GCTA Board Minutes
GCTA Board Meeting
9/16/99
In Attendance:
Doug Snapp, Jeff Johnston, Bud Petersen, Jake Will, Sr., Gary Alexander,
Andy Alexander, Callie Ryan, Fran McCabe, Bill McCabe, Jeff Small, Guy
Parks, Les Varnado, Gwen Dulin, Connie Everhart, Janet Craycraft, Jeanie
Hendrix-Miller, Lou Ann Regula, Marni Nordstrom, Jake Will, Jr., Deb Long,
Carol Alexander
1. Call to order
President, Carol Alexander, called the meeting to order.
2. Approval of minutes
Carol asked that the minutes be read for the benefit of members who were
not present at the last meeting and/or who possibly did not receive the
minutes in the mail. Janet Craycraft read the minutes for the members.
Connie Everhart made one correction as to the number who participated in
the Rally--the actual number was 102 participants. Carol approved the minutes
with the correction as changed.
3. Treasurer's report
Jake Will, Jr. gave the treasure's report. He reported that the GCTA had
$89,839 total assets as of August 31, 1999: Star checking--$496, BancOne--$126,
MM-Flex Fund Jr. Development--$4,656, MM-Flex Fund--$56,216, Investments--$27,300,
Mansfield Fund MM--$1,045, Accounts receivable--$0.00. He indicated that
the invested amount had gone down, and he would continue to monitor this
invested money. Connie Everhart moved for approval and Marni Nordstrom
seconded the motion; the motion passed.
4. Junior Wightman Cup & Junior Davis Cup
Marni gave the report on the Junior Wightman Cup Team. She felt that Columbus
had lost some of the better players; this was the reason that the girls
came in 2nd in Cincinnati. Carol gave the report for Mike Uretski. She
gave a list of the participants for the boys. They also finished 2nd. Their
only loss was to Charleston. Carol indicated what a great job both Marni
and Mike do with regard to these team events.
5. Women's Leagues
There will be a meeting on October 15th at the Upper Arlington municipal
building regarding the women's teams. Items of concern will be submitted
to Mary Sims by October 1st. An agenda will be put together from these
concerns. Only those items will be discussed at the October 15th meeting.
This will be a very important meeting for the Women's Leagues, especially
if there are changes to be made.
6. Men's Leagues
Jeff Johnston said there were only a couple of disputes during the season.
These were mostly dealing with questions of ability level. These came in
the 4.0 League. Discussion followed about rating players. To a degree this
was seen as a problem in the logistics for getting it done. There is a
short period of time from when the rosters go out to the point where play
begins. Most of the summer players don't play USTA in the winter leagues
so they don't have ratings already. It is presently hard for some clubs
to get rosters in, let alone getting players rated. It is also understandable
that clubs want to keep their players at their clubs even if the club doesn't
have a team of a certain level. While other clubs may view this as stacking,
the clubs in question may just view it as the only place for that particular
player to play. There was further discussion as to how to resolve such
ability level disputes, but nothing was decided at this time. Jeff talked
about the upcoming Champion of Champs Tournament that was to be held at
Scioto Country Club. Scioto would actually be closed at this time, but
Jeff had talked to the club pro, Shawn Walton, and Jeff feels things will
run smoothly. He disliked drawing the season out as far as the 25th and
26th of September, but with the way the Men's season runs so long, it is
difficult not to have the tournament this late. Jeff shared his opinion
that during the season involvement at the Open level is still a concern.
Jeff suggested a 3 court format for this league. This would allow teams
to participate with fewer players on their rosters. Many times, teams have
forfeited 2 courts under the 5 court setup. No decision was made on changing
the Open from five courts to three courts.
7. OVTA
Gary Alexander reported again of grants that will be awarded in January.
These grants will be for programs to encourage participation in tennis.
The USTA has been placing emphasis on the growth of tennis. The grants
for the USTA Tennis 123 program fit into this growth concern. November
7th will be the annual meeting of the OVTA. It will take place in Newark
at the Cherry Valley Lodge. Gary reported that this is a time of great
change in the USTA. Along with the grants for the growth of tennis, restructuring
of the sections and districts is an important issue. The structure of the
sections and districts could still change. Gary shared that sections have
voted not to go with the changes in restructure. This will continue to
be a topic at all levels. Guy Parks wondered who will have the say in determining
the actual outcome of these discussions in restructuring. Gary felt that
the decisions will be made at the section level, as well as the national
level. Les Varnado pointed out that sections and districts can presently
get together and change their boundaries. Les also shared that much of
the discussion at the national level had been put on the back burner at
meetings at the U.S. Open. It was apparent that this is a touchy issue
and clear that questions and opposition exist. Janet Craycraft brought
up a question as to whether restructuring would change our number representation.
Gary said we are still one of the largest areas and would probably remain
so and that the number of players that we are able to take to the next
level would likely not be changed. Peg Hannah is now the state coordinator
for Ohio from the USTA.
8. Umpires
Kim Forman was not present at this meeting, but Carol informed us that
Kim did work the U.S. Open. Bud Petersen indicated that umpires are still
needed and that training sessions will take place later in the year. There
will be an opportunity to work at the Rolex Tournament which takes place
from November 3rd to the 8th. This will be a women's tournament.
9. Parks and Recreation
Connie reported that the Regional Rally was started at Stickney Tennis
Center at OSU but was moved to the Racquet Club because of rain. Connie
was very appreciative of the opportunity to go there. Much to the delight
of the participants, Jim Courier was there. Connie reported that a "star
search" was done at the site by Gary and others. Small grants were given
to children who were selected as the "stars." These grants were for them
to take lessons in the winter. These were children who could not otherwise
afford such lessons. The clubs pitched in on this also. The yellow cards
from the Tennis 123 program will be given to Peg Hannah, and the money
from them will go back to the individual centers to buy equipment. The
NJTL program is complete and was successful. The adult program is still
going on. Connie thanked all those for the donations of racquets and clothes.
Connie was asked if names could be provided for a boy and girl to be honored
at the Awards Ceremony. Connie said she will get the names and pass them
along. It was suggested that perhaps an adult's name could be provided
as well.
10. Area and District Qualifier
Carol shared that Karen Frame has verbally committed to run the Qualifier.
Billie Meadors will continue to work with Rita Johansen on the Area Qualifier
tournament. Robin Comfort will help them with this. Carol emphasized what
a big job this is and how happy she is to have these people working together.
11. USTA Junior Team Tennis
No report at this time, but Carol said that Tim Thomas hoped for continued
growth with regard to the Junior Team.
12. Champion of Champions
As stated earlier, it is coming up at Scioto Country Club, September 25th
and 26th.
13. Southeast Open Tournament
As Les has indicated that he will no longer run the Southeast Open, Carol
asked those present if anyone would be interested in running this tournament.
There were no volunteers. Carol commented that any interested party could
contact her at a later date.
14. Awards Ceremony
Carol was very impressed by the invitations that Janet Craycraft has sent
out. Janet explained who she chose to send invitations to. Janet also indicated
some of the awards that would be given on Sunday the 26th from 4:00 to
6:00 pm.
15. Wheelchair Tennis
Deb Long introduced herself. She said she is trying to keep contacts for
the wheelchair groups. She is working on a tournament for next year but
the date has not been set.
16. Old Business
Carol talked of having a GCTA web-site. She thought that Rita Johansen
and Jim Hendrix would be willing to work on such a project. The Ohio Valley
will shortly have their web page up and running. Les agreed that we should
pursue getting a site of our own. This would be an easy way to get information
out to the people who are interested in tennis. Les feels we can afford
such a project and we can find the people to take care of such a web-site.
Score updates from the leagues was one thing that could be posted there,
but this would require constant updating. Gary suggested having a committee
to budget what it would take to run a web-site and do the updating. Doug
said he would participate on such a committee. Carol said she would check
to see if there are others who would be interested in working on a web-site.
Callie Ryan said she would check with the Women to see if they had someone
to work on this. It would be another way to get out information as to what
the GCTA does. Carol thought that a newsletter would be coming out after
the Awards Ceremony. Jean Hendrix-Miller questioned the amount of publicity
that we are getting for our organization. The local newspapers could be
used to get more publicity with pictures and articles, and they would print
these willingly.
17. New Business
Les attended the USTA meetings in New York. The question dealing with state
realignment was taken off the table. It takes a 2/3 vote of the voting
members of the sections for the boundaries to change. Many sections sent
in reports--most of which were opposed to realignment. Section employees
becoming employees of the USTA was also taken off the table. The USTA Board
agreed that they would rescind their efforts on alignment. However, a committee
still exists to deal with these issues. Mutual desire to change boundaries
has always and will still continue to exist. Les passed along information
that the USTA is supporting the idea of a larger tennis ball. He indicated
that ball manufactures seem to be lukewarm to this idea. Les made reference
to an article in the October, 1999 issue of Tennis for further information
with regard to the change in ball size.
Jake Will, Jr. presented the budget for next year. After discussion,
the amount for the Men's League was changed from $1,000 to $3,000. Janet
moved to approve the 1999-2000 budget. Brooks seconded the motion and it
passed.
Doug shared the Nominating Committee's recommendations for names of
the new board members and their terms: Deb Long will replace Teresa Fournier
and will be up for renomination in September of 2000; Bill McCabe will
replace Phil Davis and will be up for renomination in September of 2001;
Deb Thallman will replace Craig Caruso and will be up for renomination
in September of 2002. Annette Hrach was removed from the board. The following
board members were renominated with terms expiring in September of 2002:
Carol Alexander, Gary Alexander, Gwen Dulin, Brad Frick, Jim Lathrop, Chuck
Merzbacher, Marni Nordstrom, Sharon Rusk, Jean Shaw, Les Varnado, Wayne
Wookey. Janet Craycraft was nominated to replace Carol as the OVTA Chair
and Area Rep. Doug also gave the slate of officers for the coming year:
Carol Alexander, President; Janet Craycraft, Vice-President; Jeff Johnston,
Vice-President; Marni Nordstrom, Vice-President; Jake Will, Jr., Treasurer;
Doug Snapp, Secretary.
Carol set the meeting dates for the year 2000: 1/13, 4/13, 7/13, 9/14.
All dates are Thursdays at 7:30 pm at the Swim and Racquet Club.
Carol has looked at the GCTA Constitution and would like to have a committee
review it and make suggestions as to how to update it. There are some parts
of it that may no longer be pertinent. Past GCTA presidents who were present
were given a copy of the present constitution and were asked to review
it and make suggestions as to changes. A committee will then make a report
to the board.
18. Adjournment
Fran McCabe moved for adjournment at Carol's request. Connie Everhart seconded
the motion. The motion passed.
Respectfully submitted,
Doug Snapp
Corresponding Secretary
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