Minutes of October 6, 2007
General Membership Meeting
389: The
meeting of the General Membership of the Washington High School Boys Lacrosse
Association was held on Saturday, October 6, 2007 at Noon at Bertona Hall,
Board
President: Vern Smith
Board
Executive Secretary: Gail Shelton
Division
I Rep:
Division
II Rep: Absent
East
Rep: Vern Smith
Metro
Rep: Tony Olney
West
Rep: Rob Hawley
North
Rep: Absent
Division
I – Bainbridge Island, Bellevue, Curtis, Eastlake, Garfield, Issaquah,
Lakeside, Lynnwood, Maple Valley, Mercer Island, Puyallup, Roughriders,
Skyline, Vashon
Division
II – Blanchet, Eastside Catholic, Kings Way, Klahowya, Lake Tapps, Mt.
Rainier, Nathan Hale, North County,
North Kitsap, Northshore, Overlake, Port Angeles, Redmond, Sammamish, Seattle
Prep, Snohomish, South Kitsap, Stadium, Stanwood, Tacoma, Whatcom
390: Roll
was taken and new members introduced themselves.
391: Eastside
Catholic played a JV schedule last season and this season will be playing a
full Division II schedule.
392:
393: Also
added to the Association as a Provisional Member this season is
394: Vern
introduced new Board member, Tony Olney.
Tony is the At-Large member and is not affiliated with any program. Kevin Martin, Division II rep was
absent. The Board now has three members
who are not affiliated with any program – Tony, Kevin and Ken Hopkins, North Rep.
395: The
ground rules for voting on the by-laws were announced. All members will speak only once until all
members have spoken. Members are asked
to make their point succinctly.
396: The vote
has been divided into 6 areas: (1) lift probation on members; (2) reduce 3
meetings to 2; (3) voting issues; (4) sanction issues; (5) housekeeping
matters; (6) executive secretary compensation.
397: Ballot #1
was distributed to members who were not on probation. Vern explained the reasoning behind the
proposed by-law change. There was no
discussion.
398: BALLOT #1:
III.B.3 Takes all programs off current
probation. Passed 26-1
399: Ballot #2
was distributed. It contains five
individual votes. Vern explained Vote #1
which reduces the required meetings from 3 to 2 and changes associated with
this change. There was no discussion.
400: BALLOT #2, Vote #1:
III.B.1 Reduces the meetings from 3 to 2 and then defines who must
attend the fall and winter meetings.
III.B.3 Defines
and clarifies what happens when a program fails to attend the fall meeting and
the right of the program to appeal.
IV.C Moves
elections from June to October because the June meeting is cancelled.
IV.H Reflects the fall election of board members and extends
current terms from June to October.
IV.K Reflects the move of elections to the fall meeting and
eliminates the procedure after our initial election.
Passed 33-1
401: Vern
explained Vote #2 dealing with voting matters.
402: BALLOT #2, Vote #2:
III.B.7 Clarifies that
voting by proxy is not allowed.
III.C.4 Clarifies
what Provisional Members can vote on.
IV.G Reflects the
intent to always have an odd number on the Board.
Passed
33-1
403: Vern explained Vote #3 dealing with
sanctioning matters. Discussion
followed.
404: Question: Regarding
III.A.2, why can’t the sanctions be spelled out? There is a concern about the randomness of
the sanctions.
Answer: The Board cannot pre-decide all the
sanctions. The ultimate sanction is
expulsion from the League but sanctions can vary from reprimands, suspensions
etc. The program can appeal. The Board understands there can be
extenuating circumstances, but the membership must put trust in the Board to
weigh all the circumstances.
Question: Are the sanctions progressive.
Answer: If a program blatantly chooses to not follow
the by-laws, rules and procedures of the Association, there will be
sanctions. If you aren’t happy with the
decision of the Board, you can appeal – 1/3 to hear the appeal and 2/3 of the
membership to overturn the Board.
Question: The problem is getting members to the special
meeting.
Answer: Members vote with their feet – if they don’t
choose to vote, they won’t show up. It
is up to the appealing member to encourage the members to appear. There is a procedure in the By-laws for
changing the rules. If you don’t like
this rule, you can approach the general membership. A program that doesn’t follow the By-laws,
rules or procedures apparently doesn’t want to be a member.
Question: Will the Board discuss this issue? The burden shouldn’t be on the appellant.
405: Question: Regarding III.B.4, why are head coaches being
required to attend the February meeting?
Answer: All WIAA sports require head coaches to
attend a mandatory preseason meeting.
Details of the season, rule changes and final preparation for the season
will be discussed.
406: Question: It would be better if we could vote on each
of these separately.
407: MOTION:
Ballot #2, Vote #3 – Sanctioning matters should be three separate votes.
Passed 18-15
408: BALLOT #2 – Vote #3
III.A.2 Adds the ability of the Board to expel
members who fail to abide by the By-laws
Passed 27-5 with
one abstention.
III.B.3 Defines and clarifies what happens when a program fails to attend
the fall meeting. Clarifies
the right to appeal.
Passed 34-0
III.B.4 New provision that addresses what happens when a required coach
fails to attend the winter meeting.
Passed 33-1
409: Vern
explained Vote #4 dealing with housekeeping matters and there was no discussion.
III.A Defines more accurately
what is and who are General Members.
IV.I. Reflect the change
to 2 meetings and gives the board 45 days to post minutes. Further reflects how elections are conducted
in III.B.8.
V.A The Board fills
vacancies; doesn’t “replace” them.
X.L Removes the
definition of Representative which is no longer relevant.
Passed 34-0
410: Vern
explained Vote #5 dealing with compensation for the Executive Secretary. There was no discussion.
VI.C A new
provision that allows the Board to compensate the Executive Secretary.
Passed
34-0
411: SCHEDULING -
a)
Division I - there will be 14 teams, with an 8-team play-off.
b)
Division II - there will be 24 teams with a 12-team play-off.
c) Both Division games will be divided as even as possible
between home and away.
d)
Team blackout
dates must be submitted by Nov 15th. (i.e. spring
break, Prom, religious holidays, etc.)
e)
1st draft will be
available Dec 1st.
f)
To ease the
difficulty in travel, attempts will be made to schedule
g)
Jan 1st - New
teams may begin practice.
h)
All games played
must be reported.
i)
Each player must
participate in 10 practices before they may play in a league game. Coaches are
to keep track of their player's attendance.
j)
Feb 25th - Season
begins.
k)
Coaches must
regulate players coming in mid-season
412: Request
for Frosh-Soph or J.V. teams to step-up to play
413: COACHING CERTIFICATION
- Tony discussed Coaching Certification:
a)
30 hrs required
for Head Coach
b)
20 hrs required
for Assistant Coaches
c)
Hours are to be
completed by 2010 and renewed every 3 years
d)
Any
lacrosse-affiliated meeting, training or certification meets the criteria for
required hours (example: bi-annual meeting, CPR certification, US Lacrosse
coaches clinics…)
e)
Report hours to
Program Directors or AD
f)
Programs must
certify that all coaches have met the required hours for Coaching Certification
by signing the 2010 Acknowledgement Form for the February meeting.
414: Fred
Wilmot announced that Walax was again publishing the 'Evergreen State Annual'. Publication deadline for photos is January
15, 2008. If you have questions
regarding format etc. please contact Fred at www.walax.com
415: WA CHAPTER/USL ANNOUNCEMENTS - Gail
presented the 2008 information for the WA Chapter/USL.
a)
Levels I and II
Clinics - There will be no instructional (on-field) clinics in
b)
First Aid/CPR –
Because so many programs are handling their own certification, the number of
attendees have been declining. The
Chapter will review this decision for next year. Please contact the American Red Cross or your
local fire station for information on both courses.
c)
WA State Coaches
Convention will be held February 9-10, 2008 at SPU
d)
WA State
Championships will be held May 17, 2008 at Memorial Stadium. WHSBLA has the early games this year.
e)
The WA Chapter of
USL will be hosting the U-19 national team in their final week before they go
to the tournament in
416: DUES - Dues for the 2008 season
will be $10 per player for all players - frosh/soph, jv
and varsity.
417: OFFICIAL’S FEES - Officials fees
will be $60 per referee per home game with a $7 administration fee, i.e. each
home game will be $127. The Board is
negotiating with the WA Chapter to have the Chapter pay for the officials at
the championships. WHSBLA will pay for
the officials at the semi-final games.
Teams will split the cost of officials for the play-off games ($60 per
team/game).
418: WIAA SANCTIONING - The results
of the 2007 WHSBLA Questionnaire indicated 2 to 1 in both Divisions coaches
wanted the Board to seek WIAA sanctioning.
The Board is moving ahead with the petition in 2009 for the 2010
season. If WIAA accepts lacrosse as a
sanctioned sport and a team is not granted affiliation, the WHSBLA Board will
still be in place and will be the governing body for high school club lacrosse
in
419: The Board
will be working on the following projects relating to WIAA sanctioning:
a)
League
realignment for 2009. Please send
suggestions to your regional or divisional representative.
b)
The Board
requests that all teams work on attaining status as a school varsity, or school
club team. Any advances made in this
area will be beneficial to sanctioning.
The Board will survey teams to determine what their level of school
involvement is at this time.
c)
WHSBLA and the
Chapter are combining resources to hire a public relations professional. Scores will be reported to papers and
articles will begin appearing in local papers regarding lacrosse.
d)
WHSBLA has
requested that the Chapter move LaxFest to
420: NEW SUBCOMMITTEES - The Board
has authorized the formation of three new subcommittees:
(1) Coach Assistance – a subcommittee to mentor and help
new coaches with drills, practices etc.
(2) Program Assistance – a subcommittee formed to help
with the formation details, non-profit status etc.
(3) Compliance – Tony Olney will head this subcommittee
which will investigate non-compliance by coaches and programs. The subcommittee will present its findings to
the Executive Board with recommendations for sanctions.
421: IN-SEASON LIAISON - Tony Olney
will serve as an in-season liaison for coaches and officials. Tony will be traveling to games around the
area. Ken Hopkins will be traveling to
games in the north region and Kevin Martin will be traveling to games in the
south region.
422:
423: MATCHING HELMET RULE - Division
I varsity teams must have matching helmets per NFHS rules. It is imperative that the NOCSAE label is
visible to officials.
424: The Board
requested all teams send their Team Information Page to the League Secretary. This information will be posted on the
website.
425: PLAYER AND COACH EJECTIONS - New
rules are now in place and will be spelled out in the Handbook dealing with player
and coach game ejections which conform to WIAA rules for ejections, including a
review process by the Board for a second ejection. The player’s coach must notify the Board
within 24 hours of a player ejection.
The review process must be instituted by the coach. A coach must also notify the Board within 24
hours if a coach has been ejected.
Discussion followed regarding the seriousness of a game ejection. WHSBLA will send a letter and discuss with
the director of WALOA the seriousness of ejecting a player and ask them to
reinforce in training the difference between disqualifying and ejecting a player.
426: OFFICIAL EVALUATION FORM – Game
official evaluation forms will be available by the beginning of the season and
will be on the website.
427: The next
General Membership meeting is scheduled for February 2, 2008.
428: The
meeting was adjourned at 11:45 am.
Gail
Shelton, Executive Secretary