In Attendance: John Campbell, Deena Snapp, Mark Anderson, Bob Schafer, Chuck Merzbacher, Art Haus, Kelly Hoffman, Jane McMeekin, Sharon Rusk, Erin Ortman, Les Varnado, Joel Madenwald, Doug Snapp, Jim Hendrix

1. Call to Order
Jim Hendrix, GCTA President, called the meeting to order.

2. Approval of Minutes
Jim asked for approval of the minutes noting that they had been posted to the GCTA web site and that copies were on the tables. Deena Snapp moved, Bob Schafer 2nd, and the motion passed.

3. Treasurer's Report
Jim provided two sheets from Shirley Neibauer. Jim discussed the change of treasurers from Jake Will, Jr., to Shirley Neibauer. He related information about meetings that occurred. At one point or another, Janet Craycraft, Doug Snapp, Jake Will, Sr., Judith Will Fleming, Shirley Neibauer, and Jim had gotten together to discuss the situation. Historical financial information for the time when Jake Will, Jr., was treasurer is simply not available. Les Varnado asked whether the amount of money was the correct amount. There was discussion that because of the lack of financial statements it was not exactly clear. The decision of the Executive Board was that the amount had to be close to the correct amount. The only way of determining that was to look at the little bit of information that is available from past quarterly meetings and from budget committee meetings. It was stated that it would not be terribly hard to get prior bank statements and recreate a clearer picture of the organization's financial record. Jim said the Executive Board has checked into this and found that the bank will only provide free statements for a short period. All other statements would need to be paid for. An accountant would then need to be hired to go through those statements. The cost of such action was, in the opinion of the Executive Board, likely higher than any amount of missing funds. Jim continued that the officers of the GCTA are now bonded at $50,000. Jim had asked for an extension of the filing of our tax return; that tax return has now been filed. The money that we received from Jake Will, Sr., and Jake's sister was put into another bank in one account. Several names of the Executive Board are now on the account so that it can be accessed. Statements will now be provided at quarterly meetings. Shirley will move the amounts into accounts that will facilitate usage. She was ok'd to purchase an accounting software application to help track the funds used by the different groups of the GCTA. Jim referred to a sheet that Shirley provided where amounts were listed: Amtrust Checking, $8,258.17; Amtrust Gold Savings, $43,563.81; Amtrust MM, $14,094.10; total, $65,916.08. Discussion followed with comments that statements are needed at quarterly meetings; an audit or a financial review needs to be done on a regular basis.

4. USA Junior Team Tennis
The following written report was filed by Rebecca Hancart, Jr. Team Coordinator. She was not in attendance. Jim highlighted information from the report.

This season has been great for GCTA Junior Team Tennis!  We are in the last week of competition with the final matches to be played tomorrow.  Our Districts deadline for sign ups is Saturday and we will be sending approximately 12 teams to Springfield.  The competition will take place July 25-26 at Wittenberg.
 
We have had an increase in teams and players for the 2007 season.  Last year we had 52 teams and 414 USTA players.  This season we have 67 teams and 570 players!  This is a 28.8% increase in teams and a 37.7% increase in players!  I was able to pull in some new teams and with Jim's help pull back some old.  Scioto, Brookside, Lakes, Medallion and Jefferson have all added teams and players to our program this year. 
 
Sectional playoffs will be August 10 - 12 in Indianapolis.  We already are sending 6 teams - 2 from 10s Open, 2 from 12s Intermediate and 2 from 12s Advanced.  The District playoffs will determine the rest of our teams to attend.  2007 has been a great season and I hope to have more to report at our next meeting about the Sectional playoffs and what teams will be representing the GCTA at Nationals.

5. Women's Leagues/Champions of Champions
Erin Ortman gave the report. The Women's League has 1,842 participants playing on 137 teams. That adds up to over 18 thousand dollars generated for the GCTA. The Champ of Champs is slated for August 13th through the 17th with the exact sites still to be determined. They are very satisfied with TenniScores.com and are having great feedback from their players. They ended up having to move the training sessions to Swim and Racquet due to problems with the use of the Upper Arlington Municipal Building. Sharon Rusk praised the scheduling process that is offered through TenniScores.com: the price is very reasonable and the person works very hard to accommodate any particular scheduling problems.

6. Men's Leagues/Champion of Champions
Doug Snapp gave the report. All participation fees have been collected and turned over to Shirley Neibauer. Doug said that the numbers are very similar to what they have been over the years. Doug had looked at Jeff Johnston's report for 1998 and the numbers were almost exact. The league added a couple of teams at the 3.0 level but lost some teams in other levels. All and all, the league is much like it has been. The Champ of Champs Tournament was played the weekend after the 4th of July at Champions Tennis Club. Doug said he did the registration and the draws; John Campbell administered the tournament at the location. The participation numbers were slightly less than last year. Doug said they had moved the tournament from a post-season tournament to the middle of the season during the bye week to see if participation could be increased. A number of players had suggested this move. Doug does not see an appreciable difference in having the tournament midseason. There is the advantage that it is now complete and will not conflict with post season playoffs which, in the 3.5 and 4.0, drag on till mid-September. However, he said many of the men plan vacations around the bye week of the 4th of July and are not available for participation. The comment was also made that staffing at Champions is difficult around the 4th of July weekends. Doug recommended keeping the tournament at midseason one more year. If participation does not increase, he felt it should be moved back to the end of the season. Doug thanked the Men's Board: Andy Alexander, Fred Duy, Joel Madenwald, Bob Schafer, and Al Walker. Without their help, this season would not have been possible. He concluded by saying that there were very few problems.

7. USTA Summer Leagues
Terri Jones was not present. Jim reported that she will be at the September meeting. He gave summary information for the league: 54 teams (8 men's leagues, 6 mixed, and 40 women's teams) for a total of 551 players. He indicated that the league has decided to take $600 from their awards money and use it toward the entry fees for the district tournament.

8. Junior Wightman Cup & Junior Davis Cup
Jim Hendrix gave the report. He said that our captains were Steve Ryuse and Michelle Jarrett. The event was held in Cincinnati at the Queen City Racquet Club. From what Jim heard, the players had a great time. The OVTA paid for the rooms in Cincinnati for the players. They also provided snacks and entertainment. The format was like last year with a team-tennis format, combining boys and girls. In the finals, Cincinnati defeated the Columbus team 6-4.

9. Area and District Qualifiers
Jim Hendrix gave the report. There were 375 participants in Area Qualifier tournament. This was a record number. The exact amount of money that was made with this tournament will not be known till the clubs have been paid, but it should definitely show a profit. Jim thanked the clubs and people who helped.
Jim reported also on the Girls 16's OVTA District Tournament. He said that the Racquet Club staff ran the tournament with Art Haus and Bob Schafer serving as the USTA officials. As last year, the use of the large tent was praised. Jim didn't know that the porta johns were that necessary as most people were able to gain access to other restrooms at Upper Arlington High School or at their football stadium. Art suggested that GCTA provide more snacks. Art also suggested using the match tie-breaks in place of the 3rd set. It was stated that this has been considered at the OVTA level and at the Midwest level but has not been done uniformly. Jim said his general feeling was that the tournament ran very smoothly.

10. Columbus Recreation and Parks
Kelly Hoffman gave the report. He thanked the GCTA for the advertising money used to promote their programs. The advertising did not appear in as many papers as Kelly expected. After Kelly talked to the SNP, they ended up putting the information in more papers. Kelly also thanked Jim and Brookside Golf and Country Club for the donation of tennis balls. Kelly was pleased to say that the Central Ohio Tennis Tournament, run by the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department, was a financial success. The sponsorship that they received was a great part of this. Alan Kinnard again did the draws for tournament. Kelly hoped that in the future, they would be able to do the draws internally and thus save more money. Kelly provided the following written report.

Columbus Recreation & Parks Department
Tennis Report- July 19, 2007

Tennis is in full swing, with adult and youth programs on-going. Champion’s has had the new awning installed and it looks really nice. We conducted the 2007 Central Ohio Tennis Tournament July 9-15 and it was a success. We would like to thank Jim Hendrix and Brookside CC for donating tennis balls to our programs, it was really appreciated!

YOUTH
The youth program is in full swing with lessons for the following age groups: 4-5 yr., 6-8 yr., & 9-14 yr. NJTL program. The tot program numbers have increased from last year and the NJTL numbers are approx. the same as last year. NJTL matches take place every Thursday @ Whetstone and Wolfe Park, with the City Championship slated for August 2 @ Whetstone.
We have completed 2 of our 3 camps for the summer, at Whetstone and Wolfe Park. The middle school/high school camp will finish July 20 @ Champions. Camps have been either full or close to capacity and we have had many returnees along with new participants.
We have received tickets to the Cincinnati ATP tournament for the August 13 matches and plan to take 20-30 kids from the camps and NJTL programs.

ADULT
We have completed the Woodward Park summer lessons and have 1 week to go for the Schiller & Whetstone lessons. The Schiller & Whetstone lessons are full as this was the first time we had to put a limit on the numbers to keep them at a good participant-to-instructor ration. To date, we have had the following participants per site, including spring & summer:
WP = 46 / Schiller = 54 / Whetstone = 59 TOTAL = 159
Totals for previous years:
2006 = 198 / 2005 = 91 / 2004 = 101 / 2003 = 95 / 2002 = 84
The fall lessons are still being organized, but lessons will be at the same 3 sites and should begin in mid to late August.

CHAMPIONS
Champions Tennis Club is the best it has ever been since our department took over total management. We have to date 48 members and this will increase to over 50 by the end of the month. We are offering lessons and league play, both GCTA leagues and our own leagues. We have a Monday-Wednesday league with 26 players. It is a beautiful thing to see all 6 courts used on these nights for some really good league play. We were able to get these players through our adult lessons and advertisement. We have cardio tennis on Monday & Wednesday morning, with 4-6 participants. The cardio tennis on Friday has 12 participants. Ken Tolbert organizes the cardio tennis and the participants are having a ton of fun while learning and getting into shape!
We have added a new awning to the clubhouse and it is really attractive and serves a great purpose for players to lounge under after a hard day on the court. The courts have been maintained to our best ability, as the sprinklers don’t work very well and we have had very little rain. Staff is working very hard and the increase in participation is due to their effort.
The GCTA Champ of Champs was a success, as staff did a good job of getting the courts ready. In the future, if we could not have this on a holiday weekend that would be great for us, as it was hard to staff the tournament with staff out of town for the holiday. We really enjoy hosting this event and we can’t think of a better place to hold the Champ of Champs!

COTT
The Central Ohio Tennis Tournament took place July 9-15 at Wolfe Park (adults), Champions (seniors) and Woodward Park (youth). The total numbers were down compared to the past 2 years, but the tournament was a success. We had 59 total matches, with only the Tuesday youth matches canceled due to rain. We had Dick’s Sporting Goods, Papa John’s Pizza, Tennis LTD., Art Tees, and M & S Massage sponsor the tournament this year. All players received a sack-pack along with coupons and a water bottle. Champions and runner-ups received trophies and the massage sponsor was giving free massages to players before and after their matches!
Alan Kinnard once again handled the registration and draws on the COGP web site and did a great job. We were hoping to take this over, but with other responsibilities throughout the year, we were unable to meet to learn how to do the draws. We still plan on doing them in 2008 and will hopefully find time to get it done.

Kelly concluded by asking for ways to increase tennis participation at Champions Tennis Club. A number of ideas were suggested. On the positive side, Kelly feels that there has been an increase in the membership at Champions: he just hopes that this can be further improved.
Kelly also indicated that having the Men's Champ of Champs around the July 4th weekend was a staffing problem because of the holiday vacation. He asked that consideration be given to moving it to another time.

11. Umpires
Art Haus reported that there would be a meeting of the local umpires. Issues regarding the local umpires will be addressed at that meeting. He suggested that Jim Hendrix try to attend the meeting July 28th at 9:30 AM at Wickertree Tennis Club. He listed some of the events that he and Bob had participated in and gave a favorable report.

12. Grant Committee
Jane McMeekin indicated that the committee had met and received input from various people. She thanked Deena Snapp for the work that she had done in composing the application form. Jane passed around the form to be used. She said that they were putting together a data base of the places to send the application: parks and recreation departments, tennis coaches, etc. She thought that the form should also be put on the GCTA web site. She has it as a PDF file and an interactive Word document. The committee has set September 15th as their deadline for accepting applications. Jane thought that the costs for printing and mailing the applications would be around $100. The question was asked as to what the grant money could be spent on. It was indicated that the goals of the GCTA, as stated in the constitution of the organization, were looked at with respect to that. Jane asked all Board Members to pass along information to any one who might be interested in applying for grants. Jim thanked Jane and the committee for their work.

13. Ohio Valley Tennis Association
Area representative, Harvey Beahm, was not present. No report at this time.

14. Awards Ceremony
Deena Snapp gave the report. She indicated that the meeting to select award winners had taken place and selections had been made. She thanked the committee members for their help: Carol Alexander, Rita Brown, Erin Ortman, and Doug Snapp. Shoes for the the male and female players of the year have been taken to the bronzer. Deena shared that the Upper Arlington Municipal Building may not be available for the ceremony on September 23rd. Contracts had been filled out, but the city is saying they need the auditorium for a city function. The alternate room in the basement is much too small. There was lengthy discussion as to the reasons and alternatives. She asked the group to be thinking of suggestions as to other places to hold the ceremony.

15. Old Business
Chuck talked about the ITA tournament to be held this fall again at the Racquet Club. This is likely to be the last time for some years. Chuck praised the past help of the GCTA with the volunteers and the hospitality room. He hoped that we could continue to provide such a service. Chuck had positive comments about the efforts of Deena Snapp as to organizing of the volunteers. He also thanked Jim for his help with the use of the Racquet Club. Chuck would like to see involvement by the GCTA again this year. He received many positive comments regarding the volunteers and the hospitality room. This is one of the few tournaments where there is this degree of a welcoming attitude. He liked the idea of the volunteers mingling with the players in the hospitality room; it certainly made the players feel comfortable. On another note, Chuck indicated that OSU's indoor facility off of Henderson (at one time the Olentangy Indoor Tennis Club and then later a combined sports center) will be opening mid-to-late fall. Chuck is quite excited about the facility.

16. New Business
Jim asked for new business. None was brought up. Jim indicated that two committees are being formed that will report at the annual meeting in September. The Nominating Committee will be chaired by Harvey Beahm. The Budget Committee will be chaired by Shirley Neibauer. Jim has asked specific people to serve on the respective committees. Some have accepted, some have not. Jim further indicated that anyone interested in serving on a specific committee may do so and should contact the chair of that committee.
Les Varnado, president of the Midwest Section of the USTA, was in attendance. He made it clear that as a CTA for the USTA, we were continuing to accomplish goals of the GCTA and he encouraged us to "keep up the good work." He is familiar with these goals as he continues to be a Board Member GCTA and is a Past President of the GCTA.

17. Adjournment
Hearing no further discussion, Jim asked for a motion of adjournment. Jane McMeekin made such a motion; it was seconded by John Campbell. The motion passed with a voice vote.

Respectfully submitted,
Doug Snapp
GCTA Secretary