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WYOTA Board Meeting Minutes 10.25.2003 AM Meeting

Minutes
Wyoming Tennis Association Board Meeting
Saturday, October 25, 2003 – 11:00AM
Windy Hills Guest House, Cheyenne, WY

In Attendance:  Kathy Bummer, John Agin, Angela Emery, Julie Francis, Greg Rich, Dave Luebbe, Rio Caballero, Bob Faurot, Patrick Swafford, Marie Robertson, Becky Blalock, Guest: Terry Walters

Call to Order:  President Bummer called the meeting to order at 11:00 a.m.

Welcome, Introductions and Announcements:  President Bummer welcomed everyone to the meeting. President Bummer then introduced Terry Walters Executive Director for the Intermountain Tennis Association.

Declaration of Quorum:  President Bummer concluded that a quorum does exist for this meeting with 7 voters...

Correspondence:  Ms. Emery read the following correspondence
1)  A note from Kathleen Roe thanking WYOTA for its support on their trip to Nationals.
2)  A letter from the Cowboy State Tennis Club that said that the Shering Wyoming State Open had used their name as the sponsoring organization on their tournament materials.  The CSTC does not want to be associated with sanctioned USTA events and would appreciate it if this does not occur in the future.  Discussion of this issue ensued with the consensus that some kind of mistake occurred.  Mr. Agin thought that he had specified the WAC as the sponsoring organization.  He will do some research and figure out what happened.  In any case, we’d like to write a letter of apology.

Approval of Minutes of April 5, 2003 meeting.  Greg Rich made a motion seconded by John Agin to approve the minutes of the meeting.  Motion Carried.

Status Report on KPI’s:  See handout.  Ms. Blalock gave the board an update on where we are with our KPI’s.  Membership is problematic.  Our goal was 900 and right now we have 755.  Our highest was in June at 820.  We do need to include the Fall Mixed League in the league KPI’s.

Community Development Outreach Plan – Report & Discussion – Ms. Blalock reported that WYOTA had set this aside at the last board meeting.  One of the first things Ms. Blalock did in her new position as ED was to pull together some data that she shared with the board today.  The next step is to appoint a committee or task force to get more data and to then come up with some recommendations for the Board to consider.  Terry Walters added that USTA has asked the districts to begin the CDOP process about 2 years ago.  ITA will pull the 6 states together to determine ITA’s own CDOP.  This is the direction the organization is going, so WYOTA needs to go forward with its plan.  Ms. Francis noted that the data is interesting and can be used to help us formulate our plan.  Mr. Faurot added that although the data shows a certain number of courts some of those are really not playable.  More discussion came about and it was decided that a new column will be added to rate the court from 1 – 3, 1 being great, 3 being unplayable.  Mr. Rich asked what the TASK is.  The data will be analyzed to determine how we can use the knowledge to develop our CDOP, our goals, timeline and accountability.  President Bummer asked who would like to help with gathering the data.  There is a November 7 deadline and Mr. Walters said that Ms. Blalock will report that WYOTA is working to gather data, appoint a task force and then have the full board consider recommendations.  The following people offered to gather information about courts in particular areas.
Bob F.   Sheridan, Campbell, Johnson Counties
Julie F.   Albany, Carbon, Sweetwater Counties
Dave L.  Lincoln, Sublette, Teton Counties
Kathy B./Angela E. Natrona
Greg R./Patrick W. Laramie, Platte, Goshen
Rio C.   Fremont

We need to get this info to Ms. Blalock by November 3, 3002
The task force will consist of Patrick S., Bob Faurot, Dave L. & Kathy B. – Patrick S will be Chair.  The task force will need to meet by conference call before the next board meeting.

Program Specialist Report:  Mr. Walters described a program in Montana called Tennis Across Montana where college players are sent out to remote communities during the summer and paid to do programs.  Mr. Agin reported that he and Mr. Swafford had recently been discussing a pay scale for such a position.  Mr. Luebbe said that it is sometimes difficult to get teaching pros to go to public courts as they want to work in an established club atmosphere that doesn’t require drumming up the business.  Possibly WYOTA could serve as a conduit between communities that need a teaching professional if the community could guarantee X number of participants.  Patrick Swafford offered to contact Jerry Peach and ask for an outline of his Tennis Across Montana program.

Wyoming Youth Tennis Foundation:  Written Report.  Everyone seemed pleased to have the umpires at the State High School tournament.  The questions was asked about whether there had been a monetary share and the answer is yes that the tournament had paid for the umpires travel and WYOTA will pay for the umpires fees.  Ms. Emery added that it would be nice to brainstorm ideas to distribute more of the Foundations funds.  We now have about $3500 in our account.  Maybe we could in some way underwrite lessons for youth that would not otherwise be able to take regular lessons, maybe as a transition from the in school assemblies or Tennis offerings.  Board members are asked to think about ideas.

 

Tournaments and Awards:
Training:   Mr. Agin and Ms. Blalock have gone through the software training.  Pat, Greg, Bob & Julie need to go through this basic training and also someone from the Governor’s Cup.  These people need to get together and determine a time when they can meet by phone with Maggie and do a training.  TMS is going away to be replaced by TDM which is a non-subscription program.  Everyone needs to learn to use TDM
Tournament Schedule:  See the proposed schedule handout.  Mr. Swafford would like to add an event, the Ides of March, March 19-21. These dates conflict with the Wyoming Indoor in Casper. Discussion included Patrick’s feeling that few players from Cheyenne would attend the Casper event, thus little impact. He stated another date is not possible. Mr. Agin will approach the WAC to see if they would move their tournament date.  Mr. Rich made a motion seconded by Ms. Francis to approve the tournament schedule with changes and the hope that Mr. Agin can ask the WAC to move their March tournament to March 26.  If they cannot the schedule stands.  Motion Carried.

New Business:  President Bummer reported that we need to change the standing orders to reflect Ms. Blalocks address.  Mr. Faurot made a motion seconded by Mr. Agin to change the standing orders.  Motion Passed.

Old Business:
Mr. Terry Walters, ITA Executive Director
Mr. Walters spoke to the Board about changes that have occurred at USTA in part in response to the Blue Ribbon survey.  Mr. Walters reported that there has been an attitude change and elimination of positions.  There have also been changes at ITA, elimination of the PBIF money is one.  Mr. Walters met with the district E.D.’s and agreed on an equitable split of the money.  WYOTA will be receiving money in 2004 based on an average of the previous 3 years. He encouraged us to keep working on the Strategic Plan as it reminds us of what’s important to us.  This should not be a huge document.  Both USTA and ITA have pared down their own.  Mr. Walters added that our highest membership occurred in 2001(1000) and has dropped 30% the past 3 years.  Montana on the other hand has increased by 15%.  Sections as a whole have gone up 2%.  In general ITA is not growing as quickly as other areas.  Mr. Walters would like to see us focus on membership.  He would also like to see us focus on schools programs.  We need to get the P.E. teachers to focus on Tennis!

Tennis Welcome Centers
Mr. Walters explained that this concept is an industry wide effort based on info from the Blue Ribbon survey that showed that tennis is not growing despite increased marketing funding.  The basic concept is that we can increase participation if we introduce the game of tennis in the appropriate way.  Mr. Walters provided a handout that explains the program and the timing.

Marie Robertson Traveling Award:
Mrs. Robertson was pleased to present this year’s award to our very own, Impressive Prexy, Kathy Bummers.  Mrs. Robertson outlined President Bummers’ many contributions to tennis in Wyoming.  Mrs. Bummer expressed her gratitude for the award.

Mr. Rich made a motion, seconded by Mr. Faurot to adjourn the meeting at 1:20 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted:

 

Angela Emery
Secretary

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
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