Minutes
Truckee Little League
Board Meeting – Special End of Season Meeting
August 4, 2016
6:30 pm
Dickson Realty, Donner Pass Road @ Northwoods Blvd.
ATTENDEES
Brad Hamilton
(arrived late)
Stacey Benefiel
Mark Hammond
John Moulton
Jen Ellermeyer
(absent)
Brent Ferreira
Riley Willcox
Robert Smith
Judy Zachariesen
Tracey Shock
(absent)
Mark Hammond
Matt Pekarek
(absent)
Lauren Van Loon
Alan Nicholls
Scott Keith
Agenda: Special End of Season Board Meeting
• Regular Season - what worked; what did not
• Changes for Next Season
• Fall Ball
• Post-Season Play
• Returning Board Members and new Board members for next season
AAA- Discuss re: Coach Pitch.
•
•
Keep under standard rules (5 innings)
Game 4 -- 3 pitches to 2 pitches.
•
•
•
No coach pitch last few games. Need it first few games.
5th inning- player pitches
2 hit batters- bring coach in
AAA Coordinator for next season needs to communicate rules and changes.
Judy- Discussion regarding the 2 year mandatory rule (i.e., if a player is 10 years old and has
played 2 years in AAA, then they are mandatory for Minors)
•
Lauren likes the rule; Stacey thinks it works well. Agreement to not just “put together
an extra team”.
Marketing for Volunteers- Discussion. Group agreed that we need an earlier and stronger
message for coaches.
Brent- Led discussion around rule changes. He’d like to see no changes made after the start of
the season. Ex. Stealing bases. Even if the rule is wrong, we should play the rule for the season
and not change mid-way.
Minors- Discussion around Minors and how the teams balanced out this year. General
consensus was that we had great, well-balanced teams with very little drama. Need to
emphasize to coaches next year that they need to work together to create balanced teams and
pay competitive games.
Alan- Discussion around TLL Mission Statement. What is our Mission? To prepare for HS
baseball? To prepare for All Stars? General consensus is that it’s for kids to have fun playing
baseball (only). Scott brought up that there are travel teams in Reno for the more competitive
players (and their parents).
Judy made clarification that the regular season is for fun and player development; the postseason is to win. We should consider amending our Mission statement to reflect something
similar.
Stacey – We can make the better players team leaders during regular season. Key is to develop
skills. Regular season shouldn’t be all about winning.
Riley- What is our goal? The Division Coordinators must set the tone at start of season. We
need STRONG Div Coordinators next year. What if they attend first 30 minutes of each Board
meeting then go to Zano’s to meet with coaches? Would bring cohesion.
Brent- Strengthen message on website. Revise Mission statement and display prominently.
Discussion: Board needs to pin down coach selection process next year. Board also needs to
develop a better way to handle “incidents” that arise throughout season (i.e., how we intervene
with problems and issues).
Mark- 1) Brought up issue of TLL President managing a team; 2) Batting cages. Need to get on
airport cages much sooner next year. Riverview and Regional Park cages were hardly used, or at
least hardly reserved.
MOTION RE: TLL PRESIDENT MANAGING TEAMS: The majority of the Board agrees that
President should not manage Major/Minors team. Ok to coach, but not to manage. Mark made
a motion that the President not be a Manager in any Division. Lauren seconded the motion. All
in favor. Motion approved.
Upper Meadow- We need to put pressure on Parks & Rec to fix drainage issue. TLL can chip in
some $$ to help.
ACTION ITEM: Lauren will work with Stacey to draft letter to TDRPD (Steve Randall) to open up
discussions. Include: Add grass to lower meadow in field, and add hose bibs to lower meadow
and Riverview.
Judy- Player evaluation forms. Very low answer rates. Judy was late in getting them out this
year.
Coach Evaluations- should be simple, 5 questions. 1) Have fun. 2) Help develop skills. ACTION
ITEM: Scott Keith will do these.
Laura Brown can help with T Ball evaluations to help move along.
February- We should be doing paperwork, insurance for batting cages. Start early!
Stacey- Good to start early rather than later next season. Spring Break timing is critical. Spring
Break 2017 is April 10-14.
Alan indicated that the early start in 2016 was mostly good, except the rains caused many
practices to be canceled and teams jumped right into games. We should announce teams in
early March. Park & Rec won’t schedule fields until late March. If light Winter, could be even
earlier.
Alan- Majors doesn’t have to start early, but the other Divisions should .
Mark- How did N Tahoe people feel about Mark scheduling games for them? + cages?
FALL BALL- Judy gave update. 21 kids signed up so far. ½ Minors, ½ Majors (what they signed
up for). A few kids who played Minors signed up for FB Minors (should be Majors). 14 Majors; 7
Minors.
Robert needs to order uniforms for FB.
Dan Gorman/ TDRPD needs signed contract and payment. Brad passed info on to Jen. ACTION
ITEM: Need to follow up.
John Moulton will manage Minors. Need coaches. Judy will manage Majors.
Mark- August 20th fields reserved.
ACTION ITEM: John Moulton to send email to Minors kids to try to recruit more kids.
Post-season – All Stars
Stacey wants to order practice shirts to keep
• 9-10s got 2nd place. Great sportsmanship
• 11s team was successful. Consolation bracket.
• Renegades – great experience per Scott Keith
• Houligans – great experience per Lauren Van Loon
RETURNING BOARD MEMBERS
Brad – He wants to focus on coaching, and is out
Stacey- Back on board. Will consider VP but not President
Scott- Ok to be a “lite board member’ (or Coordinator)
Brent- He’s back. At Large, or able to move up.
Lauren- On fence. Late evenings are tough on schedule.
Robert- He’ll come back as Purchaser.
Mark- He’s out. Will consider a lesser position, possibly
Alan- Wants to remain involved. UIC is a big job to do. He suggests 2 jobs for UIC next season.
Judy- She’ll come back. Like Player-Agent and Scheduler.
Riley- He’s back as Information Officer
John Moulton- He’ll be back and can be more involved.
Jen Ellermeyer will not be returning as a board member, however she is available to
keep the books.
We need to schedule an Information Night. ACTION ITEM: Stacey will schedule.
- For the Board Informational Night, we selected September 12, depending on what
night is most open and not in conflict with other school events, or debates, Monday
night football, etc. Not quite sure how we decide what is best, or how to lock one in.
- Then Elections for the board would be 30 days later, which makes that around
10/13.
END OF MINUTES.