool - three matches except one team with four). Discussed recruiting issue. Will come up with a statement about recruiting that we will publicize on web and in our registration packet. We will encourage clubs to hold tryouts after the public schools high school state championships. We're going to add another division for those ages that have enough teams (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Copper) and will automatically move top two and bottom two at first few tournaments to get them sorted competitively. For first three tournaments, we will have adult officials work first game of match for 14 and unders and then the junior official work the other games of the match (with official still helping). We will try to recognize the better junior officials with a pin/patch. Will ask Officials Divisions to come up with the standards/procedures to recognize the better junior officials. Reiterated that teams must have a certified coach present by the end of first match of the day or they will be disqualified from tournament. Discussed raising officials pay but decided not to since the days should go shorter. Decided to raise tournament entry fee to $110 to lessen region's subsidy to officials. Region Officials clinics set as Saturday Dec 4 (western), Dec 11 (Chapel Hill), recert in am and full in pm). Regional Championships will do Bronze/Copper at end of March. Will do Gold, Silver in April. Quest would like to do tournaments on Jan 8/9 and on May 20/21. Discussed providing money to pay for entry fees for teams going to Nationals but decided against it since clubs usually build it into the budget and it would require us to raise fees. Would like to consider starting a junior development fund for underprivileged players/teams.
      2. Adult Division - would like to try to get all divisions on Saturday with understanding teams could be shut out. Regionals will be April 2 & 3. Liked the idea of a Quest tournament but it did take away a weekend of normal adult play. If it could be on a non-adult weekend then division will support it. Would like to add an unaffiliated registered player list that teams can draw from. Once a player on list plays three times they would be locked in on the third team. Discussed whether teams could borrow players from non-club teams. Decided if a team shows up with five players they could borrow one player from another team at the tournament. A team can only do it once in a season. If the sixth player shows up then the borrowed player would go back to the original team but team has still used their one-time permission. In the instance of these borrowing of players, there would be flexibility with the uniform rules handling number conflicts the best way possible. Decided not to investigate having paid adult officials this season. Discussed having them come in for playoffs but did not come to any decisions. Will encourage those officials identified for Junior National or National ratings to come in to work the tournaments. The fine for using illegal players is $50 regardless of number of illegal players used but the fine is progressive for multiple infractions. Asking Officials Division to have their clinicians emphasize taking the tests at the sites and inform attendees of the policy if they do not follow through. Will revise the rating form to make it a little more than drive-by but not as involved as the full rating form. Will allow a rating of "trained" official (not going through full rating) for use in adult play only in Carolina Region. Discussed how to cover officials for one-event teams. Those teams will be allowed to play using their experienced players/officials if possible to work. If they are beginning team Chuck should know about them and then we will try to have officials there to cover their work duties.
      3. New Points System proposal - Scott has thought about a new way to do points. Would like a continuous ranking system for teams. Rankings would fluctuate depending on who you play. Beat a higher team your rankings go up. Lose to a lower team, rankings go down. We will try to analyze some numbers using last year's tournament results to develop a system. This is coming out of adults but juniors can choose to at least run their numbers through both systems to see how it compares.

      At 6:05 broke into Personnel committee and Officials divisions. Officials division would work for half and hour and then continue over dinner. Reports will be made Sunday morning. Recessed for dinner at 6:30 pm

      Sunday, August 22, 2004:

      Attendees: Karl Owen, John Boger, Scott Huettel, Amber Fulk, Stephen Shepherd, Brian Magee, Marilyn Thompson, Chuck McCracken, Sandy Fox, Betty Fox, Charlie Yang, Craig Lenniger, Kevin Wendelboe

      Registered Proxies: Jami Oleskewicz to Kevin Wendelboe; Wade Brence to Charlie Yang

      Guests: Chuck Morris, Dan Pickett, Terry Pickett

      Reconvened at 8:10 am

      1. Went over final changes to the Bylaws and approved them. Will take it to a lawyer to review. Results from the lawyer will be sent to the board for final review/approval. Will give at least 10 days notice to membership and bring it for a vote at a future meeting to go into affect after the Annual Meeting. pay for equipment as we have in past for previous grants and they would have to pay for their labor. Motion by Karl, second by Brian to:

        Motion 3: approve the amended 2005 Operating Code (with forthcoming Officials requirements rewriting) MSA

        Board went into closed session to discuss personnel issues (Chuck, Kevin, and guests left room).

      2. Officials Division Report - Decided that in order to receive pay from the Region (clinician, rater, work a tournament) then officials must be certified as Provisional or higher. They will have to sign an independent contractor agreement. Discussed whether we should have a minimal score requirement on the test in order to pass? If they don't meet the minimum would have to take another test. Decided Provisionals should make a 70 or higher and Regionals should make an 80 or higher (Nationals already have to make a 90 per USAV policy) and they have to correct to 100. For a "Trained" referee must correct to 100 unless they score a 70 (as incentive to do well the first time). We will continue to offer online testing but will work with clinicians to emphasize taking the test at the clinic. The clinicians will go over the newly approved policy if they do not fulfill the requirements. Sandy has worked on a new Good Standing Policy. This policy will assign points to different activities with the Region and Nationally. There will be a probationary status and a non-certified status. The policy was updated with suggestions and approved by the division. Division will develop a list of approved clinicians and raters. Division has set dates for the clinics (Nov 20/21; Dec 18/19, Jan 15/16 recert in morning, full in afternoon). Will have recert clinics in mid-November and mid-December (dates TBA). We plan on having a rating session for our professional officials at a Friendship tournament before the season. Reviewed the timetable for officials wanting to advance to a Junior National and National ratings and decided to keep it the same.
      3. Budget discussions - budget spreadsheet put up on the screen and numbers were updated that were submitted out of divisions. The personnel numbers had already been put in and approved during the closed session. Decided to plan for flat growth in adults and 5% growth in juniors. Marilyn left at 11:10 am. Motion by Scott, Charlie to:

        Motion 4: Give preliminary approval to the 2005 Proposed budget subject to additional program development changes based on goal setting. MSA

      4. Facility Grant Request - Chuck gave a report from their committee about our one Facility Grant Request. Kernersville YMCA has two gyms. In one gym they only have 9'6" between the courts. They would like to buy some equipment to be able to do volleyball programming. They are requesting up to $3000 to buy net systems for their gyms. Discussed adding a contingency agreement to any grant applications that the gym would agree to hang a Carolina Region banner in the gym. Decided that we do want to add a contingency to this and all future Facility Grants that award winners hang a banner we provide in their gym. Money for this grant has already been placed in 2005 Budget. Motion from committee to:

        Motion 5: Approve up to $3000 for the Kernersville YMCA facility upgrade. MSA

      5. Goals discussion - Karl wanted to end our retreat with looking at our brainstorming lists and come up with goals for the coming year. Brian proposed forming a grassroots committee that would look at the goals brainstorming we did earlier and fine-tune them into a workable program. Group wanted to go ahead and do it now as we would like to set some goals for the Board this year which will allow staff to be able to focus on those areas. Went down the brainstorming list to identify some of the key categories that we can focus on in the coming year. Motion by Betty, second by Scott to:

        Motion 6: to approve the following Goals for the Carolina Region for the coming season: MSA
        1. Increase adult membership
          1. Measure 29 male and 34 female teams play in CR this season
        2. Increase visibility of the Carolina Region
          1. Measure: get CR info to 1000 people who were not CR members last season
        3. Identify underserved areas and populations
          1. Measure: list of underserved areas and populations generated
          2. Measure: create a grassroots development plan
        4. Publish a list of where to find volleyball in NC
          1. Measure: list published on CR website
        5. Improve member services
          1. Measure: accept credit card payments by 11/1/2004
          2. Measure: add a forum section to CR web site by 1/1/2005

      6. Motion by Charlie, second by John to:

        Motion 7: to adjourn the 2004 Annual retreat of the Carolina Region Board of Directors at 12:30 pm. MSA

      NEXT MEETING
      Saturday, January 8, 2005 6:30 pm SportsPlex, Greensboro

      If you are unable to attend, please submit proxy to Office by Thursday, January 6, 2005

      ACTION ITEMS:
      • Kevin/Chuck - Submit Proposed Bylaws to lawyer for review.
      • Chuck - schedule CAP clinic for Fall, 2005
      • Chuck/Officials Division - schedule/find sites for adult/junior officials clinics
      • Sandy/Officials Division - develop rating form/system for Trained Officials
      • Sandy/Officials Division - develop policy for recognizing Outstanding Junior Officials
      • Scott/John, Kevin - finalize/test new points system for use this season
      • Kevin, Sandy, Marilyn - rewrite Officials requirements for Operating Code.
      • Kevin - finalize Proposed Budget and send to BOD for final review.
      • Kevin/Chuck - set individual goals based on the Region's goals for the coming season

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      Maintained by Kevin M. Wendelboe office@CarolinaRegionVB.org

      Last Updated: Wednesday, 19-Jan-2005 9:14 EDT