July 10, 2010 Meeting Minutes

REVISED SEPTEMBER 2010 WITH NEW MOTION

Toni Rand, Florida USAG SCAA calls the meeting to order at 1:00PM             Tampa, Florida

Michael Body

Michael Hamer

Pam Kitchen

Jeff LaFleur

Rene Niccollai

Evelyn Chandler

Vinnie DiMaggio

Ron Patt

Mark Weber

Tim Keckler

Randy Sikora – absent

Mike LaFleur – absent

Non voting members present:  Catherine Fariz

Non voting members Absent:  Brad Harris, Kevin Griffin, Marty Kallen, Mike McCabe

Toni Introduced and welcomed the new members to the committee and had them sign Confidentiality agreements

Toni reminded everyone about confidentiality agreements and encouraged committee to talk openly on all issues

Toni presented a quick report from the Regional meeting in Atlanta held in June 2010

Toni informed everyone that TBT/Florida USAG has been awarded  the Regional Meet for 2012

Toni will be attending another meeting in New Orleans on December 17, 2010

Discussion about concerns from  Tom Koll and National office concerning the direction of the PO programs in the USAG      the National Office is taking a survey on line from Members and will probably put more guidelines in place for the PO program possibly by next season. 

MOTION:  NAWGJ will continue as meet assigners and CPE Coordinator for Florida USAG

By Mike Body    Second: Rene Niccollai  

               All in favor

CPE clarification and update presented by Catherine, Rene and Toni to the committee

MOTION:   For CPE we will  collect from each judge the back-up data  showing which clinics and/or educational hours they attended in order to ensure who is doing the proper work and who is involving themselves in the correct types of education

By Evelyn Chandler                        Second:  Rene Niccollai

               All in favor

MOTION:  Florida USAG will  maintain the current judges selection committee for State Meets

By Jeff LaFleur                                 Second:  Michael Hamer

               All in favor

Toni asks if there are any issues with judging assignments at the State Meets/Regional Meets.  Toni told committee about a letter of concern received from one coach about the level 7 State meet with scores floating.  Discussion followed  

Committee generally felt that due to the size of this meet (350 Level 7 athletes) and only 50 spots to the Regional meet that it is a difficult job to maintain perfect consistency – Florida does a draw at this meet to determine order of athletes however the committee is not really sure what else can be done.  The Judges will be advised at each session to do their best to be consistent through- out the competition.

Committee was generally satisfied with the judges selected for the Florida state meets for last season

Vinnie asks if any consideration will be given to the idea of allowing less experienced/lower rated judges access to lower level state meets?              

Discussion followed: Committee generally feels that last year meets went more smoothly because of the use of the experienced judges on our State meets and the committee wants the athletes/coaches to have the advantage of having our best judges on the State Meets

Toni asks if everyone would agree that we continue to assign active but possibly lower level or judges not assigned to another state meet the opportunity to judge the Level 2/3 State meets.  Everyone agrees this is a good plan.  The committee also agrees that Location of the meet and judges available close to the site will be considered for all meets.

Discussion occurs over the benefit/disadvantage of a 2 panel as opposed to a 4 panel judge for Level 5/6 state meet.

Committee decides to maintain our current policy for number of judges at the State meets

2 Judge panels at Level 2/3, PO, and Level 4 at State Meets

All other levels will have 4 judge panels at all State Meets

Pam brought up issues with expenses for judges on State meets that come from the Panhandle

Jeff brings up concern about judges not spending enough time in the gym observing/practicing.

               The selection committee will consider using time in gym, meets judged, clinics attended, as well as location and other criteria when making selections for the State Meets.  A State availability form will be used for this season.

Issue came up of what to do if you have a problem with a specific judge:

               Members may do the following: talk with Evelyn who is the Ethics chairman, or Catherine who is the NAWGJ chairman.-all issues should then be put it in writing and mailed to the correct person for documentation.

It was pointed out that Meet Directors have the right to specifically request a judge not be placed on their meet- make sure if possible that you put a reason in writing to Catherine.  Meet Directors may also request certain judges –

All information will be kept confidential

Cancellation of Qualifying meets: Discussion about process, reasons and problems with cancellations.

MOTION: Starting with the 2011-12 fall Season, all requests for meets must be accompanied with a $100 non-refundable deposit payable to Florida USAG as well as the assigning fee due to NAWGJ per competition. This fee will be credited toward the athlete fee that is due to the state when the meet is completed. If the meet is not held, the fee will be non refundable.

By Evelyn Chandler         Second:  Mike Body

               All in favor

MOTION: If a meet director/organization cancels a qualifying meet within the 4 weeks of their competition they will be penalized $500 payable to Florida USAG (per meet that is canceled without appropriate time) which must be paid before MD and/ or the organization will be allowed to place a competition on the Florida qualifying calendar for the next season or act as MD. Meets that cancel 4 weeks or more from the date of their competition will not be fined.

By Evelyn Chandler     Second:   Jeff LaFleur

               All in Favor

Toni presents the budget and financial figures for Florida USAG for last season and next season.  A financial report will be sent to all Pro members in Florida with the next email newsletter as is required by National R&P.

Discussion about the Regional ALL Star Trips – selection, purpose and costs.

Committee feels the trip is too expensive for the number of athletes and coaches that benefit from this trip.  It was brought up that some coaches do not wish to donate or support regional training camps if the funds are used for the trip.  Ideas were presented of better ways to support more athletes to improve the education and level of our athletes

The committee requested that Toni bring this up at her Regional meeting.

MOTION: The committee requests that Toni  present to the Regional committee that Florida Committee is  not in favor of the All Star trip but would prefer that the  money could be better used towards free or inexpensive education and training camps for more athletes/coaches/judges

By Jeff LaFleur                  Second: Mark Weber  

               All in Favor

Toni announced that Tim Rand  Fund(TRF) is going to pay Level 10 National entry fees again this year  and  90% sure that the Level 9 National Entry fees will also be paid this year.- almost $17000

State Meet Dates for next year:

               2011 Compulsory

                              11/19-20 Level 2/3 state

                              12/3-4 Level 5/6 state

                              12/10-12/11 Level 4

               2012 Optional

                              3/23-25 Level 8/9/10 State

                              3/30-4/1 Level 7 & PO State

MOTION:  To accept 2011-12 State Meet Dates as presented

By Tim Keckler                  Second: Michael Hamer

               All in favor

Vinnie brought up the possibility of the CoverGirl classic for next year being held at UF- do we want to be involved?  Toni says that would be through the National Office and if they need any assistance, USAG FL would love to be involved.  Toni also stated that Vinnie would act as local coordinator with Catherine. 

Mobility and Tracking Scores -  Brief discussion on tracking scores especially between level 6 and 7 – We will keep track as score sheets need to be sent to Kevin after each sanctioned event and Toni will do more to make clubs aware of the proper procedures for mobility within the JO program.

Qualifying Scores for Florida will remain at 32.00AA at all levels except Level 2/3 & Novice PO which only requires that an athlete compete in a Florida USAG qualifying competition at that level to enter the State meet.

Entry Fees for the 2011-12 Season – Brief discussion on entry fees – tabled until meeting in December.

Prep Optional Discussion:

Committee is happy with our 2 levels of PO -  Novice and Open divisions    No change for 2010-11 season

Pam suggests that since we are hosting the Regional meet that we should consider looking at allowing a team from Florida to be entered at every division.  No motion was made. 

Committee will wait until State meet to see how many clubs/athletes enter the Regional competition at each level and if there are enough athletes to field a team, a decision will be made.  The state will not provide leotards for Team athletes

If Teams are accepted and there are more than 6 athletes entered in a level from Florida we will use the AA scores from the Novice Optional State meet to determine who will qualify to the Team.

Discussion on current rules and changes for the 2010-11 season.

Motion:  In order to enter the Florida Prep Opt Open division athletes would have had to score a 31.00 at Level 5

By Pam Kitchen                Second:  Tim Keckler.

                                             All in Favor

MOTION:  Change the  start value for a flatback at Novice PO Level to  8.5

By Pam Kitchen                Second:  Tim Keckler

               All in Favor

MOTION:  Change leap requirement for Novice PO on beam from 150 to 120

By Pam Kitchen                               Second:  Tim Keckler

               All in Favor

OPEN DIVISION PO - in order to keep in line with Level 7 rules and for concern on some liability issues Open division athletes will no longer be able to do C skills on any event except Bars. 

the only C’s allowed are the Level 7 allowable skills on bars.

Florida Coach of the Year:             Discussion of criteria for award

Florida committee is responsible for selection of the Coach of the Year – National criteria as set by Tom Koll and JO committee suggests that committees consider the success the coach/club had within the JO program at all levels that year with more emphasize on the Optional levels- other considerations should be if they participate in state events/clinics as well as Regional clinics and training camps.  Does the coach work well with other coaches at competitions and how they treat their athletes at meets and during training as well as other athletes in a competition

Toni suggested that we could vote on all coaches at the Optional state meets however there were concerns over the selection becoming a popularity contest – Toni also presented a point system that the committee could use as a guideline when selecting the coach – The committee thinks the spreadsheet is a good start and we will discuss this further at our meeting in December.

Discussion concerning Team issues:

MOTION:  Athletes who switch clubs after the state meet entry deadline may not count for team score.

By Evelyn Chandler         Second:  Jeff LaFleur

               6 in favor

               4 opposed                         Motion Passed

MOTION:  For Division 1 Team competition only - Teams will  count 3, 4 or 5 scores depending on the number of athletes on the smallest team of the cut off.

By Pam Kitchen                               Second:  Jeff LaFleur      

               10 in favor

               1 opposed                         Motion Passed

Discussion about the concerns of coaches/clubs at the level 4 and 5/6 State meet levels.  There is concern over the number of 2^nd year athletes competing against 1^st year athletes – Some clubs will not send their athletes to the State meet unless they score a 36.00AA due to the feeling that they are not able to be competitive – discussion on possible solutions for the upcoming season.

MOTION:  Athletes will send in their highest AA from a Florida qualifying meet with State entry. Athletes with the top 128 All Around scores will be placed in 2 separate sessions for the Level 4 & 5 State meets. These athletes will then be divided into sessions by birthdates  and will be able to count toward the Team score.

By Jeff LaFleur                  Second:  Ron Patt

               All in favor  (REPEALED SEPTEMBER 2010)

MOTION:  the Florida committee will investigate looking at the rest of the athletes in the state meets (Level 4 & 5) and decide if we want to divide these athletes into groups by score.   Toni will check with Kevin and send a report to the committee by September 1^st for a final decision.

By Vinnie DiMaggio         Second:  Tim Keckler

               All in Favor   (REPEALED SEPTEMBER 2010)

REPEAL OF MOTIONS ABOVE – SEPTEMBER 2010

MOTION:   to repeal the motion to seed the level 4/5 state meet for this season due to complications/questions of how this may work - the committee will review the issue again at our next meeting. 

Motion - Mike LaFleur   Second  Ron Patt

PASSED

There have been complaints about the athletes not staying at their event until the end of the meet.  Committee members were asked to monitor this especially at State meets.  We will request that athletes remain at their event until all events are completed at all State meets.  Invites are encouraged to follow this as well.

Draw for Level 7 & 8  - New members Ron Patt and Vinnie DiMaggio do the draw with committee as witness

               Level 7-                8, 14, 12, 15, 2, 3, 13, 10, 9, 11,1, 7, 6, 16, 5, 4

               Level 8-                 1, 2, 8, 11, 6, 9, 13, 10, 12, 15, 5, 7, 16, 14, 4, 3

Late entries to the state meet: We have had a problem with a few clubs concerning late entries to State meets. Entries are considered late if they are NOT in the hands of the MD by deadline date and all entry fees must be paid in full.  If a club bounces a check the entry may be considered late. 

MOTION:  Florida USAG will fine any club that is late entering a state meet  a $100 fine – this will be in addition to the $25 late fee that the MD will charge per athlete.

By Michael Hamer                          Second Mark Weber

               All in Favor        

MOTION:  If a club bounces a check for State Meet entries, the club will need to pay fees by cashier’s check for that State Meet as well as for any other State meet entries for the rest of the competitive season.

By Rene Niccollai             Second:  Vinnie DiMaggio

               All in favor

MOTION:   Florida USAG  will again pay   entry fees for Florida athletes qualified to  Level 8/9/10 Regional competitions

By Evelyn Chandler                        Second:  Rene Niccollai

               All in Favor

Toni requested that the sectional representatives go over the  Club List for errors and report to her so the list may be updated

Ron Patt brings up the Level 6 program and what can be done to encourage athletes to compete at the State level in this program – he suggests personalizing awards, educating coaches the importance of the level,

The Committee suggests that we need to talk with Brad Harris about these concerns and have his committee review the compulsory levels and the difficulty of this level especially for the new JO program that is being worked on

Committee requests another meeting for this season – the committee will meet at the level 5/6 State meet on Friday early evening.

Meeting adjourned 5:30pm

Minutes Approved  July 17, 2010    Toni Rand