The GCTA Supports Tennis

GCTA Meeting Minutes
April 15, 2004

In Attendance:
Harvey Beahm, Doug Snapp, Janet Craycraft, Gary Alexander, Les Varnado, Brooks Naffziger, Bud Petersen, Denica Bruce, Geri Schlegel, Terry Gee, Deena Snapp, Jake Will, Jr., Rita Brown, Shirley Neibauer, Kelly Hoffman, Bruce Grubb, Marty Beahm, Jane McMeekin
1. Call to Order
GCTA President Harvey Beahm called the meeting to order.

2. Approval of Minutes
Harvey indicated that Doug Snapp had sent the January minutes to Board Members either by way of email or regular mail. The minutes were also posted to the web site. Harvey asked that we take a few minutes and see if there were additions and/or corrections. Rita Brown moved to accept the minutes, Shirley Neibauer seconded the motion, and the motion passed.

3. Treasurer's report
Jake Will, Jr., the GCTA Treasurer, gave the report. Jake said, in response to a question that he had read in the January minutes, that he can provide a detailed spreadsheet at any time; it would show detailed income and spending for the different areas of the GCTA. Jake continued that we presently have $205 in the checking account, $71,040 in the flex fund, $5,346 in the junior fund, and $1,453 in the Mansfield fund. This totaled $78,044. He indicated that a number of bills had been paid since the January meeting. Jake also said that he had received some late dues from one of the clubs in the Men's League. Several bills still need to be paid. He just received the Columbus Recreation and Parks bill. He was asked why there was such a difference from the January total of $95,015. He again stated that a number of bills had been paid after that January date. Expenses for the Women's League winter parties have been taken care of. He had paid Swim and Racquet as per their request in advance for use of the building for our meetings. He also paid for some dates that we owed them from the past. There was discussion as to whether we should continue to meet at Swim and Racquet. The charge is $80 per meeting. Rita said that the women are paying for their meetings at the Upper Arlington Municipal Building. She thought the cost was about $50 for the large room and $25 for the small room. Geri Schlegel said that the Upper Arlington Municipal Building is already reserved for Awards Ceremony in September. Gary Alexander added that he had paid for use of the building for the Men's League kickoff meeting out of the Men's League budget. Several alternative meeting sites were discussed. It was stated that we had had this discussion at the January meeting and had decided that the $80 was not out of line and that we should continue to meet at the Swim and Racquet location. Jake continued that the GCTA will show a $2500 income for the 2003 year. He thought this was good considering that we had the unexpected $1,000 that we paid to the Reynoldsburg team that qualified to the USTA National Tournament. Brooks Naffziger moved to accept Jake's report, Janet Craycraft seconded, and the motion passed.

4. Junior Wightman Cup & Junior Davis Cup
Janet Craycraft gave the report. The event is scheduled for June 19th and 20th at Upper Arlington High School; Olympic Indoor has offered indoor courts if needed at a very reasonable rate. Janet was given the OK by the GCTA Board to take the matches indoor if necessary. Our local teams have a $1000 budget from the GCTA. In addition, the OVTA is providing $600 per OVTA area for travel and housing; however, Columbus will not receive this money since there is no travel involved. But the OVTA will also pay $200 per team to be used as needed by each area; Columbus will receive this OVTA money.

5. Women's Leagues
Rita Brown said that the Women's League had had their initial meeting in mid March. At this point, it appears that the number of teams will be very similar to last year. A new club has indicated that it wants to participate in the leagues: Tartan Fields Golf Club. There will be a meeting of the Career Captains on May 13th; the Daytime Captains will meet on May 14th; both meetings will be at the Upper Arlington Municipal Building. There will be a rules meeting for the new teams and captains on each date. Les Varnado asked for a number of women participants in the 2003 summer leagues. Jake said that there were paid dues that equal 1,980 players. Shirley Neibauer reported on the Women's Winter Kickoff Parties. She said that the first party on a Saturday night in January had about 55 participants. The Friday party in February had 90 women who wanted to play. There was also a good assortment of snacks available. Two nice events with no complaints. Erin Ortman was the coordinator of the events.

6. Men's Leagues
Harvey talked about how pleased he was to have Gary Alexander back on board as the Men's League Chair. Gary said that the men had their initial meeting on April 14th and that it had gone very well. He anticipates that numbers of players will be about the same as last year: right around 1,000 players. Total participation will be higher because some of the men play at several age levels. He will have an idea as to the number of teams that plan to participate after April 21st; this is the deadline for teams to indicate that they plan to participate in the summer leagues. Gary shared that at the meeting, they had discussed online signup for the league--the younger member captains seemed to be more interested than the older member captains. Gary said that we need to investigate how it works and maybe do it in one of the leagues next year to see if it would be something to do for all levels. He felt that a great deal of information would be available to us and it would eliminated much of the administrative work of the league coordinator. Shirley Neibauer asked if there would be a 3.0 league this year. Gary said that if we get 4 teams we will run it. She would like Gary to send each club a master schedule for the teams they have. He said that this had been done in the past and would be done. Brooks Naffziger asked if New Albany could have a 65 and older team. Harvey talked about the men's meeting's discussion of using the Match Tie-break for the third set as it applies to the Diamond and Platinum leagues. Harvey feels that we need to be concerned about possible health problems of our older players. Rita Brown said the Gold league is using it in the Women's League.

7. USTA Summer Leagues
Doug Snapp gave the report. Terri Jones has sent him the following information and he has posted it to the GCTA web site. Tuesday play will consist of 3.0 women, 4.0 women, 3.5 senior women, 4.0 senior men, and 4.5 men. Wednesday play will be mixed doubles with divisions of 7.0, 8.0, and 9.0 as combined ratings. Thursday will be 3.5 women, 4.0 senior women, 3.5 men, and 4.0 men.

8. Ohio Valley Tennis Association
Harvey explained that he is the OVTA representative from the GCTA. He gave a summary of the many topics that were discussed at the March 28th OVTA meeting. He, Jim Hendrix, Shirley Neibauer, Doug Snapp, and Rebecca Stanchin were present at the meeting. One item that was discussed that will save some money for the GCTA's operation of the Girls 16's District Tournament is that the OVTA will pay the cost of the T-shirts. Harvey emphasized the Tennis Welcome Centers. The OVTA would like to see more of them established in each area of the OVTA. Growth of new members is a main goal of the USTA. OVTA money from the Midwest Section will be tied into the growth factor. Harvey reported that the OVTA Annual Meeting will again be in Cincinnati at the Kenwood Country Club. This is set for November 7th. All USTA members are invited. We should be thinking of nominees for awards from our area to be presented at that meeting. Harvey continued by talking about the Generation XY Leagues. This is a new division in USA League Tennis. The USTA is trying to get more participation from the 19-29 year-old age group. The USTA is tabbing this the "XY" group. Doug Snapp added that the OVTA would like to see some leagues in the local areas that would emphasis this age group. He added that he is serving on the Collegiate Midwest Committee; this group is also emphasizing the 19 and up participation. Harvey concluded by saying that Columbus has the honor of being the host city to the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Section. This will take place December 3rd, 4th, and 5th. As hosting organizations, the OVTA and GCTA will be responsible for providing favors for the event. Gary Alexander said that Andy Alexander would like to be involved in selecting favors. The event is planned for downtown at the Hyatt.
Doug shared that a very similar GCTA ad as last year's ad will appear in the OVTA Yearbook. Information for that ad has already been provided to the publisher. USTA members should be receiving the OVTA Yearbook soon.
9. Umpires
Bud Petersen reported that four of Jim Hendrix's pros had taken the umpire's provisional training test online. This test is meant to be followed by other training; it is not meant to stand alone. Bud acknowledged that it is easy to become a provisional umpire by using the internet training. Bud said that there would be local training and to check online for dates and locations. Janet Wise is the contact person for the local people who are interested in this training. Harvey emphasized how important it is to have some type of umpire to do the area qualifier matches--not just to have a person to oversee the draw--there should be a qualified person on-site for each match-day. He stressed that we need to get more young people involved in umpiring. Geri Schlegel shared a poster and information as to what she has developed with regard to getting the message out to the clubs and players that USTA officials are needed. She has done a very nice job of going step by step through how a person becomes an official. She thought that these posters and information materials could be produced for about $90, total. These items could then be distributed to the 30 or so clubs. Brooks Naffziger enthusiastically urged that the $90 amount be allocated. Doug Snapp pointed out that there is a line item regarding umpires. That item would easily cover making the posters and materials, even if the cost ends up higher. Deena Snapp said she would be glad to help distribute the posters and information. Harvey and the group thanked Geri for her work and the presentation.

10. Columbus Recreation and Parks Department
Denica Bruce and Kelly Hoffman were present. Denica said the department is trying to get Champions up and running; fees have been set for the season. Denica shared that CRPD received a $5,000 grant from the Ohio Valley Tennis Association. She added that the youth programs are set to run and that the Kids Camp will be June 14th to the 18th. Kelly said they planned to have adult tennis programs at 5 different sites. Registration to this point has been light. He hopes that they can keep the five sites but may change the sites as summer gets nearer. He would like for the number of sites to actually be bigger than five sites. He has given information concerning these programs to Doug Snapp, and Doug has already posted that information to the web site. Players in the adult programs are required to join the GCTA. Kelly would like a form to give to the participants in his programs that would show what the GCTA does .

11. Area and District Qualifier
Jim Hendrix is organizing the Area Qualifier tournament and faxed Harvey the tournament information sheet. Jim told Harvey that this information sheet had been mailed to over 500 players. Clubs have been given information and trophies and balls will be ordered. An open draw will take place at the Racquet Club on April 25th at 6:00 PM. Harvey expressed his confidence in Jim's organizational skills and said he was happy to have him as the coordinator of the event.
Doug said that the District Qualifier tournament has been set up on the USTA web site and has been sanctioned. Carol Alexander will again be coordinating. The tournament is scheduled from June 12th through June 16th at Upper Arlington High School. He said the only problem presently is that the new USTA tournament software is not working on computers running Windows 98. The USTA wants tournament directors to install a new operating system or buy a new computer to run their software. Doug said that he is not sure that the GCTA laptop will handle a new operating system, nor is he really willing to try to install a new system. He added that the USTA is trying to make their software compatible with Windows 98. Jim Hendrix has been working with Doug and both are hopeful that compatible software will be available when the tournament is to be played. Harvey stressed that we need help for this event. He praised the efforts of Carol and Andy Alexander, along with Danna Monsul and Connie Splawnyk; he also mentioned Doug and Deena Snapp. He concluded by saying that this is a big tournament and that the GCTA needs to keep it here in Columbus. To do that, we need people willing to work the tournament.

12. USA Junior Team Tennis
Rebecca Stanchin gave the report. She said that the program would run from mid June to the latter part of July. She will be sending information to the previous coaches and participating clubs shortly. This year, she added, players must be USTA members. All players must enter on TennisLink. There was discussion that some players may not have internet access; those players will need to be entered by someone else. Rebecca said she was willing to do that. Also, there was discussion that due to the USTA membership requirement, the GCTA may need to pay for those players who cannot afford this. It was pointed out that the USTA membership does have benefits: discounts and a subscription to Tennis. Rebecca concluded by saying that the leagues had changed. They will no longer of the previous terms to describe them: Stars, Stripes, etc.

13. Old Business
Doug shared information about the GCTA web site. The site had almost 20,000 more hits this year than the year before. July continues to be the most active month. The site had a total number of nearly 70,000 visits. The Columbus Recreation and Parks page is still the most visited page. Doug asked all members to continue to give him information to be posted on the site. Pictures from the winter parties were posted, but he emphasized that we need more information: important dates, upcoming events, and so forth. A handout was provided with more detailed information about the GCTA web site.

14. New Business
Harvey talked about the tribute to Wayne Rittenhouse that will take place at Olympic. Harvey gave the following information: On Saturday, May 8th, from seven to eleven PM, there will be a benefit for Mr. Wayne Rittenhouse. It will take place at the Olympic Tennis Club. Refreshments will be provided. Tennis enthusiasts and friends will gather to play tennis and reminisce of days gone by. A donation of $10 per person is requested. Proceeds from this benefit will be given to the Ohio High School Foundation in Wayne's name for scholarships. If you are going to play tennis, please bring a can of tennis balls. Doug added that this information had been added to the GCTA web site. Harvey concluded by noting the names of so many of the tennis enthusiasts that we have lost in recent time.
Terry Gee from the Whitehall Parks and Recreation Department spoke. He indicated that they have no tennis program presently. Their tennis nets have even been taken down. He does have access to the high school courts. He would like to start a grassroots tennis program with kids and adults. He wants to have this be free, so he needs grant money from the GCTA. He expects that expenses to be the instructor and perhaps racquets. Terry thinks these expenses might be $400 to $500. Harvey feels this is a good idea and fits in with the overall push on the part of the USTA to grow participation. He noted that the OVTA has significant grant money available. They have given the GCTA a portion of that grant money and expect us to distribute it. Gary Alexander said that Terry has a "proven record" that was demonstrated in his years of running the Columbus Recreation and Parks tennis programs. Doug Snapp made a motion to give Whitehall Parks and Recreation a grant of $500. There was discussion that this might not be enough. Doug said that the GCTA has enough grant money from the OVTA that we can up the amount if need be. Shirley Neibauer seconded the motion and the motion passed.
Bruce Grubb introduced himself and explained that he has started a group to raise money to benefit tennis programs. He mentioned the Olentangy High School and the Upper Arlington High School tennis programs. He is planning some USTA sanctioned tournaments. He hopes to have money prizes; he added that some of the tournaments may conflict with the dates of Central Ohio Grand Prix events. He is presently having problems with liability insurance for these events. There was discussion as to insurance options. It was pointed out the USTA events are covered by insurance. It was not clear if this would suffice. It was suggested that Bruce check into this. Bruce concluded by saying he will promote tennis in any way that he can.

15. Adjournment
Hearing no other new business, Gary Alexander moved for adjournment, Bud Petersen seconded, the motion was received with no vote.

Respectfully submitted,

Doug Snapp
GCTA Secretary