Meeting convened at 7:08

Board attendees: Judy Katalina, Ann Riedl, Lora Loyall, Joe Loyall, Brett Crandall, Paul Santos, Debbie Finnigan Other attendees: none.

Accepted minutes from last meeting.

Treasurer's report:
From September to December 2003, we made more money than we should. Without championships, we're going to have a lot of money. We need to think about how to spend it. We discussed having an end of season party. Yankee used to have one, many years ago, but membership was lower.

People always ask about subsidizing memberships, but we can't do that.

Debbie suggested having clinics, either free or charging only a small amount, e.g., $5.

Registrar's report:
We are down 150 memberships as of the end of January. We have the same number of tournaments and the same number of one day memberships. We had a lot of new members at the scramble, but many did not join Yankee. Judy will look at the numbers per level.

Paul asked if there is an e-mail list for high school coaches. Judy mentioned that there is a website. Judy will e-mail and see if she can get a plug on the coaches' website. Debbie suggested that we try to get on the juniors' websites. Judy said that a lot of them do not have websites.

Joe will E-mail Dale to see whether he can make us a brochure to send out to coaches. If he can't do it, then Judy will contact Patty.

Paul asked how much bandwidth we get on website. Can we put video of tournaments at certain levels there? He gets a lot of questions about what is a C- level, and so forth.

Joe should take a look at Yankee 101 to see if it needs updating. We should see whether the Stray Cats website is still active. Try to advertise the scrambles.

The issue came up of there not being enough places for new players to play when they want to join Yankee. There aren't many lower level tournaments and the same few teams fill those. The suggestion was made that maybe next year instead of, or in addition to, offering scrambles, Yankee should run (and subsidize) C- tournaments. We could offer TDs the opportunity to draft before anyone else if they offer their gym for a C- tournament. Yankee might run the tournament, pay the TD, pay for the refs, and so forth, or Yankee might subsidize it, but have it be a regular tournament. This was tabled.

TD report:
Nothing to report. Tournaments are going well.

Paul needs to tell Tom to change the TD reports to go to Paul, the new tournament coordinator.

Referee report:
Just ran a pretty good size referee clinic.

NOVA is working really well.

NERVA Report:
Nationals stuff is starting to come in. On-line stuff takes a long time, but you have to pay an extra $100 if you don't use it. Every team captain has to enter his or her team. $900 per team, $1000 if you don't use the on-line registration. $375 for Uvolley (height challenged) and coed.

Ratings report:
Judy needs reports from the ratings committees.

Ann asked Judy to give her the effective date when letters go out. Ann will send Judy a list every two weeks or ten days, and Judy will send Ann the effective dates when the letters go out.

People at scrambles should sign a membership form (as a one-day) so that they have the insurance.

Newsletter Report:
Dale has quite a bit in the winter newsletter, which is about ready to go out. He needs mappings for entries into Nationals. There have only been 10 requests for printed copies of the newsletter. He will send the Fall and Winter printed copies out at the same time, shortly after the online winter newsletter goes up.

Dale requested to purchase some software for publishing the newsletter site. The software, called WebCopier, is $40 and includes lifetime upgrades. The board approved the request.

Web editor Report:
No report.

GRC Report:
The scramble went well. There were only slight grumblings about the ratings of some new members. Patty has lost the armory for the next scramble on 2/21. We could run the scramble on 2/28, if Patty can get the gym and as long as Jamie's Coed C is full. Debbie's due date is 2/27. Ann will run the tournament.

Debbie needs to count the shirts. Judy and Debbie will take care of it and order some more if they need to.

For next year, Debbie would like to do some more marketing over the summer to try to get more people playing scrambles. She would like to give prizes for first place (haven't been because it's $15 with shirts). She would also like to get some game balls to use at the tournaments.

Old/New Business-
Rick Pierce - Katie Horn and Dennis Fay won the Pierce award.

Avedisian Award
Tom suggested somebody who he thinks should receive the Marty Avedisian award. The board believed that the person hadn't quite been around long enough and is still active in Yankee tournament play, whereas the Avedisian award, as an award for lifetime contribution is generally given to people who have contributed much longer and are toward the end of their careers.

Ghost rule loophole
In a tournament, a player was injured and other players on the roster were playing on another court (in another tournament). A ghost was substituted in, but then the other players got done and one came over and substituted in when it was the ghost's turn to serve. The rule is ambiguous enough that the referee wasn't sure whether this was legal.

Paul moves that a player on the roster be able to be substituted in for a ghost at any time. Ann 2nd All in favor. None opposed.

Judy made a motion that we accept the new wording of the ghost rule. Ann seconded. All in favor. None opposed.

Joe must mail the new wording to Judy and she will check with Steve.

Next meeting should be the annual meeting unless we want to move it. Next meeting will be March 15, not the annual meeting.