Hawks Basketball Club

Hawks Basketball Club
General Meeting – 27/10/08

Attending:
Phil Tromans, Tom Rodgers, Anne Titchford, Ben Llewellyn, Saul Wallis, Garry Matthews, Nick Richards, Steve Weaver

Agenda

Money - Current balance is over £750/Sports hall fees are due/Direct debits need to be sorted out/Signatories need sorting/Money back for lower minute players
Latest statement was presented at the meeting showing a balance of £788 as at 18/10/08.
There is a bill pending for hire of the sports hall which will be paid as soon as the bank account signatories are sorted (see below).
It was agreed at the meeting that Hawks will operate on an annual membership charge. £240 will be required from all players to cover a years charge. As most players are already paying £20 per month DD, this will make no difference. Options are that the fee could be paid in one lump sum, two payments within the year, quarterly or per month. This was agreed in principle so that the club can operate throughout the off-season and players can remain fit for the following season.
The current signatories for the team account are Phil Tromans and Pete Seex (ex-player). Two signatures are required on any cheque payment and so this needs updating ASAP. Phil will remain a signatory, Pete will be deleted and Ben, Tom and Anne will become approved signatories.
Refunds to players playing low minutes was muted by Phil at the meeting but was deemed by the group as too difficult to manage and would encourage all players to attend all games and training sessions in order to justify place in team. The possibility of a second team was discussed later in the meeting.

Attendance - Games and training, no training, no game time?
This point was agreed in principle but mitigating circumstances would be a justifiable reason for non attendance at either.

Venue - Wolverley costs roughly £15 per hour in summer and £20 per hour in winter/Does the team want some where of better quality?
Whilst Wolverley is relatively cheap to hire, the club has experienced more and more restrictions from the school over the past two years, the latest being that we cannot use the facilities during half-term and will have to have special arrangements for all other holidays.
Seeing as most players do not live close to Wolverley, it was agreed that it would be worthwhile to look at potential other venues but many factors would have to be considered, mainly price, before any move was formally proposed.

Fixtures - Rose bowl second round plate games/Friendlies with Flames, Old Swinford and Tom Fletcher's Team
All teams knocked out of the Rose Bowl in the 1st and 2nd rounds will be entered into a plate competition starting this season. As Hawks were knocked out in the 1st round, we will get an additional fixture which all players will be informed of as soon as it is known.
Phil told the group that a friendly had been arranged with Flames for 02/11/08, a friendly was in the pipeline with ex-Hawk Tom Fletcher’s new team over in Warwick – they would come to us, a date just needs to be agreed. The Hawks have played numerous friendlies against the Old Swinford Boys 6th Form, coached by Clive Allen, and another would be arranged for the New Year.
The main reason for the friendlies is to accustom new players to the Hawks and try and get players more playing time as the club has 15 players for the one team this season.

B Team - Do we want to enter a B team next season?/Can we get enough players to?/Can we afford it?/Who will coach a B team?/Who will run a B team?
This point will be reviewed properly at the end of this season. It was agreed by the group that we need to have a situation of 12 players available for all matches home and away before this can seriously be considered. To have two teams, the club would require 20 members with 10 assigned to each team. A second team does seem a viable option with the number of players on the Hawks books this year.

Team Kit - Do we want a Team Owned kit?/Someone to organise kits for people who don't have them/Need for a second kit/Reversible training tops
An alternate (white) kit will be purchased by the club in the event of kit clashes and this kit will be retained by the club.
It was agreed that all players not in ownership of a green kit would be required to purchase their own ASAP. The club does have a very good offer on kit this season with shirt and shorts costing less than £20. Garry Matthews offered to source putting numbers and names on jerseys.
It was agreed that the club will purchase reversible training jerseys for all players and these would be included in the price of Hawks membership.
Phil will organise the team kit issue, Anne will look into reversible training jerseys.

Team Conduct - At games we need to show better sportsmanship/No harassing refs
The club had played 3 league games prior to the meeting and in all of the games, the referees had graded us as ‘D’ for team conduct (based on a grade of A(excellent), B(good), C (substandard) D (poor) and E(unacceptable), E requiring a report to be submitted to the League Committee). This process is new for this season but our conduct, as discussed and agreed at the meeting, is unacceptable to this point. Whilst it is accepted that we have had some poor referees for our games and poor calls ruin the enjoyment of a game, we cannot continually moan and harass them as they will not reverse decisions and in most cases, it makes the referee have it in for our team even more.
It was agreed that all players could make very light conversation with the referees as part of the game but any questioning of calls or pointing out of issues has to be done by either the coach or court captain (as per league rules). Any excessive conversation/arguing with referees will result in that person being benched. It was also agreed that any player receiving a technical foul would be benched as these are unnecessary and penalise the club during games.

Other Matters Arising

The club has recently paid the costs of hosting the club website for this year. All players need to be aware of the site – www.hawks.org.uk – and the club will utilise it as much as possible.
In light of this, Ben will move from club secretary to be in charge of the website/media and Tom will assume the role of secretary.

An Xmas get together was agreed. The tentative date is Saturday 13th December in Stourbridge. The actual venue is yet to be decided.

Saul mentioned the idea of the club becoming accredited. This matter will be researched to see if it is viable and the potential benefits to the Hawks.

The club will form a committee that would meet quarterly to ensure the continued smooth running of the Hawks. It was agreed that the committee would comprise of Phil Tromans (chair/coach), Tom Rodgers (club secretary), Anne Titchford (treasurer), Ben Llewellyn (website/media)and 2-3 club members. The next meeting will take place during January at The Whittington Pub.

END

ON A SIDE NOTE, TOM AND MYSELF HAVE FOUND THAT TEXTING INFORMATION TO PLAYERS IS THE BEST FORM OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE TEAM. EVERYONE ON THE TEAM HAS A COPY OF THE FIXTURES LIST AND THE LEAGUE HANDBOOK SO YOU ALL SHOULD KNOW WHEN AND WHERE WE ARE PLAYING OUR MATCHES. IF EITHER OF US TEXT YOU WITH INFORMATION, WE REQUIRE A RESPONSE. IF THERE IS NO RESPONSE, IT IS ASSUMED THAT YOU ARE UNAVAILABLE AND YOU WILL NOT BE PLACED ON THE TEAM SHEET FOR THE FIXTURE – DON’T TURN UP WITHOUT RESPONDING AND BE SURPRISED IF YOU ARE NOT GETTING A GAME. IN THE EVENT OF THE TEAM HAVING TOO MANY PLAYERS FOR A FIXTURE, I WILL INFORM THE PEOPLE NOT PLAYING BY TEXT TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT OR CONFUSION. THE LONGER SERVING/COMMITTED PLAYERS WILL BE CONSIDERED FIRST – SORRY BUT THIS IS THE FAIREST WAY.

Thank you.
Phil