The GCTA Supports Tennis

GCTA Board Meeting: 1/19/06
In Attendance: Deena Snapp, Andy Alexander, Carol Alexander, Chris Gerst, Erin Ortman, Shirley Neibauer, Chris Feinstein, Charles Weisent, John Campbell, Bob Schafer, Art Haus, Mark Anderson, Doug Snapp, Harvey Beahm, Jake Will, Jr., Bud Petersen, Les Varnado, Dan Witteman, Jim Hendrix, Chuck Merzbacher, Vince Solomon, Geri Schlegel
1. Approval of Minutes
Past President, Harvey Beahm, called the meeting to order. He explained that Janet Craycraft was in Florida. He and she have been in contact, and she wanted him to chair this meeting. Harvey asked for corrections or additions to the September minutes. Hearing none, Harvey asked for a motion to approve those minutes. There was a motion, a second and a voice vote of approval.
2. Treasurer's Report
Treasurer, Jake Will, Jr., provided the report. The GCTA has these accounts: checking with $175, a flex fund with $69,854, a junior fund with $5,452, the Mansfield Fund with $1,482. This is a total of $76,963 as of December 31, 2005. Jake indicated that he had not received receipts from the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department. After this is paid, the GCTA will have approximately $65,000 in its accounts. Harvey thanked Jake for his report and asked for questions. He then asked for a motion to approve. After a second, the motion was approved.
3. Old Business
Harvey introduced Chuck Merzbacher, OSU Women's Coach, and asked Chuck to summarize the fall ITA event that took place at the Racquet Club. Chuck thanked that GCTA for its involvement in the event. He said that the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships is one of the really big college tennis events, and that OSU feels very fortunate to have been able to host it. OSU will again be the host for this coming fall. Chuck hopes to make the event even nicer than it was this year. Chuck stressed that he wanted to make the GCTA part of the event. He would like to see more local kids there watching what could be the future stars of tomorrow. It was suggested that with enough lead time a poster or flyer could be put together to get more interest in the tennis community. The event will be November 2nd to the 5th and will again be at the Racquet Club. Chuck discussed the progress on the OSU indoor facility. He indicated he would inquire has to why the GCTA has to pay to utilize OSU varsity facilities. There was also discussion of the OSU recreational facilities and a hope that they would be easier to obtain than the varsity courts.
4. Women's Leagues
The new Women's League Chair, Erin Ortman, gave the report. The kickoff parties are planned for February 17th and 25th at Wickertree. Beth LeCorgne will be in charge, with help from Shirley Neibauer. Information cards are being sent to members. The information will also be on the web site. Erin gave the following information. Club Chair Meeting is scheduled from Friday, March 10th at 1:00 PM at the Upper Arlington Municipal Building. They will be assembling team packets at Jane McMeekin's house sometime in May. The new Career Captains' and new Club Pros' meeting will be Thursday, May 11th, at 7:00 PM at the Upper Arlington Municipal Building. The Career Captains' meeting will be Thursday, May 11th, at 7:30 PM at the Upper Arlington Municipal Building. The new Captains' and new Club Pros' meeting will be Friday, May 12th, at 12:30 PM at the Upper Arlington Municipal Building. The Captain and Club Chairs' meeting will be Friday, May 12th, at 1:00 PM at the Upper Arlington Municipal Building. Harvey thanked Erin for her report and welcomed her to her new position. Harvey commented that the Women Leagues are always well-run and a large part of that is due to the person who is League Chair. He indicated that Rita Brown, as well as her predecessors, had done a great job and was sure that Erin would continue this tradition.
5. Men's Leagues
Doug Snapp gave the report. He said that the league had run smoothly. Gary Alexander will not be returning as chair and Gary's knowledge and experience will be missed. Doug indicated that Janet has been busy trying to find a replacement for Gary. Doug believes that most of the Men's Board will return. This group is made up of the score keepers for the individual levels. Jake Will, Jr., said that his father wants to step down from his position, so a score keeper for the 3.5 will be needed. Doug said he would pass that along to Janet, and he added that several people have already asked to be considered for that position. John Campbell volunteered Jim Marks for the Men's Chair position. Doug said he would pass that nomination along to Janet. Harvey concluded by praising Gary for his work as Men's Chair.
6. USTA Leagues
Harvey indicated that our local 5.0 women were 7th at the Nationals. He said that the men finished 2nd. Doug said that a nice article had been printed in the This Week newspaper regarding the men's team. Support from the GCTA was mentioned in the article. Deena Snapp said that the USTA teams were given their awards at the September Awards Ceremony and that this had gone very nicely.
7. USTA Junior Team Tennis Leagues
Rebecca Stanchin, League Chair, was not present, but it was noted that Jim Hendrix's son was on the junior team that went to the nationals in Tucson. They finished 5th and had a great experience.
8. Junior Wightman & Junior Davis Cup
Doug said that he believes that Janet is going to run this again at Upper Arlington High School.
9. Area and District Qualifier
Jim Hendrix indicate that the Area Qualifier Tournament has been sanctioned. Information would be posted to the web site. Janet is intending on running the Girls' 16's USTA District Tournament at Upper Arlington High School.
10. Ohio Valley Tennis Association
Harvey reported that Kirsten Flower had received Sportsmanship and Player of the Year awards from the OVTA. The Kinnard family was presented with the Family of the Year award. Harvey indicated that the annual meeting in Cincinnati was very nice.
Janet has sent the following letter to the OVTA.

Greater Columbus Tennis Association
C/O Janet Craycraft, President
3419 River Seine St.
Columbus, OH 43221
November 10, 2005

Ohio Valley Tennis Association
3301 Kappel Drive
Springfield, Ohio 45503

Dear Executive Committee and Board:

This past summer, the GCTA had the opportunity to host some very important events for juniors. The GCTA understands that these events play a crucial role in the promotion of junior tennis. Consequently, these events have been run by knowledgeable, dedicated volunteers.

However, due to a lack of communication of clearly stated guidelines from the OVTA, we encountered difficulties.

To alleviate the chance of a recurrence of these problems, we need to receive clearly stated guidelines from the OVTA regarding future tournaments and events. These guidelines should include:

  1. Clear delineation as to who has the responsibility for decisions of site choice, court assignment, seeding, rain delays, etc.
  2. Clear and updated information regarding the specific tournament and its effect on the participant’s ranking in both singles and doubles.
  3. Clear delineation as to the role of the tournament director’s decisions regarding seeding, disruptive parents and/or coaches, rain delays, etc.
  4. Clear delineation as to the role of the OVTA in support of the tournament director’s decisions.

It is difficult to continue to ask volunteers to run these tournaments and events if expectations are not clear and support is not given to the director(s) by the OVTA.

We felt that the OVTA was insensitive to our volunteers, causing some to rethink their role in tennis with not only the OVTA but also the GCTA. This can not happen!

We want this letter to be discussed at an OVTA Management Committee meeting and we want to hear the results of such discussion.

Respectfully,

The Officers and Board of the Greater Columbus Tennis Association

Harvey continued by saying that a new Tennis Service Representative had been appointed by the Midwest: Jim Amick (jim@midwest.usta.com or 317 333.3560) will be taking care of the state of Ohio.
Harvey very proudly introduced Les Varnado, the new President of the Midwest Tennis Association. Les said that the national level of the USTA is trying to use more money at the grass roots level.
Chuck Merzbacher talked about pickle ball (pickleball.com) as a great tennis activity for kids. Geri Schlegel indicated that the kids at Upper Arlington enjoy it.
11. Columbus Recreation and Parks
Kelly Hoffman emailed that was unable to attend this meeting but he provided the following information in his email.
CRPD Tennis Report:
Youth: Programs being set up as we speak for summer 2006. Whetstones courts have been reserved for a youth tournament. Other city programs will be invited and a small fee charged per player as this will be a fundraiser for the youth program.
Adults: Programs being set up as we speak for 2006. Spring session will be April 24-June 10. Cost will be $15 per person/per session payable to City of Columbus and $10 per person/per year to GCTA. Sites will be Woodward Park, Carriage Place, Schiller, and possibly Lazelle Woods (new center near Polaris Mall of Sancus Blvd.).
Wheelchair Tennis: We will host the Ohio Wheelchair Games Tennis Tournament. Denica is working on this. site may be Whetstone and the dates are tentative for May 16-?. More info at next meeting.
Champions: May kickoff event (date TBD). Rallyball is a possibility and a camp for middle and high school kids. Court bids already sent out, so they should be coming in shortly for yearly maintenance of the courts. Would like to have the Champ of Champs there again and make it a yearly event!
Staffing: Always looking for qualified staff to work. Please refer any good ones to Denica Bruce or Kelly Hoffman.
Equipment: In need of balls! Any tournaments being organized and want to get rid of balls, we will take!

Doug Snapp and Andy Alexander stress the GCTA's involvement with the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department. Les agreed that this has been a very important move to be part of the parks' programs.
12. Awards
Deena Snapp gave the report and was happy that every person who had been chosen for an award came to the presentation. She indicated that the GCTA had received letters of thanks from Ron Smith and Wayne Wookey.
13. Umpires
Vince Solomon indicated training sessions in March. People should contact him or look on the web site.
Geri indicated that she has more inserts for the umpire information posters. These posters were put in each of the clubs; they stress our need for more umpires. Dan Witteman indicated that he would bring this up at the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association meeting and clinic.
14. New Business
Harvey introduced new board members who were present: Mark Anderson and John Campbell. He pointed out the Rebecca Stanchin was the third new member. Harvey also made a point of introducing non-board members.
Harvey reminded all that the next meeting will be April 20th, again at Swim and Racquet. The start time will be 7:30 PM.
John Campbell volunteered Champions as a club for the Men's Champ of Champs
15. Adjournment
Adjournment was moved, second and passed.
Respectfully submitted.
Doug Snapp
GCTA Secretary

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