2022 Fall Meeting Minutes
9/26/2022
Fall 2022 Softcourt Meeting Minutes September 1, 2022The Women's Softcourt League of Birmingham
The Women’s Softcourt League of Birmingham held the Fall Meeting on Thursday, September 1, 2022, at 9:30am at Old Overton Club. All Club Representatives were present or represented except Trussville Racquet Club and Trussville YMCA. All Level Coordinators were present except Level 4.5. All Officers were present except for Kelly Miles, past president. There were 27 Members in attendance including Officers.
President, Janet Simonetti, welcomed everyone to the meeting and called the meeting to order. Julie Cundiff asked for a motion to approve the minutes from the Spring Meeting as posted on the Website. Motion made to accept minutes by Meredith Vinson, seconded by Susan Filippini, and approved.
Janet Simonetti directed all attendee’s attention to the Rules and Policy Changes document /ballot. After discussion of each rule/policy proposal, the attendees voted on each proposed change. Ballots were used for attendance of the meeting. Results follow.
#1 Proposal
In the event of injury or illness a doubles player prior to the start of play, the doubles line- up MAY be altered with the agreement of both captains. Any changes made to the line-up must comply with the strength roster rules. In addition, players must adhere to the start times requires for Double Play.
Yes 11 No 15
#2 Proposal
A player may play UP more than 1 court without prior LC approval if there is no other higher strength rostered player available to play that day.
Yes 22 No 4
#3 Proposal
If a team drops out in mid-season or if a team forfeits one match, then all the matches for that team will not be counted for the season. The forfeiting team will not be allowed to play the remaining matches. If a team forfeits a match then their club will not be allowed to field a team on that level the next season.
Yes 1 No 25
#4 Proposal
When a Doubles team wins stats but chooses to stay at that level they must split up and may only play on court #1.
Yes 14 No 12 (DID not pass because of Softcourt voting guidelines. Needed 17 votes to pass)
#5 Proposal
While in service, Officers and Level Coordinators should be on a current Women’s Softcourt League team roster.
Yes 10 No 16
#6 Proposal
Discussion regarding changes to the Softcourt League Match format will not be voted on for the next 3 years.
Yes 4 No 22
Treasurer, Melody Debardelaben, presented the Financial Report. We began the Spring 2022 Season with a cash balance of $10,477.94. Total Expenses were $6,617.54 -- $95 Website renewal/upgrades, $497.75 printing, $150 Past President’s Gift, $748.44 Spring Meeting, $146.35 Executive Planning meetings (2),$3,000.00 LETT Donation and $4,980.00 spring prizes. Fall Fees collected were $7,840.00. Total cash balance beginning the Fall 2022 Season is $11,700.40. A motion to approve the Treasurer’s report was made, seconded, and approved.
A motion to donate $3000 to LETT was made from Janet Simonetti, and seconded by LaVonda Keel . The motion passed.
Vice President, Cindy Speake, announced the winners and runners-up for the Spring Season 2022 with a gift of a Brewmate. She also reported that we have 8 levels, 112 teams enrolled, with 10 divisions including 3 divisions for the 2.5, 3.0, and 4.0 levels for the Fall Season. The schedules have been entered and are final. The season will begin on Tuesday, September 6, 2022.
• Cindy reminded Club Representatives that strength rosters MUST be turned in by midnight before the first match even if the team has a ‘bye’. (See Rule Book: TEAMS; Section 5 Strength Roster; Part a). Failure to comply will result in 1St set of each court being forfeited for each match until Strength Roster is entered.
• Cindy asks that the Club Reps to email ‘The Code’ to all captains for distribution to players.
New Business
• Janet Simonetti, President announced that there have been over 70 move down requests in 2022.
• Please note the changes to the Softcourt website. The Menu has been changed to buttons for easier navigations to news, Softcourt website, etc.
• Please forward any softcourt player duplicate changes that need to be made to the Vice President.
• The cost of an App was found to be prohibitive, so we have additional website updates to allow paperless match results which we expect for Spring 2023.
Additional Announcements
• Please ask players to use the paperless form on the Softcourt website for move down requests.
• Matchday Helper will be updated and emailed to all captains and level coordinators.
• The 2.5 Level final match day will be on Tuesday, November 15th because of the Veterans Day Holiday on November 11th.
• Home matches are not equally balanced this season due to construction at a few clubs.
• Please ask participating Softcourt clubs to prioritize Softcourt make up matches over added social events.
• Players that stay at the same level might be subject to the Softcourt ethics review even if they have not played 75% of the season.
• Annemarie Wilson gave an update that 4 young women were awarded $2000 each from the Susan Briggs Tournament.
• Door prizes were distributed
The meeting was adjourned at 10:45am.
The following email from Aug 2022, prefaced the meeting:
Aug 28, 2022
Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I have updated the Proposed Rules and Policy Changes to reflect your suggestions. I have also included a proposal that did not pass in the Spring 2022 meeting for us to revisit.
Please find attached the updated document. The deadline to include additional submissions is Tuesday, August 30.
Thank you for serving Softcourt League.
Janet
Aug 26, 2022
We are looking forward to seeing everyone next Thursday, September 1 at 9:30am at Old Overton Country Club.
In order to ensure we are meeting the requirement in the WSL Rules and Policies, “All changes to major rules or policies requires a 2/3 majority vote of the Executive Board present”. We will be using a ballot system to collect your votes.
I have attached a PDF of the Proposed Changes. Please review these with your club to ensure you will best represent their needs.
Also, please submit any proposal that you/your club would like to make now, so that it may be included in this season’s Execute Board meeting.
Thanks,
Janet Simonetti
WSL - 2022 President
Respectfully submitted,
Julie Cundiff, Secretary