In Attendance:
Deena Snapp, Jake Will, Jr., Rebecca Stanchin, Dr. Vincent Solomon, Art Haus, Bob Schafer, Charles Weisent, John Campbell, Jim Hendrix, Gary Alexander, Shirley Neibauer, Jane McMeekin, Rita Brown, Janet Craycraft, Carol Alexander, Andy Alexander, Kelly Hoffman, Doug Snapp

1. Call to Order
GCTA President Janet Craycraft called the meeting to order.

2. Approval of Minutes
Janet reminded those present that minutes from April were on the tables and that they had been posted to the GCTA web site. She asked for a motion to accept the minutes; Rita Brown made the motion; it was seconded by Carol Alexander, and the motion passed.

3. Treasurer's Report
Janet asked Jake Will, Jr., to give the report. Jake said that we had $776 in the checking account, $80,492 in the flex fund, $5,400 in the junior fund, and $1,475 in the Mansfield fund. Jake indicated that he has paid the entry fees for the adult USTA teams to the district in Cincinnati. Janet thanked Jake and asked if there had been an audit this year. Jake said that it was done by Tom Wilkerson. Janet asked for a motion to accept Jake's report; Shirley Neibauer made the motion, Bob Schafer seconded it, and the motion passed.

4. USA Junior Team Tennis
Rebecca Stanchin reported that there are 54 teams involved in the program. The clubs must enter their players online at the USTA site, and some clubs were not willing to do this. All players in the program must be USTA members. There will be culminating competition here in Columbus, and 14 teams will go on to compete at the district level at Wittenberg in Springfield. Janet thanked Rebecca for her enthusiasm and hard work.

5. Women's Leagues/Champions of Champions
Rita Brown reported that there are 1,874 members in the summer leagues. This includes the daytime teams and the career teams. Some of the levels are finished, some have entered their playoffs, a few have several more weeks of play. The Champ of Champs is scheduled. Information has been mailed and posted to the web site. Erin Ortman and Shirley Neibauer are coordinating this. A number of clubs have offered their facilities for the playing of this event. Rita said that the leagues would not run so smoothly without the work of the level chairs. She thanked them; she also thanked Doug Snapp for posting results to the web site. Janet expressed appreciation for their work.

6. Men's Leagues/Champion of Champions
Gary Alexander said that the league was up slightly in teams but down slightly in members. Play will continue through most of August. Gary thanked Doug for putting the league schedules online. He thanked the scorekeepers: Jake Will, Sr., Jake Will, Jr., Doug Snapp, Andy Alexander. He made special mention of the new scorekeeper: Al Walker. Al is doing the 3.0 and the Diamond. Gary indicated that the Champ of Champs is set for Champions Tennis Club for the 20th and 21st of August. Janet asked if the decline in numbers could be related to the USTA Summer Leagues. Gary said he did not think so and that the declines were very slight. Rita agreed as far as the Women's Leagues were concerned. Janet thanked Gary and his scorekeepers for their work.

7. USTA Summer Leagues
Terri Jones was not present to give the report. Shirley Neibauer said she thought the league went pretty smoothly. She added that the mixed doubles was larger this year. Janet brought up a question regarding the procedure for handling ties. It was decided that this is an issue that Joyce Engle would need to explain.

8. Junior Wightman Cup & Junior Davis Cup
Janet gave the report. She and her daughter, Kelly Lewis, hosted the tournament at Upper Arlington High School. Steve Ryuse captained the Jr. Davis Team, while Michelle Jarrett captained the Jr. Wightman Team. Both Columbus teams finished second to Cincinnati teams. There were some complaints from the coach of the Dayton area. However, Janet did receive thanks from parents as to how it was run. Janet hopes to get some more courts next year. She felt that the kids had a good time participating.

9. Area and District Qualifiers
Jim Hendrix gave the report. There were 334 participants; this was an increase over last year. We filled the quota to the districts set by the OVTA in all but the girls' and boys' 18s. The tournament had a profit; the later date of the district tournaments probably help as far as the logistics of the tournament. Jim indicated that he was disappointed with the behavior of several players and parents. He asked if we wanted to go to a suspension point penalty system. It was asked if there was a code in place for parent behavior. Vince Solomon indicated that there was such a code. He said the misbehavior of a parent could lead to a player being barred from USTA events. There was discussion that USTA officials need to be present at all venues. It was also pointed out that this is rather difficult given the number of locations playing the different divisions and considering the shortage of USTA officials. Jim said that one of the most disappointing displays occurred at a location where we had an official on-site. In light of the difficulties that we have each year, Doug Snapp asked for some of the people present who have been involved as participants or as parents to discuss the importance of this tournament. He added that most districts of the USTA do not run qualifier tournaments, they just go on USTA rankings for their seeding. Gary Alexander said that the tournament is important for the player who cannot travel; it gives that player a chance to play quality players from our own area. He said that you could look at a ranking list, but that would list would not be a good reflection of the players who do not travel to play other tournaments: the ranking system has gotten to a point where it penalizes the players who cannot travel.
Andy Alexander added that our organization is here to promote tennis. If we quit running this tournament, those players who need a local tournament will be left with very little at this level of play. There was further discussion about the guidelines, the use of umpires, and other options. Jane McMeekin made a motion that a committee be formed to propose guidelines for appropriate conduct prior to and during the tournament. Doug Snapp seconded; the motion passed. Janet asked Jim to chair the committee. Jane McMeekin, Carol Alexander, Shirley Neibauer, Les Varnado, Vince Solomon, Art Haus, and Harvey Beahm were appointed to the committee. Janet also felt that several present junior players' parents should be asked to be involved.
Carol Alexander reported on the Girls' 16 District Tournament that was held at Upper Arlington High School. She indicated that there were 84 applicants for the 64 draw. She felt that the tournament, being converted from a 5 day event to a 4 day event, was a bit more difficult to complete. There were rain delays and the tournament was taken indoor to Wickertree Tennis Club. Arnie Jones gave a very reasonable rate for the indoor time. Carol thanked Art Haus, Bob Schafer, Andy Alexander, Deena Snapp, and Doug Snapp. Carol made a motion that $400 to be given to the Upper Arlington High School tennis program; Doug Snapp seconded, and the motion passed.

10. Columbus Recreation and Parks
Kelly Hoffman gave a summary of the CRPD programs. He talked about the Central Ohio Tennis Tournament and how poorly it had been run last year. Part of the reason was what they had been told would be done and what wasn't done. Kelly was impressed with the organization this year. Alan Kinnard already had it on the Central Ohio Grand prix docket. Arnie Jones at Wickertree had also helped with the tournament. Kelly said that these two people made a big difference and was why the tournament ran better this year.

Arnie Jones helped. Kelly brought some t-shirts to the meeting for Janet. Roush Sporting Goods gave them sponsorship; they provided balls and gift certificates; Papa Johns gave free pizzas. Kelly and Arnie are going to get together and try to see if they can't make the tournament grow. Kelly feels that Charlie Weisent and John Campbell have done a great amount work at Champions. Things are obviously much better at that location. A number of people have made good comments. Ohio Dominican provided an intern. The OSU recreation team leader, Maggie Liang, has been doing some lessons. Kelly praised the people working at Champions for having done a great job. Kelly continued by singling out Ethel Baldwin for doing a great job. Janet thanked all those who have worked to make Champions a great place to play. Vince Solomon gave a good review of the facility. Kelly was very thankful for the grant money that they received. Andy said that the reason they got the grant was because Kelly is good about providing information.
Kelly provided the following written summary.

YOUTH TENNIS

• Sites are going along good. We have sites for the 4-5 Tot program. We have 12 sites for the 6-8 Tot program. We have 22 sites for the 9-14 NJTL program. Matches are held on Thursday at 3 sites, with the City Championships scheduled to be held on Thursday, August 4 at Whetstone and Wolfe Park. The rain date for the City Championships is August 11.
  
• We held 2 weeks of Tennis Camp this year. The first camp was @ Whetstone from June 20-24 and the 2^nd camp was @ Wolfe Park July 11-15. Denica Bruce and Willie Crawford conducted these camps.
  

• We only had one site for the spring session. We held lessons @ Whetstone due to Woodward Park courts not completed. We had 30 participants total for 4 classes per week. Chris Althouse was the instructor.
  
• We have 3 sites for the summer session (Woodward, Schiller, and Antrim). Chris Althouse has 24 at WP, Aaron Jones has 5 at Schiller, and Gabe Higgs has 3 at Antrim. The Antrim numbers are very surprising with the phone calls inquiring about tennis on the NW side of town. Hopefully we can get more for fall!
  
• Woodward Park will host an Adult League to be played on Sunday evenings beginning July 24. The time is from 7-9 pm and Chris Althouse has approx. 15 people to play as of July 21. There will be men’s, women’s and mixed doubles for the league. We received a grant from the USTA Midwest section that will help us purchase shirts for all participants and gift certificates to an area establishment for the champs and finalist!
  
• Plans are to hold a beginner clinic sometime in August. We received a grant from the USTA Midwest section that we will use to begin this clinic. Kelly has been in discussion with Guy Parks about doing something at Antrim for adults and kids to take part in.
  

• We began play at Champions the first week of June. We have a schedule of lessons, leagues, and open play throughout the week. We have the facility staffed Monday-Thursday from 8 am – 9 pm and Friday from 8 am – 6 pm. Alex Eberlyn is working there in the evenings and weekends when needed (coverage for league play). Alex came to us through Ohio Dominican after discussions with them about internships that would benefit ODU and CRPD. Kim Riley also works there in the mornings and helps cover the youth program when needed. Denica Bruce is there as well as over the youth programming. Ethel Baldwin works there in the afternoon after she conducts tennis lessons for the camps CRPD offers.
  
• The courts are in fantastic shape and the members have noticed the difference from years past. We have received many new members and with the facility staffed and lessons going on, the place is doing great work. We hope to build upon this year for the future!
  

• We hosted the 2005 COTT from July 11-17. We played at Wolfe Park (adults), Woodward Park (youth), and Champions (seniors). Play began on July 12 with the adults and champs were crowned on July 15-17. We had over 80 participants in singles and doubles. We were able to offer the tournament with the great help from the COGP, especially Alan Kinnard and Arnie Jones. COGP took registrations on-line and they also did the brackets and posted results daily. CRPD staff and volunteers (Ethel Baldwin- Wolfe Park / Alex Eberlyn- Champions / Amanda Jackson- WP) supervised each site throughout the entire tournament. We were able to secure Dick’s Sporting Goods and Papa John’s Pizza to be sponsors. Dick’s gave us $350 worth of gift certificates that we used to purchase the balls with. Papa John’s will give us $300 worth of pizzas that we will use for the NJTL program. We had both logos on the t-shirts and hung Dicks’ banners at all 3 sites and gave Dick’s coupons to each participant. Each champion, finalist, and backdraw winner received a trophy. Overall the tournament was a success and we plan to return it to the “Gold Circle” years here in the near future!
  

• No report for the youth side to date. Denica is off to tend to her brother who is very ill. Please see attached for reports for the Adult program and the deposit record for the 2005 COTT.